by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Riley Herbst picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at the Michigan International Speedway when his #98 Monster Energy Ford crashed after 48 of 128 laps.

The finish, which came in Herbst’s 163rd series start, was his second of the year and first since May 25, 2024 at Charlotte, nine races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 10th for the #98, the 172nd for Ford, and the 398th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 47th for the #98, the 1,044th for Ford, and the 1,387th from a crash.

When the NASCAR XFINITY Series last competed in Indianapolis, it was Herbst who stole the show. Looking for his second career win following his breakthrough triumph last fall in Las Vegas, it was Herbst who battled both teammate Cole Custer and Aric Almirola down to the final lap. After taking the lead in a car locked fully sideways through Turn 4, Herbst claimed what is already his biggest career victory. The win also came at the peak of a strong stretch run. In the eight races between his most recent last-place run in Charlotte and last Saturday in Michigan, he only once finished worse than 13th – an overheating issue on the Chicago Street Course.

But with Stewart-Haas Racing’s impending closure, there remained questions about Herbst’s plans for 2025. He was reportedly offered a ride at the Haas Factory Team, which will continue to field both SHR’s XFINITY entries next season and has already hired Cole Custer to run a single Chartered Cup car. But at Michigan came news that Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed had secured those seats, and the #98 – inherited by SHR after the team’s merger with Biagi-DenBeste Racing – would not be run in 2025. Signs still seem to point to Herbst making the jump to Cup, where he’s become an increasing presence. Coming into Michigan, he’s already made eight starts – four each in last year and this year. In that span, he already has a pair of top-ten finishes, including a near-victory at Talladega that came days before his inaugural XFINITY win.

At Michigan, Herbst began the weekend just 21st in practice, then jumped to outside-pole in qualifying with a lap of 42.048 seconds (171.233mph), just 0.101 second off the pole earned by Sheldon Creed in the #18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota. There were 39 drivers entered for the 38-car field. Sent home was Morgen Baird, who attempted to make his series debut in Joey Gase’s second car, the #53 Alro Steel Ford. Baird’s best career finishes in ARCA had come at this same Michigan track.

Gase himself secured the 38th and final starting spot in the #35 Chevrolet sponsored by Bumpers That Deliver, a company that came on board following Gase’s famous encounter with Dawson Cram after their on-track tangle in Richmond. Gase would incur a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments along with 37th-place starter Ryan Ellis in the #43 ABC Warehouse / Icon LLC Chevrolet. This kept the final row in the same order as, following a brief rain delay, the leaders took the green flag.

By Lap 9, the spot fell to Logan Bearden, back in SS-Green Light Racing’s #14, and with a last-minute sponsor in Tristar Protective Services. At the time, he was 13.787 seconds back of the lead and 0.273 behind Ellis. The next time by, Bearden dropped Caesar Bacarella to 38th in his #45 Prime Bites Chevrolet, opening a gap of 0.303. From there, Bacarella gradually lost ground, the gap increasing to 1.001 to on Lap 11, 1.401 on Lap 12, 2.242 on Lap 13, 3.061 on Lap 14, and 3.754 on Lap 15. Part of this increase was due to Bacarella breaking loose between Turns 1 and 2 while running by himself.

On Lap 15, Taylor Gray was racing Sammy Smith’s #8 Allstate Peterbilt Group Chevrolet for 7th spot when Gray spun his #19 Operation 300 Toyota off Turn 2. Gray avoided the wall and took last from Bacarella on Lap 16. More pit stops dropped Noah Gragson to last on Lap 17 in his #30 Ford Performance Ford, but Gray was caught speeding in Section 12, dropping him to the tail end again on Lap 18, taking last place after it was also briefly held by Kyle Weatherman in the #91 DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet. By now, the 37th-place Bacarella was reporting he had an issue with the power steering, and the crew told him to focus on reaching the end of the stage.

Just after the Lap 19 restart, Sammy Smith was running 4th when he received a bump from teammate Justin Allgaier in the #7 Hellmann’s / Meijer Chevrolet. At that moment, Smith had slowed due to a leak in his right-rear tire, and he pulled to the inside down the backstretch as he prepared to make it to pit road. That time by, Joey Gase had taken the last spot for the first time, 3.265 seconds back of the lead and just behind Gragson. But Smith took the spot after his stop on Lap 20, dropping him to the first car one lap down. As he picked up speed again, Smith radioed he had a tire rub, just as he had in qualifying. The team estimated it went down “from hitting it too hard on the frontstretch.”

Herbst, meanwhile, was still among the leaders, and on Lap 24 had caught polesitter Sheldon Creed for the lead. Heading through Turns 3 and 4, Herbst closed on Creed’s rear bumper, and the #18 spun, putting Herbst into the lead. The caution fell as Creed avoided any contact and pulled down the closing pit road. The caution put Sammy Smith back on the lead lap, and though Creed made two stops for additional repairs, he never quite took the 38th spot. It was Gase who retook the position on Lap 28. The field took the restart with just a few laps left in Stage 1 and rain on its way. Gase remained in the spot when Stage 1 ended on Lap 30, now behind Leland Honeyman, who on the previous run bounced the right-rear off the wall at the exit of Turn 2 in his #42 RandCo Industries Chevrolet. The rain picked up, and Gase stayed in his car as the red flag fell on Lap 34.

After another brief delay, Bacarella retook the 38th spot on Lap 35. The crew had investigated his power steering issue, only to find the fluid reservoir was still full. Whatever the issue was, Bacarella would have to contend with it for the rest of the race. He remained in last on Lap 36, when Austin Hill’s #21 United Rentals Chevrolet crossed the nose of Carson Kvapil’s #88 Clarience Chevrolet entering Turn 3, sending Hill sliding through the rain-soaked grass on the apron. Hill took the spot under the ensuing caution on Lap 38, then received a redundant tail-end penalty for pitting on a closed pit lane. Hill radioed that he’d already put the incident out of his mind, and prepared to climb back through the rankings.

On the Lap 42 restart, Hill had already cleared Honeyman by the time the field came off Turn 2, and he soon cleared minimum speed. The next time by, Honeyman caught and re-passed Bearden’s #14, putting Bearden back to last once more. The two were side-by-side at the stripe, 0.074 second apart, but the gap grew to 0.473 on Lap 44, shrank to 0.114 on Lap 45, then increased again to 0.481 on Lap 46, 0.672 on Lap 47, and 0.409 on Lap 48. Just after Bearden’s crew asked if he needed anything – to which the driver said “No” – there was trouble ahead of him in Turn 3.

Heading into the corner, Riley Herbst was turning hard right, moving from the low lane to the high lane in front of Stage 1 winner Ryan Sieg in the #39 Sci Aps Ford. But Herbst wasn’t clear, so he hooked himself off the left-front fender of Sieg’s car, turning him head-on into the outside wall. Just behind Sieg, Brandon Jones spun his #9 Menards / Nibco Chevrolet, forcing Sam Mayer to drive into the grass in his #1 10X Health Chevrolet, only to be sideswiped by Jones. Mayer’s car then pulled back up the track, where he was rear-ended by Cole Custer in the #00 Autodesk / Haas Automation Ford. Herbst climbed from his car, done for the day. Mayer made it to pit road before he, too, climbed out, while Jones briefly continued with the panel in front of the left-rear tire removed from his car before he, too, pulled into the garage.

Lawless Alan took his turn in AM Racing’s #15 Ford, bringing his Truck Series sponsor AutoChargIt.com. He qualified 15th and finished a strong 5th in Stage 1. While still battling among the leaders on Lap 65, Alan broke loose in Turn 1, sliding up the track and collecting both Jeb Burton in the #27 Rocky Boots Chevrolet and Daniel Dye in the #10 Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet. Burton continued after the wreck to finish 16th while Dye joined Alan in the garage, taking 34th.

Several surprises among the wrecks and raindrops at Michigan

After one more rain delay forced an overtime restart, Kyle Sieg’s #28 Ford was sent flipping into Turn 3 in what was the first appearance of former J.D. McDuffie sponsor Bailey Excavating in the XFINITY Series since 1987. Taking home 4th was Anthony Alfredo, who came one spot short of his season-best 3rd in Talladega in Our Motorsports’ #5 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet. Matt DiBenedetto equaled his season-best 7th from Iowa in RSS Racing’s #38 Sci Aps Ford. Caesar Bacarella also came home 9th, his first time scoring two top-ten finishes in the same season, and his first top-ten on a track other than Talladega.

Not far behind, Leland Honeyman climbed from 33rd on the grid and despite his right-rear damage in the early laps came home 12th. Two spots behind him came Ryan Ellis, who climbed from 37th to finish 14th, his best finish since Iowa, when he claimed the same position.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #98 in a XFINITY Series race at Michigan.

*Herbst is the first outside-polesitter to finish last in a XFINITY Series race at Michigan since August 16, 1997, when Dick Trickle’s #64 Dura Lube Chevrolet led 2 laps, but lost the engine after 44 laps of the Detroit Gasket 200.

*Herbst is the first XFINITY Series driver to finish last after leading at least one lap since September 2, 2023, when Kyle Larson finished 31 laps down at Darlington. His four laps are the most led by a XFINITY last-place finisher since July 18, 2020, when race winner Kyle Busch led 15 laps on his way to victory, only to be disqualified for improper left-rear ride height.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #98-Riley Herbst / 48 laps / crash / led 4 laps

37) #1-Sam Mayer / 49 laps / crash

36) #9-Brandon Jones / 50 laps / crash

35) #15-Lawless Alan / 65 laps / crash

34) #10-Daniel Dye / 66 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Joey Gase Motorsports, JR Motorsports (3)

2nd) DGM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

3rd) Alpha Prime Racing, AM Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Motorsports Business Management, RSS Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (13)

2nd) Ford (5)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP