In his first Xfinity Series outing with new crew chief Davin Restivo in the wake of a crewmember shakeup at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), Riley Herbst finished second in the No. 98 NASCAR Ford Mustang at Nashville Superspeedway on June 24th, 2023.
Herbst kept the No. 98 Mustang inside the top 10 for much of the race, and thanks to a strategy call from Restivo during a round of pit stops and cautions, Herbst ended up on the front row for the final restart in a NASCAR Overtime finish. While he wasn’t able to overcome the No. 10 Chevy Camaro of AJ Allmendinger at the line, Herbst showed speed and guided the No. 98 Mustang to a second-place finish at the oval asphalt track.
“I don’t think anything there was given to me,” Herbst said in a postrace interview. “It was all earned. It was hot, it was slick. Did all the small things right, but I wish I could have gotten a little better restart there at the end. The bottom just restarts a little better than the top.”
He added, “After the last seven weeks, it’s good to get back in the top five and good to see us going back in the right direction.”
As for his budding relationship with Restivo, Herbst said he feels they’re in a good spot to win races.
“I walked in the shop Monday morning, and he said, ‘Hi, I’m Davin,'” Herbst said of his new crew chief. “I said, ‘Hey, I’m Riley,’ and he said, ‘We’re gonna take a little bit to get our communication right, but I promise I’ll work extremely hard and give you fast race cars.’ And obviously, he did that this weekend.”
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 10 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Bailey Zimmerman – Religiously Chevrolet | 196 | 25 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 2 | 5 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Ford | 196 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 3 | 34 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Huck's Market Chevrolet | 196 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 4 | 7 | 21 | Austin Hill | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 196 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 5 | 23 | 8 | Josh Berry | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet | 196 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 6 | 21 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye Barker Fire and Safety Toyota | 196 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 7 | 6 | 28 | Zane Smith(i) | Blue Oval City Ford | 196 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 33 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 196 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 9 | 1 | 00 | Cole Custer | HAAS Automation Ford | 196 | 32 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 10 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff # | FunkAway Chevrolet | 196 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 11 | 13 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet | 196 | 22 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 12 | 2 | 16 | Chandler Smith # | Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet | 196 | 74 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 13 | 12 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Hawkins Homes Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 14 | 26 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | SLTC/Lineworker.com Ford | 196 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 16 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 16 | 20 | 26 | Kaz Grala | CRUSH Tropical Punch Toyota | 196 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 17 | 19 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Whelen Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 18 | 32 | 4 | Kyle Weatherman | Trophy Tractor Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 19 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | CMRroofing.com Ford | 195 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 35 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Macc Door Systems Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 21 | 17 | 38 | Joe Graf Jr. | G-Coin Ford | 195 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 24 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | All South Electric Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 23 | 28 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | DUDE Wipes Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 24 | 15 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/DuPont Air Filtration Chevrolet | 195 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 25 | 9 | 29 | Kyle Sieg | Peek Pool and Spas Ford | 195 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 27 | 02 | Blaine Perkins # | Our Motorsports Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 27 | 30 | 45 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Roadrunner Markets/FL Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 28 | 25 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Keen Parts Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 29 | 22 | 91 | Chad Chastain(i) | Use Your Melon Drive Sober Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 30 | 36 | 35 | David Starr | Kales Truck and Heavy Equipment Chevrolet | 193 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 31 | 37 | 53 | Joey Gase | Sci-Aps Ford | 193 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 31 | 8 | Mason Massey | BRUNT Ford | 186 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 29 | 92 | Josh Williams | Dan-O's Seasoning Chevrolet | 111 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 34 | 3 | 18 | Sammy Smith # | Pilot Flying J Toyota | 68 | 1 | Toyota Supra |
| 35 | 38 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota | 61 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 36 | 8 | 77 | Carson Hocevar(i) | Premier Security Chevrolet | 53 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 37 | 4 | 19 | Ty Gibbs(i) | He Gets Us Toyota | 53 | 28 | Toyota Supra |
| 38 | 18 | 7 | Stefan Parsons | Nelson's Green Brier Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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