Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 NASCAR Ford Mustang, won for the first time in his Xfinity Series career at Las Vegas last weekend. He almost made it back-to-back at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 21st, 2023, but was thwarted by the No. 1 Chevy Camaro of Sam Mayer when it counted most.
While Mayer led for most of the day, Herbst was never far behind him. On the last lap, Herbst tried to take advantage of a slight misstep on Mayer’s part that put the No. 1 Camaro against the wall, but he couldn’t make it stick. Herbst missed out on the win by just 0.227 seconds.
“I thought we had a really fast car for sure,” Herbst said in a postrace interview. “It wasn’t that great yesterday in practice, it wasn’t that great in Stage 1 and 2, but Davon and the boys kept wrenching on it, told me to keep my head in it, continue to race, continue to fight. That’s what we did.”
He added, “Bummed out for Cole [Custer]. He was definitely the class of the field, like we were last week.”
As for what happened to Cole Custer, the driver of the No. 00 Ford Mustang led for much of the race, but was felled by a tire issue while leading that forced him to go a lap down. He was never able to find his way back to the front and finished 13th.
“Just got in too deep I guess,” Custer said. “You know, had a big lead and I didn’t feel like I was pushing it, but just carried a little too much speed. I think I got by a couple of lappers and just missed it a little bit. I think that was the only time I hit the wall all day. So it’s just sucks. I mean I’m so frustrated. The guys brought me such a fast car. I mean, I think we definitely had the dominant car today.”
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 13 | 1 | Sam Mayer (P) | Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet | 200 | 46 | Chevrolet Camaro |
2 | 7 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
3 | 2 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek (P) | Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 200 | 7 | Toyota TRD Supra |
4 | 4 | 21 | Austin Hill (P) | United Rentals Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
5 | 23 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
6 | 15 | 10 | Daniel Hemric (P) | Cirkul Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
7 | 10 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
8 | 17 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Pelonis Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
9 | 5 | 18 | Sammy Smith # (P) | Pilot Flying J Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
10 | 11 | 19 | Joe Graf Jr. | Wawa Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
11 | 20 | 11 | Derek Kraus | Celsius Chevrolet | 200 | 21 | Chevrolet Camaro |
12 | 16 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff # | FUNKAWAY Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
13 | 1 | 00 | Cole Custer (P) | Haas Automation Ford | 199 | 114 | Ford Mustang |
14 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Sci Aps Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
15 | 3 | 7 | Justin Allgaier (P) | hellowater Chevrolet | 199 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro |
16 | 18 | 91 | Kyle Weatherman | Tweaker Energy Drinks Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
17 | 26 | 92 | Josh Williams | StarTron/Alloy Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
18 | 33 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | ForeverLawn Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
19 | 29 | 6 | Brennan Poole | KSDT CPA Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
20 | 28 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
21 | 22 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Fly and Form Structures Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
22 | 25 | 38 | Kyle Sieg | Lefcourt Brothers Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
23 | 27 | 45 | Leland Honeyman | Nuthin Fancy/Realtree Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
24 | 37 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Classic Collision Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
25 | 36 | 35 | Patrick Emerling | Sci Aps Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
26 | 9 | 2 | Sheldon Creed (P) | Whelen Chevrolet | 198 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro |
27 | 35 | 08 | Mason Massey | Anderson Power Services Ford | 198 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
28 | 31 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Nuthin Fancy Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
29 | 34 | 2 | Blaine Perkins # | AutoParkit.com Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
30 | 19 | 26 | Kaz Grala | CRUSH Lemonade Toyota | 194 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
31 | 21 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota | 190 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
32 | 8 | 8 | Josh Berry | Tire Pros Love The Drive Chevrolet | 171 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
33 | 30 | 29 | Mason Maggio(i) | Flitz Polish Ford | 153 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
34 | 12 | 16 | Chandler Smith # (P) | Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet | 138 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
35 | 6 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Technical Solutions Ford | 97 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
36 | 32 | 74 | Dawson Cram | Lerner & Rowe Injury Lawyers Chevrolet | 65 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
37 | 38 | 28 | CJ McLaughlin | Sci Aps Ford | 37 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
38 | 24 | 66 | Ryan Newman | Generx Generators Ford | 27 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible
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