Despite Tony Stewart’s Constant Absence, Riley Herbst Drags Stewart-Haas Racing to New Milestone at Las Vegas

On the Cup side of things, Stewart-Haas Racing has had a silly season so far. Take the playoffs for example, only Kevin Harvick was able to qualify for the playoffs. But at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 47-year-old got ousted from the playoff contention ending the year on a sad note for the number 4 Ford Mustang team. However, people blamed it on Tony Stewart and his team. They felt like the SHR team failed Kevin Harvick months before his retirement.

Kevin Harvick did not point fingers at anyone though. Although he had wished to end his illustrious career with a win, the Bakersfield native is ready to pick up the FOX Sports microphone and transition to a new path in his career. Nevertheless, despite their Cup Series woes, a young SHR speedster grabbed a major milestone in the Xfinity Series. Harvick was there to celebrate but the Smoke was nowhere to be found.

A major milestone for the number 98 SHR team but where is the owner?

After 139 starts over 5 years, Riley Herbst finally got his hands on that one thing that he had been craving for so long. And that is his first career win. Despite starting the race from the back of the pack, Herbst finished Stage 1 10th. After that, he did not let the momentum come down even a bit.

He lost the lead in the last stage but quickly snatched it back, holding the lead for 14 seconds over a career-high 103 laps of the 201-lap-long race. Besides featuring his major breakthrough, Herbst’s victory helped Stewart-Haas Racing attain a major milestone as well.

Riley Herbst’s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marked the 100th victory for Tony Stewart all across the three top-tier NASCAR series.

Watch this story: Tony Stewart Quashes Rumors Amidst $49.03 Billion Manufacturer’s Concerns

While Kevin Harvick was seen in the victory lane congratulating the 24-year-old star, Tony Stewart was absent. Isn’t it a bit unnatural for the team owner to be absent on the day that witnessed such a remarkable success for the team?

An unfortunate series of events finally rolled out into a long-awaited victory

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Earlier this year at Watkins Glen, Riley Herbst had shown immense speed that could have brought him a good position for the team. However, an issue with transmission took away his speed. Staggering with all that his car was left with, Herbst deemed it the best to not pit and stay on the track to gather points. However, the track bar on the #98 broke, forcing him to fall out of the race.

The following week at the Wawa 250 at Daytona, the Las Vegas native experienced yet another mechanical failure in his Monster Energy car that had his tire explode and his fender, tear off. As a result, Herbst came limping back to the pit and couldn’t do anything better than salvaging a 24th-place finish.

Moreover, he failed to make it into the playoffs this year. The frustration hence, was quite legitimate. But when Riley won his first Xfinity Series win at his hometown racetrack, he felt a lot lighter.

Herbst exclaimed, “I love this town. I love this team. Davin Restivo (crew chief) believes in me, but I have to give a big shout-out to Richard Boswell (SHR’s Xfinity director) because I wouldn’t be the person I am or the race car driver without him. I can’t thank Monster Energy enough!”

“Everybody said that I couldn’t do it and those two people (crew chief Davin Restivo and SHR Xfinity director Richard Boswell) stuck behind me my whole career. Oh my goodness, you don’t even know what this means; what this takes off my chest. I can’t believe it. I love you Las Vegas, let’s go!” he added with unbridled emotions seeping out of his voice.

Read more: Tony Stewart Gets Dead Serious; Has “Bad News” for Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing & Co.