• Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway will not only mark the end of the 2024 season, but also the end of an era for Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy team. With Stewart-Haas Racing closing its doors at the end of the 2024 season and the No. 98 no longer being used by the newly created Haas Factory Team, this will be the final race for the iconic number. Herbst’s racecars have sported the No. 98 since he joined Stewart-Haas for his first of four fulltime seasons 2021. The Las Vegas native has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with the team, but he says it’s ultimately made him into the driver he is today – an Xfinity Series winner who made a name for himself in the sport.From his first career pole in May 2021 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, to “flat out” beating the field by 14.959 seconds for his first career victory in October 2023 at his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Herbst has enjoyed success during his time in the car. He’s won two races and two poles, led more than 300 laps, and scored a total of 64 top-10s in his 131 starts with the team. In their final ride together, Herbst visits a track where he’s had numerous strong runs in his 10 previous starts. While he’s not in championship contention, he looks to steal the spotlight and go out on a high with his No. 98 crew one final time.
• Herbst’s first fulltime Xfinity Series season came in 2020 with Joe Gibbs Racing. He posted 17 top-10s during that chaotic season with a best finish of second in the February race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. He went on to join Stewart-Haas in 2021 and continued to post solid numbers, including 20 top-10s in 2022 and 17 top-10s in 2023. He earned a career-best 10 top-fives during his 2023 season with the team, which included his first win and Round of 8 playoff spoiler role, scoring the most points of any driver in the round despite not being a member of the playoff field. Herbst made the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs in three of his four fulltime seasons with SHR with a best points finish of 10th, earned in 2022. Herbst also has eight NASCAR Cup Series starts that have not taken place under the Stewart-Haas banner, but did include crew members from the team on his cars as part of technical alliances. Herbst’s Cup Series debut in the 2023 Daytona 500 resulted in a 10th-place finish.
• Saturday’s race will mark Herbst’s 11th career Xfinity Series start at Phoenix. After an early race accident ruined his series debut there in November 2019, Herbst finished 11th or better in his next four Phoenix outings, highlighted by four fourth-place finishes in March 2021, November 2021, March 2023, and November 2023. He earned a seventh-place finish in last November’s season finale to go with his aforementioned fourth-place finishes. Outside the Xfinity Series at Phoenix, Herbst finished 10th in his lone NASCAR K&N Pro Series West start at the track in November 2019, and 15th in his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start there in November 2018.
• It’s fitting that Herbst ends his run as a Stewart-Haas driver at a place similar to the desert facilities on which his racing career began. Being a third-generation racer from Las Vegas, he’s taken his family name from the Desert Southwest to the asphalt tracks of NASCAR. Herbst began racing go-karts up and down the West Coast at age 5. He soon followed in his family’s footsteps in 2006 when he transitioned to off-road racing, where his grandfather Jerry, his dad Troy, and his uncles Tim and Ed, all became Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame inductees after their numerous championship-winning campaigns. By age 10, Herbst sought a return to pavement, which began with Legend cars before transitioning to Speed Trucks, Super Late Models, the K&N Series, NASCAR Trucks, and now the Xfinity Series. During the past several offseasons, he’s had a chance to step back to his family roots to pilot a Terrible Herbst Motorsports entry in the iconic Baja 1000. He won last year’s race in the Trophy Truck Spec class as a co-driver with his father.
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
One last race behind the wheel of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse under the Stewart-Haas Racing banner. How are you approaching this bittersweet weekend?
“This weekend is tough. We’re all obviously excited for the offseason and the future, but the sport is losing such a big entity and it’s sad to see. Stewart-Haas Racing has been a big part of NASCAR’s history, so it’s sad to see it shutting down after so many years. It was a home for me when no one else believed in me. They gave me a shot in a car that has historically won and watched me grow into the driver that I am today. I wouldn’t trade those memories and learning curves for the world. I can’t thank everyone at Stewart-Haas enough for all the support over the years and for the guidance. This weekend, there will be a lot of goodbyes, but I’m hoping we can end on a high note.”
Phoenix is such a unique racetrack and you have a strong history there. How do you tackle it as a driver?
“I’m excited to get to Phoenix for the final race of the year. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the circuit – probably in the top two. For a driver, it’s one of the more unique tracks because of how different each end of the track is. You have to approach both so differently, but there are a lot of opportunities to show a lot of speed and get an advantage on your competitors. We talk about the dogleg a lot, but you see a lot of guys go down there to pass, including myself. It’s always a fun race when we go there, so hopefully that continues and we can end the season on a high note with another strong finish.”
• Cole Custer is making his final start behind the wheel of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway – a track where the Ladera Ranch, California, native has enjoyed considerable success. This race will be a bittersweet one for the team as it takes place during the final weekend for Stewart-Haas. It was announced May 28 that Stewart-Haas would close its doors at the end of the season. Custer hasn’t known a life outside of Stewart-Haas. He debuted with the team running a partial NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule in 2014, when he became NASCAR’s youngest national series winner that September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon at just 16 years, seven months, and 28 days old. He ran another partial Truck Series schedule in 2015 and added a victory in the June race at Gateway Raceway near St. Louis. After a fulltime Truck Series campaign in 2016, Custer graduated to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017 as driver of the No. 00 entry. His Xfinity Seires career with Stewart-Haas has been solid, with 14 victories (excluding his Feb. 22, 2022 win at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, with Bobby Dotter Racing), 21 poles, scored 114 top-10finishes, and 3,057 laps led, all highlighted by drives to the 2019 owners championship and 2023 drivers championship. Custer also finished second in the drivers championship in 2018 and 2019. Custer then moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series with Stewart-Haas from 2020 to 2022. He won his first Cup Series race during his rookie season in the July race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, passing his now-retired teammate Kevin Harvick for the lead on a late-race restart.
• Phoenix marks the site of Custer’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship last November. He once again joins the Championship 4 field for a shot to secure back-to-back championships. The feat of back-to-back championships with the same team has not been accomplished since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2011 and 2012 with Roush Fenway Racing. This year, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill join Custer to round out the Championship 4 field. In his five fulltime Xfinity Series seasons, Custer has made the championship race in all but his rookie season in 2017, when he finished fifth in the standings. Since then, he has scored two back-to-back runner up finishes in 2018 and 2019 before winning the championship last season in dramatic fashion. After dominating the championship race last November, Custer seemed to lose all his title hopes as the field stacked up on a final green-white-checkered restart. Custer found himself shuffled backward with John Hunter Nemechek leading the Championship 4 field. In a final “Hail Mary,” Custer blasted through the middle to make a four-wide pass of the other Championship 4 competitors and claim the victory and the title.
• Saturday’s season finale will be Custer’s 10th Xfinity Series start at Phoenix after five fulltime seasons. After a 21st-place finish in his debut at the track in March 2017, he never finished worse than 12th in his next six Xfinity Series starts there, highlighted by a second-place result in the November 2019 race and his victory last November. Custer also has 12 NASCAR starts outside of the Xfinity Series at Phoenix – six in the Cup Series with a best finish of ninth in March 2020, three in the Truck Series with a best of third in November 2014, and three in the K&N Pro Series West. His victory from the pole in March 2014, when he led a race-high 62 of 80 laps, was the best of his three K&N Pro Series West outings, with finishes of third and sixth in the other two.
• Custer is bringing back the bright and vibrant colors of Andy’s Frozen Custard for the championship race in an alpha-bravo paint scheme with Haas Automation. Founded in 1986 in Osage Beach, Missouri, by Andy Kuntz’s parents John and Carol Kuntz, Andy’s Frozen Custard has been providing the freshest frozen custard in the business for 38 years, giving ice cream the “cold shoulder” by scooping, mixing and presenting handcrafted frozen custard treats with speed and a smile. Since the beginning, the family members have had one dream: to share what makes them happiest with everyone else, and to warm hearts one scoop of frozen custard at a time. With a focus on product quality, customer service and community involvement, Andy’s has grown into the nation’s largest frozen custard-only business, with 150 stores across 15 states proudly serving the World’s Finest Frozen Custard. Andy’s has been committed to supporting developing drivers of all ages from their first race throughout their racing career for more than 30 years, an extension of the family’s lifelong commitment to motorsports. Andy’s is the “Official Frozen Treat” of Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where fans can enjoy Andy’s on-site through branded kiosks, treat trucks and in suites.
• Following Saturday’s race, Custer will move back to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2025 season. On July 20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was announced he will return to NASCAR’s elite series in the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the newly formed Haas Factory Team under owner Gene Haas. Supporting Custer will be new crew chief Aaron Kramer, who comes to Haas Factory Team from RFK Racing, where he served as a lead engineer for Chris Buescher. The team will have a technical alliance with RFK and will run two NASCAR Xfinity Series entries with Sheldon Creed in the No. 00 entry and Sam Mayer in the No. 41.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Andy’s Frozen Custard/Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You earned your first Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix last November. Is there an extra boost of confidence after that four-wide pass for the win?
“There’s always a boost of confidence coming into Phoenix as a champion, but I’m also the reigning champion who’s trying to go back-to-back with the same team. That hasn’t been done in years and it’s one for the history books if I can make it happen. I still don’t know how I made it through that wild pass last November, but obviously the guys gave me a fast car that I was able to do that with. It still feels like a dream even though I’ve been the champion all year. With all that said, it’s still a new season and we’ve got three other competitors vying for this title. Anything can happen, and you have to make sure you’re prepared for whatever comes your way. We just have to finish the best of the four drivers. We’re always working to be better, no matter what. That’s been our goal the past two years. I’m confident in my team, though. I think we’ve got a good shot this weekend to be the champions once again. It would make this bittersweet weekend end on the highest note possible.”
Talk about the pressure of going back-to-back and ending your time in the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse on a high note with another championship.
“You definitely put a little more emphasis on Phoenix when you go to the first race of the year there, so that it can help you in this November race. We tried to do that and, while it wasn’t a win, it was a top-five finish in March. I’m excited to head back there and go for the championship once again with this team. I got the chance to do this last year and we made the most of it. Last year, we didn’t have a great race in March but brought a rocket ship in November, so hopefully we can build on that fifth-place finish from March. You’re always going to bring the best when you go to this final race of the season. On top of the championship, it’s also our final race as Stewart-Haas Racing. I want to win this for my guys, their families, and everyone who has been a part of this organization. It would mean that much more for all of us.”
• Event: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship (Round 33 of 33)
• Date: Saturday, Nov. 9
• Location: Phoenix Raceway
• Layout: 1-mile oval
• Time/TV/Radio: 7:30 p.m. EDT on CW/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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