Yahoo Autos Herbst gearing up for NASCAR Cup Series run at Talladega
Full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor Riley Herbst will make his fourth NASCAR Cup start this Sunday afternoon when he climbs into the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports entry at Talladega.
“I’m excited to race this one and I’ve got the Beast from Monster Energy on-board on Sunday,” said Herbst, who made the first Cup start of his career earlier this year at the Daytona 500 where he placed 10th. “We were really fast at Daytona in the Cup car in the 500, as well as in the August race where we even led a few laps and had a shot for a stage win. It was cool to go up front in the Cup race and learn every lap. Hopefully, we can do the same thing here at Talladega.
“I’m going to take it lap-by-lap. I truly would like to learn as much as I can. I want to complete all 500 miles and just be there at the end. That’s kind of the game plan we’ve set out to execute. We just want to learn, learn, learn. That’s the biggest thing for me at this point in my career right now. I’ll be working with my crew chief Tony Manzer. This will be my second time working with him, and I’m excited for it.”
Having competed in the aforementioned Daytona 500, Herbst also made Cup starts at the Talladega spring race, as well as the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Despite placing 20th and 38th at Talladega and Daytona respectively, Herbst has been appreciative of the experience of running in the draft with the Cup regulars.
“Yeah, I just learn so much from the Cup guys,” he said. “It is just so much experience to take in. I’m racing against the best in the world, so it’s always good to learn from those guys and to try and make yourself better out there.”
Both superspeedways envisioned and constructed by the France family, Daytona and Talladega produce similar frantic pack racing, but are quite different in other ways. While 2.5-mile Daytona is known for its narrowness, bumps and slick racing surface, the 2.660-mile Talladega surface is much wider, smoother and easier on the driver.
