CUP: Riley Herbst’s 17th-place streak ends with massive Phoenix pileup
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld, @Jonathan_Fjeld
Riley Herbst picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at the Phoenix Raceway when his #35 Monster Energy Toyota was collected in a multi-car accident after 98 of 312 laps.
The finish came in Herbst’s 12th series start. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 11th for the #35, the 193rd for Toyota, and the 683rd from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 35th for the #35, the 419th for Toyota, and the 1,411th from a crash.
The last time Herbst competed at the Phoenix track last fall, he took the checkered flag in the XFINITY Series championship race the night Justin Allgaier secured the title. It was a walk-off victory for Stewart-Haas Racing, which scaled back to today’s Haas Factory Team. Fresh off his third XFINITY Series win, Herbst landed his first full-time Cup Series ride with 23XI Racing, the result of an expansion to a third car after acquiring one of the SHR charters. Herbst took his Monster Energy sponsorship to the new #35 entry, having already made eight Cup starts. In that time, he finished 10th in his Cup debut during the 2023 Daytona 500, then led 10 laps late in the Playoff race at Talladega before he was shuffled back to 9th.
This year, after mechanical issues in the qualifiers for the Clash kept him out of the main event at Bowman Gray, Herbst began a bizarre streak where he finished 17th in each of the season’s first three races. This included last Sunday in COTA. That same weekend, Herbst also made his first XFINITY start of the year, where he drove a Joe Gibbs Racing entry for the first time since the Phoenix finale in 2020. That time, he finished 13th.
Herbst wouldn’t drive JGR’s #19 at Phoenix, where Aric Almirola would prevail in a door-slamming photo finish with Alex Bowman. On the Cup side, Herbst began the weekend 29th of the 37 entrants, then qualified 18th with a lap of 27.226 seconds (132.227mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was the lone “open” entry in the field, the return of Live Fast Motorsports for the first time since Atlanta. This time, the driver was English sports car and IndyCar veteran Katherine Legge, whose deal to run the #78 Droplight Chevrolet came together just ten days before the race. Legge ran slowest in both practice and qualifying, but in the latter closed within two-tenths of a second of 36th-place qualifier John Hunter Nemechek in the #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota. By race day, Michael McDowell had to surrender his 7th-place starting spot when the crew had to change the steering rack on race morning, causing them to be late pushing the car onto the starting grid. This incurred the team a tail-end penalty, so McDowell’s #71 Workforce Chevrolet dropped to the rear with Legge now in front of him, on the inside of Nemechek.
When the green flag dropped, McDowell closed on the rear bumper of Legge, who cut low on the dogleg. McDowell cleared her on the outside, dropping the #78 to last, 5.136 seconds back of the leader at the stripe. By Lap 4, Legge was 7.118 back of new 36th-place runner Ty Gibbs, whose #54 Monster Energy Toyota finished last in the most recent Phoenix race last November. The next time by, Legge was struggling with a tight condition when she spun off Turn 2, then managed to avoid hitting the wall. She continued under the ensuing caution, showing 16.396 seconds back of the lead.
Legge then pitted for four fresh tires and made a second stop for a minor adjustment. The first stop came on a closed pit road, so after Chase Briscoe briefly held last for pitting his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota on Lap 8, Legge retook the spot on the Lap 10 restart. But seconds later, Noah Gragson’s #4 Long John Silver’s Ford slid into Todd Gilliland’s #34 Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford off Turn 2. Gilliland banged doors with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #47 Ram Self Storage Chevrolet. The contact sent Stenhouse across Gilliland’s nose, and he hooked Cole Custer’s #41 Haas / Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford into a spin. This dropped Stenhouse to last, which he maintained on Lap 13 as the crew changed four tires and spent time repairing the left-front corner. Stenhouse dropped Legge to last on the Lap 15 restart, and by Lap 19, Legge was 8.837 seconds back of the lead.
Next to take the last spot was race leader Joey Logano, who incurred a pass-through penalty for turning below the yellow line before he reached the start/finish line. Logano’s #22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford incurred its pass-through penalty on Lap 20, dropping him to last on Lap 21, 16.205 seconds back of the leader. Logano managed to stay on the lead lap, 21.653 seconds back of the lead on Lap 25 and about seven seconds back of Legge. Logano made up the deficit by Lap 31, when he crossed the stripe 22.170 seconds back of the lead to Legge’s 22.304. Four laps later on the 35th circuit, race leader William Byron caught and passed Legge to her inside off Turn 2, putting the #78 a lap down. By now, Legge’s car was too loose, and she fell two laps down by Lap 50. On Lap 56, Legge lost the Lucky Dog spot to Cody Ware, whose 36th-place #51 Mighty Fire Breaker Ford lost a lap to the leaders. By the Lap 61 caution that ended Stage 1, 35th-place Ty Dillon had also lost a lap in the #10 Hybrid Light Chevrolet, taking the “Lucky Dog” from Ware.
During this caution, Legge’s crew discovered the right-side roof flap was still stuck in position after her spin, which may have caused her car’s handling issues. She remained in last for the Lap 72 restart, still two laps down, and still held the spot when the next caution fell on Lap 93. That time by, Michael McDowell cut a right-rear tire and bounced off the wall in Turns 3 and 4. As Ware earned the “Lucky Dog,” McDowell limped around the track, and the crew prepared to look over the toe link on the right-rear. He managed to stay on the lead lap until a second stop, where his crew looked under the hood. By Lap 97, McDowell was three laps down and took the spot from Legge. They sent him back out on Lap 98, looking to clear minimum speed, which was set at 31.24 seconds. By then, the leaders were addressing the starter’s stand, so McDowell was a half-lap behind. This turned out to be well-timed.
The view from Herbst’s onboard camera after the wreck. (SCREENSHOT: MAX)
Once again, the eye of the storm was Turn 2. Stuck in the middle of a four-wide battle around 18th place were Justin Haley’s #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet and Chase Briscoe’s #19. The two made contact, causing Briscoe’s #19 to ramp over Haley’s right-front. Briscoe careened into the car to his outside – Carson Hocevar’s #77 Miner Docks Doors and More Chevrolet. Briscoe and Hocevar bounced off the wall, back into Haley, who collected Shane van Gisbergen’s #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet. As wrecked cars careened across the track, 22nd-place Riley Herbst tried to escape to the inside, only to be tipped by Van Gisbergen and Haley. Herbst spun to the inside, crossing the nose of Custer’s #41, then into the inside wall, damaging the nose of Herbst’s Toyota. When the dust settled, Herbst was stranded in the middle of the backstretch facing backwards. He tried to re-fire the engine, but it kept cutting off when he turned the steering wheel. By Lap 103, Herbst took over last place as the lowest-classified of the cars involved in the wreck. While Max.com’s leaderboard showed Briscoe in last place and FOX Sports showed Hocevar in the spot, NASCAR.com and the track’s timing and scoring correctly showed Haley in the position.
Herbst towed to the garage after the wreck. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld, @Jonathan_Fjeld)
Hocevar, Briscoe, and Haley took the next three spots in the Bottom Five. Brad Keselowski was also among those collected, and for a time, it appeared his #6 Consumer Cellular Ford was going to return to the race after repairs in the garage. But after the rest of the Bottom Five was declared out by NASCAR on Lap 120, Keselowski was on Lap 146.
Several surprising runs in Phoenix
After stopping to avoid the big wreck, McDowell cleared minimum speed on Lap 115. He was then black-flagged for running too slow on Lap 131, only for NASCAR to rescind this on Lap 133, moments before McDowell pulled into Garage Stall 20 for further repairs. He returned to the track on Lap 147, 18 laps down in the 30th spot. After struggling with an ill-handling car for much of the remaining distance, he then surprised with the fastest lap of the race on Lap 274 (27.02 seconds), winning the fastest lap bonus in the process. He finished 27th, 22 laps down.
Finishing an impressive 4th was the #21 eero Ford of Josh Berry, who earned the Wood Brothers’ first top-five finish at Phoenix in the team’s 44th start. It also marked the first top-five finish for Berry since his 3rd-place run at Loudon last summer.
Taking 9th was Zane Smith in the #38 Aaron’s Ford, his first top-ten finish of the season and first top-ten run in a Front Row Motorsports entry since the 2023 Coca-Cola 600. Smith had finished no better than 29th in his previous three Cup starts at Phoenix.
Also contending, but falling short of a strong finish, was Ty Dillon, who battled into the Top Five in the late stages before a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 270 sent him back in the order. He came home 16th, one spot behind Ryan Preece, who was first to go to the “option” tires on Sunday and led 34 laps before falling back to 15th, and two spots back of 14th-place John Hunter Nemechek, who climbed as high as 9th before he dropped back on the final restart.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #35 in a Cup Series race since September 6, 2015, when Cole Whitt’s #35 Speed Stick Ford crashed after 5 laps of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington. The number had never finished last in a Cup race at Phoenix.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #35-Riley Herbst / 98 laps / crash
36) #77-Carson Hocevar / 98 laps / crash
35) #19-Chase Briscoe / 98 laps / crash
34) #7-Justin Haley / 98 laps / crash
33) #6-Brad Keselowski / 99 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) 23XI Racing, Kaulig Racing, RFK Racing, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
