It was not a day to remember for the Fords in the season’s second Xfinity race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Several of the manufacturers’ cars ran out of fuel due to a poor strategic call, including that of the dominant Jesse Love and Stewart-Haas Racing star Riley Herbst. It got so extreme that the latter was left surprised at what had happened but, later on, understood the reason behind it. 

Jesse Love led 157 laps in the event, the most of anyone, and was a deserving candidate to take the checkered flag. It would have been a fantastic moment in the young driver’s career. At 19, Richard Childress Racing is one of the hottest prospects in stock car racing today, and he really could have laid down a marker for everyone on Saturday.

Riley Herbst reveals how he was a catalyst for Ford’s chaos

However, it was just not meant to be, and it is unfair to blame Ford’s strategy for the fuel shortages. The manufacturer had a plan that was not executed very well, and the drivers had a part to play in that. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst figured out what went wrong on the track, and it has a lot to do with the nature of superspeedway racing.

The Ford teams looked strong throughout the event, and their tanks emptied as they pushed way too hard on the evening. However, while there’s no official statement from Ford, Riley Herbst believes that on a superspeedway, one driver acts as a catalyst for the others to increase their speed, and this time, that catalyst was none other than himself.

“I’m surprised we ran out, but I think I have a little indication of why we ran out. I feel like when I was trying to push the #2 for him to run out, I felt like we ran the whole field out, if that makes sense. I feel like if we would have just ridden there and I didn’t pick the pace up, I thought like the whole field would have been alright. But on a drafting track, there is a catalyst to pick up the lap times and I feel like I was that catalyst to kind of push the field because we are pretty confident of making it but I think just the temps and we just ran that much faster and run out,” he said.

Riley Herbst has high expectations from the Cup Series race on Sunday as he found the Xfinity Series race highly entertaining. The Atlanta Motor Speedway has often served up NASCAR classics and the Cup race in 2024 could become one of the all-time greats.

Elated SVG Dissects the First-Ever NASCAR Podium Finish Amidst Ford’s Atlanta Muck-Up

Xfinity Cup Series races to be along the same lines in Atlanta

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A lot is at stake for the Cup Series racers going into the big race, and a lot of them have a redemption story going in. Riley Herbst also explained that when the Next-Gen cars came out, no one had any idea how they would behave on the Atlanta track. Three years later, the teams are stronger than ever, and neither will give an inch to their rivals.

“It’s kind of funny with these new race tracks; they’re really fun for the fans to watch; they’re fun because nobody knows what to expect the first couple of years; they’re kind of a handful; setups aren’t perfect. Year 3, these guys are really smart in the garage, and everyone’s car is really stuck and dialed, so I think we are gonna see the same thing tomorrow. The exciting Atlanta that we saw,” Herbst added.

Let alone Riley Herbst, the biggest loss of them all today was for Jesse Love, who, despite leading the most laps, didn’t win. And oh boy! He could have won his first Xfinity Series race at just 19 years of age. However, it will be interesting to see how the driver of the #2 car bounces back next weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Not Going to Question Reality”- Jesse Love Comes Clean on “Comical” Atlanta Showing Amidst Disastrous Ford Letdown