SHR Star Out of Contention as Massive Road Course Stack Up Jeopardize SVG’s COTA Hopes

Going into overtime for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Riley Herbst, driving the No. 98 Stewart Haas Racing car, has found himself in a pile-up. Coming off the backstretch and after the restart, Herbst got tangled with Ryan Ellis and Leland Honeyman, which sparked a big one and thus flagged the late caution. The 98 SHR car was also leaking fluids, which had to be cleared out by the officials.

It’s double overtime at COTA, and it is certainly not a sight that Shane van Gisbergen was hoping for after having led the race for most of the final stage. It is going to go down the wire—Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, or SVG, take a guess. Moreover, the new restart zone certainly ain’t doing much to help the wrecks or the chaos in Turn 1.

The Circuit of the Americas proved to be the worst outing for the SHR driver so far this season

Herbst wasn’t able to catch a break with the oncoming traffic after a chaotic restart in the first overtime during the Xfinity Series race. Coming off Turn 11, the No. 98 SHR car was spun across the race track after multiple cars came into contact. Herbst did manage to avoid the oncoming traffic at first, but he soon suffered a big blow.

Leland Honeyman in his 42 car was trying to navigate his way around the pileup, but he barged straight into the front of Herbst’s car. In a desperate attempt to try and salvage some points, the SHR driver tried to continue the race, but the damage was severe to the car, and the caution flag had to be waved.

The front bumper of the #98 SHR car was shattered, whereas the bigger issue for his car was that it was leaking oil. Officials had to tow his car and clear the oil off the racetrack for the race to continue. The other drivers who were caught up in the same wreck were Daniil Kvyat, Ryan Ellis, Brad Perez, and Chandler Smith; thus, a total of seven cars fell victim to the accident.

Starting off the season on a high note, Riley Herbst seems to have gone down the boil in his recent outings, and the #34 place finish certainly doesn’t help his cause going forward.

Riley Herbst’s season so far in the Xfinity Series

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The 25-year-old Nevada native, apart from his Xfinity schedule, will also feature in select Cup Series races with Rick Ware Racing. In his first Cup race of the season at Daytona International Speedway, he finished #24, whereas in the Xfinity Series race at the same venue, he managed a decent #6 finish.

Moving on to Atlanta Motor Speedway, he did manage to secure a starting position in the second row for the race but could only manage a #15 finish. Las Vegas was his best display of racing so far in the series. He finished fourth and third in the two stages of the race and rounded off the event with his first top-five finish of the season. However, the Phoenix race proved to be a difficult one for Herbst to deal with, and he had to be content with a #27 position. However, today’s results are certainly not going to add any points to his name in the standings.

Read More: Shane van Gisbergen Handed a 30-Second Time Penalty at COTA; Loses 2nd Place Finish

Before the COTA race, Riley Herbst was among the chasing pack in fourth place in the driver’s standings. But given today’s unfortunate end to his race, he could take a big tumble down in the standings.