JUSTIN HALEY | RILEY HERBST
Richmond Advance
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out 400 (Round 23 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 11
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 70 laps / Stage 2: 160 laps / Final Stage: 170 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Pinnacle Home Improvements Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Pinnacle Home Improvements Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing (RWR), will make his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start at the .75-mile Richmond (Va.) Raceway. In the series’ last outing at Richmond in March, Haley finished 32nd. He has a best finish of 21st at the short track, earned in August 2022.
● Haley also owns two runner-up finishes at Richmond in five career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, earned in 2020 and 2021, and has another pair of top-10 results. He made one start at Richmond in the ARCA Menards Series East in 2015, finishing 12th in a 35-car field.
● Since the last Cup Series visit to Richmond in March, Haley has earned two top-10 finishes and seven top-20s for RWR. He’s earned the team’s best results at 10 different tracks, including setting a new team-best result with a ninth-place effort at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May.
● With 22 races completed so far, Haley is ranked sixth among all drivers in laps and miles completed. He sits 29th in the driver standings.
● Pinnacle Home Improvements, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, is a direct-to-homeowner provider of home improvement services, with a focus on roof replacement, window replacement and other exterior services for existing single-family homes. With additional offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville, Tennessee, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, the company’s existing service footprint covers a range of attractive Southeast U.S. markets, with planned expansion into new Southeastern markets.
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 15 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Riley Herbst returns to the No. 15 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford Mustang Dark Horse for his fifth Cup Series start and first at Richmond. Herbst’s last Cup Series start for RWR was six weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway. Overall, Herbst owns two Cup Series top-10s, including a best finish of ninth last October at the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway oval, and 10th in his Cup Series debut in the 2023 Daytona 500 with RWR.
● The 25-year-old racer from Las Vegas is the most recent winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, having collected his second career victory three weeks ago at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Herbst started on the front row, second to his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer, and led 30 laps on his way to victory and the right to kiss the Yard of Bricks.
● Herbst owns three Xfinity Series starts at Richmond, which resulted in two top-fives and four top-10s. He earned back-to-back top-fives at the track in 2021 and 2022.
● Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, the company supports the scene and sport. Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports partnerships, athletes and musicians represent. More than a drink, it’s the way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers and fans.
Rick Ware Racing Notes
● RWR’s Progressive American Flat Track (AFT) drivers, Briar Bauman, Kody Kopp and Shayna Texter-Bauman are gearing up for Sunday’s Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT Presented by Rick Ware Racing and The CAT Rental Store, their second race of the week after competing Tuesday at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota. On Tuesday, AFT Singles rider Kopp earned his 11th podium in 12 races run this season. He leads the championship standings by 25 points with five wins. Mission SuperTwins rider Bauman earned his second win of the year July 28 in the SC2 Peoria TT at Peoria (Ill.) Motorcycle Club.
● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.
Justin Haley, Driver Q&A
This weekend at Richmond, NASCAR is making the option tire available to teams after first experimenting with them during All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Will the softer tire option provide any kind of change in the racing we see at Richmond?
“I’m not sure. I think we saw that some people could use it to their advantage at North Wilkesboro, but it was really dependent on their situation. For the most part, I think we’ll see what we always see at Richmond. Everyone will kind of stick to the same strategy until there’s a late caution and a chance to take a risk to make up some ground. But, who knows. Maybe the racing will be completely different and we’ll see the option tire play a bigger role than we anticipate.”
The No. 51 team has come a long way since the last race at Richmond, which occurred on March 31. How has that prepared you for this weekend?
“I think things have just started to come together. When we first went to Richmond, we were still a new team. The guys at RWR have put in a lot of work to improve and it’s worked out to our advantage. We had a couple of weeks off, which was great for them since they work nonstop during the week to make sure we’re ready. So, I’m excited to get back to it with a bit of a reset. I think we can pick up where we left off and keep making progress during these last 14 races of the year.”
Riley Herbst, Driver Q&A
While the NASCAR Xfinity Series is off this week, you will be hopping behind the wheel for your final Cup Series start of 2024. What have these races taught you for the future?
“These select races in the NASCAR Cup Series over the past few seasons have been a whirlwind of an experience. You know the NextGen is different from the Xfinity cars, but you never really know just how much until you’re behind the wheel of one. We’ve had some highs with top-10 finishes at Daytona and Talladega, but we’ve also had some humbling moments as I’m still learning. It’s not as easy to do well in the NASCAR Cup Series anymore, and a lot of rookies struggle because of how different the cars are. Every single race the last two seasons has been a learning experience for me. It’s been preparing me for my future and for the day that I hopefully drive in the NASCAR Cup Series fulltime. I can’t thank Rick Ware Racing and Monster Energy enough for giving me a chance to race on a few Sundays the past two seasons.”
Richmond is one of your favorite tracks in the Xfinity Series. How do you think the NextGen car will handle there?
“You know, that’s the unknown for me. I haven’t gotten any track time in the NextGen car on a short track like Richmond, so I can’t tell you how they’ll handle differently. Still, Richmond is probably my favorite track on the schedule, so I’m excited to get some seat time there in a NextGen car. As a driver, I have a lot more confidence heading into a short track because there is more that you can control. I grew up racing on short tracks, so it’s what I know best. In my past few Xfinity Series races at Richmond, I’ve run up front there and actually looked to be a favorite to win last year. Different things took us out of contention, but I’m always excited to head to this track. It’s one of the best on the NASCAR schedule, so I’m thankful to get a chance to run it in the Cup Series.”
