NASCAR insiders react to Riley Herbst comments ripping media after Phoenix win

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst went after the media after this past weekend, and two insiders don’t understand why. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reacted to Herbst’s comments after Saturday night’s Xfinity Series Championship Race.

“Why was Riley Herbst so mad though in the press conference?” Gluck asked Bianchi on Sunday night. “Have we ever said bad things about Riley Herbst?”

Bianchi replied, “I think we’ve been critical of Riley at times, I don’t think we’re overly critical about anything. But to sit there and say that Riley is some infallible figure, his record is his record. For many years, it wasn’t great. But he has gotten better, and his win in Indianapolis this year was really impressive. His win at Las Vegas when he blew everybody’s doors off was really great. I thought he was really great in winning last night.

“It’s not like there wasn’t fair criticism to levy. I don’t know if there’s somebody out there that he’s heard or if he pays too much attention to his social media comments or what. But I would say is ignore it and look at who you are now. You’re a driver who a year ago won your first race. This year, you’ve won two races. You’ve made progress, you’re getting better, you’ve made improvements. If things go as planned, he’s going to be in the Cup Series next year with a good team.”

What Riley Herbst said after winning the Xfinity Series Championship Race

Herbst won the Xfinity Series Championship Race but did not win the title as it went to Justin Allgaier. He did make the playoffs, though, and finished seventh in the season standings.

After the race, Herbst was asked about the media members who have discredited him. “They all know where they are. I’ve heard the podcasts,” Herbst said. “I’ve seen the comments. I’ve seen Twitter. I’ve seen it all. They know who it is. I know who it is. This is the championship race. I would assume all 36 cars brought their best stuff.

“The final five brought the really, really best stuff, the new spec motors, all that stuff, and we beat them. I don’t know what to tell you about that. So we’ll see what online has to say about that. But then they threw the caution, tried to lose little spots on pit road and we battled back and won. We’ll see what happens there.”