The Iowa race ended in heartbreak due to tire problems. But Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer were engaged in a different battle: the battle to the finish line.
When Herbst crossed the finish line at Iowa Speedway, Ricky Bobby’s famous words probably went through his mind: “If you’re not first, you’re last.”
He just missed out on his second career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. And now that Team SHR is disbanded, winning races is even more important to him. And for him, every race is basically an audition.
When the team broke up because of Tony Stewart, the race upset him more than the SHR drivers, and he even confessed after the race that he had mixed feelings of frustration.
Mixed Frustrations for Riley Herbst after the race
In a green-white-checkered finish at Iowa Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s phenom Sam Mayer earned his second win of the 2024 season. Which driver was least satisfied with his win? Riley’s fall! Riley Herbst fell just 0.146 seconds short of the win at Iowa Speedway.
The two leaders in the field continued to work together throughout the numerous restarts. Given the tire issues, there were plenty of problems.
And Mayer’s approach actually looked aggressive. Highlining is very cheap after the new asphalt is laid, so Mayer took advantage of the opportunity. He pushed Riley Herbst into turn 1 and secured the lead.
After the race, the SHR Xfinity star had mixed emotions. Part of him was angry at Mayer, and he even took his frustrations out on the track after the win by running into Mayer and breaking his left rear tire.
He also expressed his displeasure to the media. Speaking to Frontstretch, he said: “I don’t know what stage it was, but it was some stage before that. I didn’t think his sliding attempt was fair. It wasn’t even close. I was still within a doorknob of him from that incident.
It seemed a bit childish at the time, but I was just frustrated.” It was a frustrating race to the end, but after a while he felt a sense of relief at having put in a great performance.
His final top-five finish of the season came at Talladega, and his previous two races had been pretty lackluster, finishing 10th at Portland and 13th at Sonoma.
After the race, he said, “These last two weeks on the road courses have been really embarrassing. My performance and the guys’ performance in the ’98 race was unacceptable, so I’m happy to be back on the oval.” It’s definitely a complicated frustration.”
On the one hand he seems angry about what happened with Mayer, but on the other hand he seems happy with where he is in terms of performance at the moment.
Not everything went in his favor, but he still did great. But these two weren’t the only drivers where things got heated.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver mad with his teammate, costing him a win!
Sheldon Creed and John Hunter Nemechek are not happy as teammates after the incident that occurred at the Iowa track.
Creed was forthright in expressing how his teammate Nemechek’s actions cost them both a chance to win on Saturday.
They were battling for second place and with 12 laps to go, Creed attacked in turn 3, resulting in contact that cost him all the valuable position he had worked so hard to gain. According to him, Nemechek should have given up his position considering he’s not even competing for points in the Xfinity Series.
After the race, Creed told Bob Pockrass: “Yeah, I just gave him the option and he knew I was going to put my foot down either way. I thought maybe he was going to pass me, or… he wasn’t going to fight for the points, so maybe I’d give myself the points.
But yeah, he accelerated next to me and somehow it cost us both the win, I don’t know. I blame him, he blames me, right?” Creed was able to pull off a top-five win. Meanwhile, Nemechek, like half the drivers, fell victim to tire issues.
Almost 70% of the cautions were due to tire issues, highlighting Goodyear’s failure on the track. What does it mean? Is Creed right that Nemechek should have withdrawn? Let us know in the comments.
