By: Ashley McCubbin

With having experienced a solid rookie campaign to date, there’s a good chance Riley Herbst will be back in the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020. Or at least that’s what he’s hoping.

“I think we’re close,” he told POPULAR SPEED. “The ultimate goal is to be back in the 18 car with Monster Energy and Toyota. Hopefully, I mean, we’re not signed yet, but that’s definitely where I’d like to be for the future to come.”

Being able to secure his first win before the season is out would certainly help his chances, as he believes they’re not far off from being a top-five contender weekly.

“I think that we all hit on different cylinders at different times from the whole aspect of the team, from myself to behind the wall guys, to the pit crew guys,” he commented. “I think if we do put everything together, we have speed. We just need to do everything right all on the same day and when the stars do align, we can break through for that win. We’ve shown speed, but we just can’t put it together – most of it on my shoulders, but I feel the day is coming for sure.”

The rest of the schedule brings forth some solid possible sights for a win, including Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Herbst finished ninth in the spring on a day that saw all three Joe Gibbs Racing entries place in the top-10.

“I’m really looking forward to going back home to Las Vegas,” he said. “JGR has always been fast Vegas, and going back there for a second time this year on a mile and a half, we’ll have some speed and I think we’ll be able to contend for the win in the first round of the playoffs and ruin some of the playoff pictures and bubbles.

“All of the tracks are really fun. JGR and the 20 group (Harrison Burton) was really fast at Richmond, too, so I’m really excited to see what we got there.”

Going back to these tracks for a second time will certainly prove to be beneficial, along with the other things learned through the season thus far.

“The cars, how much to prepare before each race, how steep the competition is, and the tracks we’re going to,” Herbst reflected. “I wish I could’ve learned the tracks in practice, so having to learn them when we fire off to race is something new to me. It’s helped me as a driver; as much as I’ve hated it, I think I’ll be better suited for next year and years to come because I’ll have to adapt quicker to new tracks if any new tracks get added to the circuit.”