First, the brutal accident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and now the ‘Big One’ in stage three of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega: Riley Herbst cannot catch a break from dangerous crashes and high-impact collisions. While the 23XI Racing driver walked away from the hard accident with “bruises and bumps,” as team co-owner Denny Hamlin described it, there is a fresh update on his condition and whether or not he will be back in his No. 35 car for the Martinsville outing.
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After giving a positive update to fans and the fraternity on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday, Denny Hamlin has now revealed that Herbst will try to get behind the wheel this weekend; however, if he cannot, the team has a backup driver on standby, ready to roll out if the situation arises.
“Yeah, I mean there’s always a backup plan,” Hamlin told the media, including Steve Taranto, ahead of the Martinsville race. “You know, we have Harrison (Burton), our backup driver at the moment; he’s done a great job for us. So, yeah, him, but I think Riley is going to attempt to run; let’s let him talk about the medical side of things, but it’s really, I think, a pain tolerance thing for him, and I suspect he’ll try to get done this weekend.”
After qualifying in 27th, it was confirmed that Herbst would compete in the race despite the left-wrist injury.
The update came a week after Herbst was caught in a massive 15-car incident on lap 183 at Talladega Superspeedway after Carson Hocevar’s contact with Joey Logano flipped the latter’s car upside down, bringing out the red flag. Herbst was left a passenger in his No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE, which headed straight towards the inside barrier at a frightening speed after his first collision with the outside wall and left the car severely damaged.
After Herbst walked away from the accident, he was taken to the care center and was seen leaving with his left wrist wrapped. During his post-race interview for NBC Sports, Herbst said he was okay, though it was a big crash, and quoted his dad: “If you’re going to be dumb, you better be tough.”
Denny Hamlin shared more updates after the race weekend on Monday on his podcast. “He’s got some bumps and bruises,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, his wrist is not great, so he’ll get checked out this week.”
How Talladega Served a Terrifying Callback Of Herbst’s Hampshire Incident
The No. 35 23XI driver was lucky to walk away from what could have been a fatal accident after just two months of being in an equally intense accident at the Hampshire Motor Speedway on Aug. 23.
Herbst made contact with Michael McDowell on lap 225 of the Dollar Tree 301 at Hampshire Motor Speedway and was slammed into the wall, with the No. 88 car driven by Connor Zilisch ramming into Herbst at high speed with its front tires locked up. Herbst suffered a concussion and had to sit out of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.
Although Riley Herbst had driven in the qualifying session and secured a fifth place on the starting grid, he had to withdraw from the race due to lingering concussion symptoms from his high-impact collision in the race before, and Harrison Burton replaced him for the 160-lap race.
On this week’s episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Denny Hamlin talked about the intensity of Herbst’s crash. He said that although Logano’s terrifying flip became the highlight of the ‘Big One’ in stage three, Herbst’s crash was equally terrible.
Hamlin humoured fans by saying he pulled his back a day before the race and could hardly move a day later, but he couldn’t imagine what Herbst went through. Hamlin added that his retirement would become “effective immediately” if he took that hit.
Hamlin’s recent update lists Harrison Burton as the backup driver who could fill in for Herbst if need be. At Daytona, he subbed in on short notice and finished the race in 12th place. While Herbst may look forward to getting behind the wheel this weekend, whether or not he can run the whole race distance will make all the difference. Besides Herbst, Joey Logano is also scheduled to race at Martinsville despite his massive flip that brought out the red flag at Talladega.