Riley Herbst Claims First Xfinity Series Win in Las Vegas

Riley Herbst gets his first Xfinity win in his home town (Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)

LAS VEGAS — Riley Herbst won the Alsco Uniforms 302 in what turned into dominating fashion late in the race, claiming his first NASCAR XFINITY Series win in his hometown on Saturday afternoon.

For the first race in the Round of 8, Josh Berry led the field to green in the No. 8 car after getting eliminated from the Xfinity Series Playoffs last week at the ROVAL. Berry maintained the lead through the first four laps after a three wide start to the race before a caution came out for Patrick Emerling getting into the wall after smoke filled his No. 53 car.

Chandler Smith took the lead from Berry on the restart and lead for two laps before another caution came out for Brett Moffitt and Joe Graf Jr. getting into the wall. Cole Custer gained the lead with 10 laps to go in Stage 1 and claimed his seventh stage win of 2023.

Stage 2 started off with another caution when Kaz Grala lost his engine from the 18th position. Cole Custer was able to maintain the lead after the restart. Custer was able to maintain the lead throughout the rest of Stage 2, gaining his second playoff point of the day.

On Lap 106 of the 201 Lap race, Riley Herbst was able to get by Cole Custer to secure the race lead. The Las Vegas, Nevada native dominated the rest of the final Stage and secured his first Xfinity Series win. After the race, Herbst spoke about what the win meant to him, and the people who helped get him to this point in his career.

“Oh my goodness. I love this town,” Herbst said. “I love this team. Davin Restivo believes in me, but I have to give a big shout out to Richard Boswell because I wouldn’t be the person I am or the race car driver without him. I can’t thank Monster Energy enough, Mitch Covington, Dave Gowan. Everybody said I couldn’t do it and those two people stuck behind my my whole career. You don’t even know what this means and what this takes off my chest. I can’t believe it. I love you Las Vegas. Let’s go!”

“I’ve been working on myself and everything I can control,” Herbst added. “I knew all I could do is all I could do and if there was a caution, there was a caution and we were gonna race them straight up. But, oh my goodness. This year was such a failure that we didn’t make the playoffs. It’s so embarrassing to be in a car like this that doesn’t make the playoffs and walk in the garage each week with your head down, but Davin Restivo and all these guys on the 98 team told me to keep my head up and we’re gonna go win a race and that’s what we did. I can’t fathom it. I can’t thank Monster Energy enough. I can’t thank my grandfather and mom and dad enough. I’m so emotional, but everybody here at Las Vegas, I love you guys. This is my home. I was born and raised here, so let’s go party and we’re gonna celebrate tonight.”

STAGE 1

1- Cole Custer

2- Chandler Smith

3- Sammy Smith

4- Daniel Hemric

5- Austin Hill

6- John Hunter Nemechek

7- Justin Allgaier

8- Brandon Jones

9- Parker Kligerman

10- Riley Herbst

STAGE 2

1- Riley Herbst

2- Cole Custer

3- John Hunter Nemechek

4- Justin Allgaier

5- Daniel Hemric

6- Chandler Smith

7- Josh Berry

8- Sam Mayer

9- Sammy Smith

10- Brandon Jones

FINAL