Riley Herbst trashes Roval track heading into elimination race at Charlotte

Fresh off his P3 finish at Talladega, Riley Herbst had one thing on his mind – how horrible the track at the Charlotte Roval is. The NASCAR Xfinity Series driver doesn’t like the track and thinks the new changes have made it worse.

When the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series race at the Roval next week, it will be a new track. At least, Turns 6 and 7 have changed as well as a small change in Turns 15 and 16.

The reconfiguration is to increase speed, make cars less stable, and challenge drivers more than before. But it sounds like Riley Herbst wants nothing to do with this track.

Herbst caught up with Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut and aired out his feelings on the new track configuration. After watching Sammy Smith win at Talladega, Herbst was already moving on to the Roval.

“Yeah I don’t know if you’ve seen it Matt, but they’ve took a really bad race track and made it really, really worse,” Herbst said. “I don’t know, that wasn’t good English, but that’s kind of how I feel about it. I’d feel better if it was the old layout, but that new Turn 7, it’s dismal. So, it’s going to be interesting. Luckily they were wise enough to give us 50 minutes of practice on Saturday morning to kind of let us figure it out. I don’t know, I guess +13 is better than +12 going in there. So, we’ll go race.”

Riley Herbst is in a better position than others. Still, he can’t afford a DNF or early mistake at the Roval that puts him behind. Right now, he and Cole Custer are giving Stewart-Haas Racing two chances at winning a championship before closing down.

That’s where things get complicated.

Riley Herbst has mixed relationship with the Roval

Over the course of his Xfinity Series career, Riley Herbst has four previous starts at the Roval. Last season, he earned his career-best result at the track, P4. Prior to that, things weren’t so great.

In half of his four starts at the Roval, Herbst has left with a DNF. There is a good reason why he doesn’t like this race track. With the new additions, which include a hairpin turn where the track turns back on itself, the track could be more unpredictable.

Remember how many drivers missed Turn 1 at the Roval in the past? That hard turn gave drivers fits. NASCAR is trying to recreate that with Turn 7 and the new way it is laid out.

Riley Herbst has a +13 advantage to the cutline. He will try to use that cushion and at least a good performance next week to push himself into the Round of 8.