Riley Herbst (Post-Race Weights) Disqualified from 30th at The ROVAL

Casey Calhoun, Racing America

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 35 Monster Energy-sponsored Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, had a hellish weekend in his first trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL this weekend, and unfortunately for the NASCAR Cup Series rookie, things have only gotten worse.

Following the end of post-race inspection from the infield of the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, NASCAR confirmed that Herbst and the No. 35 team had been disqualified from the Bank of America ROVAL 400 for failing post-race weights.

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Herbst originally crossed the start-finish line with a 30th-place finish in the 109-lap event around the 2.28-mile purpose-built road course, but with the disqualification, the Las Vegas, Nevada-native will be dropkicked to 37th.

The disqualification will only cost Herbst a total of six NASCAR Cup Series championship points and will have no impact at all on the outcome of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs battle, that eliminated four drivers when the checkered flag was displayed.

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In fact, the post-race inspection issues for the No. 35 will only give the following drivers a boost of one single spot in the running order: Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Josh Bilicki, Cody Ware, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Austin Cindric.

Cindric is the only NASCAR Cup Series post-season driver impacted by this disqualification, but with the Team Penske driver being in a must-win situation entering Sunday’s event, the gain of one spot will not make a substantial enough difference to move him on to the next round.

Herbst began the race weekend with a very adventurous ride in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice from the Charlotte ROVAL, when his No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE snapped loose at the entrance to Turn 5 and crashed into the tire barriers, which nearly tipped the vehicle over as it was spit back out onto the racetrack.

Surprisingly, with the vicious-looking impact of the accident and with how hard Herbst hit the tire barriers, the car was able to not only return to the racetrack for more practice laps on Saturday, but was also able to make a qualifying attempt, where the 26-year-old driver managed to earn a decent starting spot of 33rd-place.

Herbst, a three-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner, has had a tough go of things in his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series, failing to secure a single top-10 result for 23XI Racing and having an average finish of 26.3 – with a best finish of 14th at Texas in the Spring.