Herbst Drives to Strong Third at Nashville
Monster Energy Driver Earns Fifth Top-Five of 2022 Season
Date: Saturday, June 25
Event: Tennessee Lottery 250 (Round 15 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway (1.333-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/98 laps)
Start/Finish: 1st / 3rd (Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)
Point Standing: 9th (413 points, 188 out of first)
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:

Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy team were strong out of the gate as the NASCAR Xfinity Series returned from a two-week break during Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. After scoring his second career Xfinity Series Pole this morning with a lap of 156.665 mph, Herbst led the field to green for this afternoon’s 188-lap race. The Las Vegas native ran solidly in the top-10 for the first two stages, finishing third and fourth, respectively, and earning a total of 15 bonus points. Crew chief Richard Boswell made the call of the race when he brought Herbst to pit road for the final time during a lap-117 caution while half the field stayed out. Herbst restarted 17th and quickly and methodically worked his way into the top-10 by lap 140. The final 58 laps of the race went green, playing into the No. 98 Monster Energy team’s strategy as others were forced to pit for tires and fuel. Herbst was able to stay out and drive his way up to the third position, which he held all the way to the checkered flag. It was his fifth top-five and 10th top-10 of the season.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Our Monster Energy Ford Mustang was good today. We got the pole and we wanted to lead some laps but, unfortunately, we didn’t lead any. We got quite a bit of stage points, which is what we needed. It’s just a good day for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, myself included. I’m proud of all these guys on the 98 team. If we just keep getting these runs, we’ll eventually get there and, if we just keep knocking on the door, eventually it will open.”

Notes:

● Herbst’s pole was the second of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career. He won his first in May 2021 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

● Herbst third-place finish equaled his best result so far this season. He finished third May 7 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

● Herbst finished third in Stage 1 to earn eight bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points.

● Justin Allgaier won the Tennessee Lottery 250 to score his 18th career Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Nashville. His margin over second-place Trevor Bayne was 4.513 seconds.

● There were five caution periods for a total of 27 laps.

● Only 12 of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● AJ Allmendinger remains the championship leader after Nashville with a 25-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Henry 180 on July 2 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The race starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Tennessee Lottery 250 – Saturday, June 25, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
3rd – Riley Herbst
6th – Ryan Preece
9th – Ryan Sieg
12th – Parker Retzlaff
25th – Kyle Sieg
28th – BJ McLeod
37th – Joe Graf Jr.

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang – “I don’t think the whole field had anything for the 7. I think he was on cruise control all day, but our Monster Energy Ford Mustang was really good. I’m just proud of us as a group. Way to execute. I messed up on pit road a few times myself and the team, so we’ve got to clean up a little stuff there, but, all in all, it was a good day. We got a pole and good points. This is what we need to keep doing, just knock on the door and eventually it will open.”

THE LAST PART OF THE RACE YOU HAD AS GOOD A CAR AS ANYBODY. “Yeah, I think so. I think we finished where we should have. The 18 was a little bit better, but we were comparable back and forth, so, all in all, we’re getting better. I’m proud of Stewart-Haas Racing, my guys, myself and we’ll have this Monster Energy Mustang in victory lane soon.”

DID THE HEAT BOTHER YOU AT ALL? “I mean, it’s warm for sure, but I just tried to be better than the others.”

DESCRIBE THE AFTERNOON? “Our Monster Energy Ford Mustang was really good today. We got the pole and we wanted to lead some laps, but unfortunately we didn’t lead any laps. We got quite a bit of stage points, which is what we needed. It’s just a really good day for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, myself included. I’m proud of all these guys on the 98 team. If just keep doing these runs we’ll eventually get there and if we just keep knocking on the door, eventually it will open.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS THIS, ESPECIALLY ON PIT ROAD WHERE YOU HIT THE 18 TIRE CARRIER? “Yeah, I mean, I had no intention of doing that. I apologize to the 18 guys, Ratcliff and Joe Gibbs Racing. I just got in there hot. I locked up the left-front and just a bummer deal. We both lost spots, so by no means was I trying to do that, but, yeah, it was tough. I’ll go get some Monster Energy and some food and get ready for Road America.”

Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet

Team Sidelined by Incident at Nashville Superspeedway

Finish: 36th
Start: 19th
Points: 17th

“The results don’t show how fast our Whelen Chevrolet was today at Nashville Superspeedway. Our Richard Childress Racing pit crew did a great job. Those guys gained us positions every time we came to pit road. My crew chief, Jeff Stankiewicz, kept working to make all the right adjustments and we had worked our way into position to score a top-10 finish. Unfortunately, I sped on pit road after Stage 1 and that put us behind but we fought our way back into contention. Then, we got caught up in a wreck and weren’t able to salvage our No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro. It stinks our day ended early but we’ll bounce back next week at Road America.” -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Fight Hard for Top-10 Finish at Nashville Superspeedway

Finish: 8th
Start: 4th
Points: 8th

“It was a hot one in the Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet today at Nashville Superspeedway. I felt like I did a pretty decent job hydrating but I might need to work on it a little bit. In the middle of the race, I got pretty hot. I had to do a reset. I got some ice and got to feeling better again to finish the run. All in all, it was a decent day for us. We fought a loose entry. Our Chevy would get tight across the middle and we never found the right balance. On the last pit stop towards the end of the race I went for a call that I thought would help us, but it didn’t. We lost some speed on the long run so we’ll reevaluate this week. Our RCR Chevrolet was good. I thought we were pretty decent on a short run. As the run went, we would start getting free and then tight across the middle. I feel like we got our front ends working pretty decent now, we just have to get the rear back in the race track.” -Austin Hill

TWO GR SUPRAS SCORE TOP-FIVE FINISHES IN NASHVILLE
Tennessee-native Trevor Bayne finishes second during scorching race day

NASHVILLE (June 25, 2022) – On a race day in Nashville where the temperatures inside the race cars were over 130 degrees, Toyota driver Trevor Bayne finished second in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race. Bayne was followed to the checkered flag by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs in fourth and fellow GR Supra driver Jeffrey Earnhardt in seventh.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Nashville Superspeedway
Race 15 of 33 – 250.04 miles, 188 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, TREVOR BAYNE
3rd, Riley Herbst*
4th, TY GIBBS
5th, Sam Mayer*
7th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
11th, BRANDON JONES
32nd, NATALIE DECKER
19th, JJ YELEY
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

How was your race overall and how were you able to come from the back twice to score and second-place finish?

“It’s really hard to win a race when you go to the back twice. We drove to second twice, from the back. The second stage, we came in with Riley (Herbst) and hit a pit crew member, not intentionally, but it can happen. Then fell back to 15th and drove back to second. Then we had a loose wheel and had to go to the very back and drove back and was catching (Justin) Allgaier. He’s my buddy, Gator, congrats to him. Happy for him, but man, I wanted to win that guitar and win here at Nashville. I feel like we did everything right on the car and feel like I did everything right behind the wheel. We have to clean up the mistakes and we’re going to win because it takes every piece of this deal. But thankful to be here, but it’s perspective. I used to be mad and I’m still mad, but with perspective being happy to be here.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How strong was your race car today?

“I think we had a really fast Monster Energy Toyota Supra. I can’t thank TRD enough and all my guys. We just got hit there and got a little damage on our left front there and kind of hurt us the rest of the race. Overall, a good day. I’ll take it. I thought we had a shot at the win, but the 7 (Justin Allgaier) was good and congratulations to him and that team. We’ll just have to hammer down and keep going. Road America is next month and if you think this is hot, we’ll move on to Road America and somehow it gets hot in Wisconsin.”

What was your point of view when you were spun out from Sam Mayer?

“He (Sam Mayer) just packed air on my left rear and I got out there and he drove into me. It’s just part of it. Hopefully we learned from it and we don’t have to go through that again. I’ve done that mistake too with the 39 (Ryan Sieg) at the beginning of the year. It’s just part of it, part of the learning experience. But overall, thank you to my guys. Thank you to Chris Gayle (crew chief), my guys, Toyota, TRD, Monster Energy – so many people that helped. Hopefully we can hammer down at Road America.”

Will you and Sam Mayer talk about what happened?

“I don’t know, it’s just part of it. It’s a learning experience. We’re both the same age so we’ll see what happens.”

How was your car overall?

“We had a very fast Monster Energy Toyota Supra. Just got hit there, got aero-packed there and got too loose and got drove into. I got damage, left front damage there and that hurt us there and we got tighter. But it’s part of it and overall it was a good day. All the Supras were fast today. My teammate finished second and I know Brandon (Jones) was on a different cycle, but we were all running up front. Good day, good way to improve. We’ll just keep going

#

About Toyota

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RILEY HERBST
Nashville NASCAR Xfinity Series Advance
No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview

• Event: Tennessee Lottery 250 (Round 15 of 33)
• Date: Saturday, June 25
• Location: Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway
• Layout: 1.333-mile, concrete oval
• Time/TV/Radio: 3:30 p.m. EDT on USA/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Riley Herbst Notes of Interest

• As a native of Las Vegas, Riley Herbst should feel right at home in Nashville. The capital of Tennessee may be best known as Music City, but its bright lights and lively nightlife have earned it another nickname – “Nashvegas.” That Nashville Superspeedway is an intermediate-style oval makes Herbst feel even more welcome. His history at intermediates is strong. His best career NASCAR Xfinity Series results have come at intermediates, where he owns a pair of second-place finishes – Feb. 29, 2020 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and July 9, 2020 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

• In his first outing on Nashville’s 1.333-mile concrete oval in last year’s Tennessee Lottery 250, Herbst started 20th and finished 10th. Getting there, however, wasn’t as straightforward. Herbst worked his way into the top-15 by lap 39 and held the position until the end of first stage. But then in the final stage, Herbst and his No. 98 Monster Energy team were hit with two pit-road penalties. This dropped Herbst to the last car on the lead lap. Nonetheless, Herbst was able to overcome this bout of adversity to claw his way into the top-10. A caution on lap 181 set up a green-white-checkered finish. Herbst smartly opted to restart in the preferred line and it paid off as he scored his fourth top-10 of the season.

• The Tennessee Lottery 250 will mark Herbst’s 91st career Xfinity Series start. In total, he has 13 top-fives and 43 top-10s.

• While last year’s race was Herbst’s first at Nashville Superspeedway, it wasn’t his first in Music City. He has two starts in the ARCA Menards Series just 40 minutes west at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. His best finish was seventh, earned in April 2017 during his first fulltime ARCA season.

Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang

After two weeks off, you’re back to racing. How did you spend the past two weeks away from the racecar?

“I think we all needed a reset these past two weeks. We hit a slump right before the break with finishes outside the top-10 at Charlotte and Portland. For myself, I went home to Las Vegas to spend time with family and celebrate my dad’s birthday. It was nice to just take a step back and recollect myself. I’m ready to get back to the track, though, and start another top-10 streak as we continue to move toward the playoffs.”

You should feel right at home in “Nashvegas” this weekend after growing up under the neon lights of Las Vegas. How excited are you to get back to Nashville Superspeedway for Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250?

“I’m pumped to head back to Nashville. The city itself is fun and so is the racing. I don’t know how to describe it, but the track works with my style of racing. This is a race that I had circled on the calendar for this summer – similar to Charlotte. It can be a difficult track, but you just have to put the pieces together. No mistakes, fast pit stops, and speed in the racecar.”

You scored a top-10 last year at Nashville in your first start at the track. Talk about your thoughts heading into this year’s race.

“We’re preparing like we always do, but I’m confident heading into Nashville. Last year was my first race there, and while mistakes were made, we finished top-10. I think that we’ve grown a lot since then. We’ve gotten better. We only had three top-10s on the season going into that race, but this year we have nine. If we can minimize the mistakes and stay out of trouble, we can get the job done this Saturday.”

No. 98 Monster Energy Team Roster

Primary Team Members:

Driver: Riley Herbst
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell
Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: Matt Noyce
Hometown: Oregon, Wisconsin

Engineer: DJ VanderLey
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Spotter: Tim Fedewa
Hometown: Holt, Michigan

Over-The-Wall Crew:

Front Tire Changer: Kevin Teaf
Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Davis Sampere
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina

Fueler: Corey Coppola
Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Jackman: Kapil Fletcher
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Road Crew Members:

Truck Driver: Steve Wood
Hometown: Eatontown, New Jersey

Engine Tuner: Willie Pelotte
Hometown: Oakland, Maine

Tire Specialist: Austin Quick
Hometown: Flagstaff, Arizona

LEBANON, Tenn: Set to return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series scene for the first time in nearly two months, thriving rookie Parker Retzlaff returns to RSS Racing hoping to earn the spotlight in his return with his second top-10 finish of the season in Saturday afternoon’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

In his most recent race at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway in early May, Retzlaff adapted to the Miles’ the Monster in Xfinity Series competition and overcame a subpar qualifying effort to deliver a respectable 17th place finish – recording his third top-20 finish of the year in four races overall.

With Nashville the official start of the summer stretch, Retzlaff turns to the 1.33-mile concrete race track looking for a hot finish on what is expected to be a brutally hot weekend.

“I’m ready to get back to work,” said Retzlaff. “It seems like forever ago that I’ve competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with RSS Racing, but I’m eager to get back behind the wheel and have a strong finish that builds some momentum for my upcoming races.”

Retzlaff has never been to Nashville Superspeedway, but this isn’t the first venue this season that the 19-year-old hasn’t experienced actual track time this season, including Phoenix Raceway, Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway respectively.

But it’s his impressive top-10 finish at Richmond Raceway that is pivoting Retzlaff forward with nearly an hour of practice on deck Friday afternoon to prepare him for his fifth Xfinity Series start of his career.

“I’m approaching Nashville much like I have all season,” added Retzlaff. “I’m utilizing the resource that is available to me, such as iRacing, photos and videos to study and get acquainted for Nashville, but with it expected to be very warm this weekend, track time will mean everything.

“I know that the RSS Racing team will bring me a fast Ford Mustang, so I’m making sure I’m taking the necessary steps myself to stay ahead of the heat from the driver’s perspective by getting hydrated and

following a regiment that will allow me to beat the heat on Saturday afternoon.”

Nashville isn’t only huge because it’s Retzlaff’s return – but because he will debut a new marketing partner in FunkAway, a line of odor elimination products that removes the horrible effects of bad smells aboard his No. 28 Ford Mustang.

B2Z Products Inc. is headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, and is the developer of FunkAway, a line of odor elimination products that removes the horrible effects of bad smells.

Guaranteed to work on clothing, shoes, gear, pet products, car interiors and more, FunkAway allows users to renew and refresh, rather than throw away.

“It’s incredibly important to me to have a good showing at Nashville this weekend and give FunkAway a memorable race,” sounded Retzlaff. “I use FunkAway at home and it’s awesome and I’m sure every driver in the Xfinity Series will need some FunkAway in one shape or form with the weather we’re set to experience this weekend.

“My goal for Saturday afternoon is to give FunkAway a strong debut that will allow us to build our partnership for future races. I’m just ecstatic about having the opportunity to represent FunkAway and hopefully introduce their product to some new race fans!”

In addition to FunkAway, Ponsse, Eco-Tracks, Grille Adz, Iron Horse Loggers, Northern Chill Spring Water and Pewag will serve as associate marketing partners for the 15th Xfinity Series race of the season.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to have the support of FunkAway, Ponsse, Eco-Tracks, Northern Chill Spring Water and our other partners not only for Nashville this weekend but for the 2022 season overall,” explained Retzlaff.

“Without them, I would not be competing in the Xfinity Series this weekend let alone this year. My goal is to go out there and just stick to the same goals we’ve had all season. We want to be better than we unloaded and go forward during the race.

“Hopefully, on Saturday afternoon, we can do a little better than the last race and circle back inside the top-10.”

Retzlaff graduated to the Xfinity Series in 2022 after spending the last two years competing in the ARCA Menards Series East tour where in 12 starts, the Rhinelander, Wisc. native delivered one top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a career-best fourth-place finish in June at Southern National Motorsports Park (SNMP).

In addition to Nashville, Retzlaff will drive an RSS Racing entry in several upcoming races, including Kansas Speedway, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and the season finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway on Sat., Nov. 5, 2022.

Retzlaff added, “I feel like I’ve raced the others on the track with respect and race them how I liked to be raced. Nashville has some tight confines, but I would like to continue building on that respect with my peers and teammates and hope it will be mutual with them. I’m just looking forward to getting to the track and getting to work.”

Outside of the cockpit, Retzlaff is an accomplished iRacer with more than 1,615 poles, 1,653 wins, 3,291 top-five and more than 68,800 laps led.

He is also the rookie driver of the No. 6 KOHLER Generators Ford Mustang for Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

For more on Parker Retzlaff, please visit parkerretzlaff.com, like him on Facebook (Parker Retzlaff Racing), Instagram (@parkerRetzlaff) and follow him on Twitter (@Parker79p).

The Tennessee Lottery 250 (188 laps | 250.04 miles) is the 15th of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2022 schedule. Practice begins on Friday, June 24 from 4:35 p.m. – 5:25 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Saturday, June 25 launching at 11:00 a.m. The 38-car field will take the green flag shortly after 2:30 p.m. with live coverage on USA Network, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90. All times are local (CT).

About RSS Racing:

RSS Racing field three Ford Mustangs in full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competition. Brothers Ryan and Kyle Sieg pilot the No. 39 and No. 28 Ford Mustangs respectively, while the third entry, the No. 38 Ford Mustang funnels a rotating list of drivers including Parker Retzlaff and Charles Joseph (C.J.) McLaughlin.

RSS Racing has competed in NASCAR events since 2009 from its headquarters in Sugar Hill, Ga.