Herbst looking to carry momentum into Charlotte Xfinity race

Now with six straight top 10 finishes to his name and eighth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings, Stewart-Hass Racing’s Riley Herbst is adhering to the master plan he and the team pieced together leading into the ’22 racing season.

“We wanted to come out swinging,” Herbst said March after he and the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang posted top 10 finishes at Daytona and California. “The momentum is huge for us. It is definitely way better for us this year. We’ve had a couple top 10s in a row now and hopefully we’ll get number three real soon.”

With this Saturday’s race at Charlotte looming, the third-year Xfinity Series driver from Las Vegas, Nevada is ready to keep the momentum rolling.

“It’ll be fun,” said Herbst. “I mean, this is such a tough racetrack here at Charlotte, just because it is so hot and it makes the track really slick. Other than that it’s just a typical mile-and-a-half that is really bumpy. I’m really looking forward to the race on Saturday. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I think we’ll have a really good car.”

Momentum will certainly help power Herbst and the No. 98 Stewart-Hass Racing Xfinity program up.

“Absolutely,” said Herbst. “Momentum will key this Saturday. The good finishes just builds the momentum for our team and I’m looking to carry that on to Charlotte this weekend and to try and do another top five run and hopefully we can even be in a position to win.”

Imperative to Herbst’s top 10 trajectory has been crew chief Richard Boswell.

“The team, they’re just awesome to work with,” Herbst said. “They’re just racers, and at the end of the day they just want to win. It’s really cool driving for Tony (Stewart) and for Mr. Haas and to have Kevin Harvick as a teammate.

“And my crew chief Richard Boswell has been awesome. He’s a racer himself. He used to race and that helps me as a young driver to kind of correlate and make better communication between the two of us. It has been a good stretch, for sure. It’s just the consistency and just trying to do all the small things right during the race weekend and that’s led to good finishes and it has put our number 98 car where it belongs, and that’s towards the front of the field. Honestly, we are just trying to be more consistent how we have been and I’m hoping that consistency leads to wins and leads us to victory lane.

The one item that has remained outstanding for Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Stewart-Hass Racing outfit has been a win.

“Yeah, that is definitely our next goal,” said Herbst. “We just want to break into victory lane, and I think we have a really good shot at it this weekend. I feel real good. We’re real confident and we’re excited to have a good weekend this weekend and it’s time for a win and hopefully we can do it.”