Riley Herbst responds to Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer driving for Haas Factory Team in 2025

Riley Herbst has driven for the Stewart-Haas Racing for the last couple of seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but an announcement on Saturday revealed he won’t be returning to the team in 2025, as they move forward as the rebranded Haas Factory Team.

The freshly-minted two-car team announced they’ve inked two drivers to multi-year deals in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, tapping both Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer to drive their cars. Creed will drive the No. 00 car, while Mayer will drive the No. 41. Both cars are Ford Mustang Dark Horses.

Evidently, the team is using the No. 41 in the Xfinity Series in place of the No. 98 car it’s inheriting from Stewart-Haas Racing. The number change will help the team better align between the different levels of NASCAR, as Cole Custer is set to drive the No. 41 car in the Cup Series for Haas Factory Team.

As you can tell from the announcement, that means Herbst won’t be returning to the organization in 2025. He took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a brief message on the matter, and the fact that Haas is getting rid of his famed No. 98 next season. Check it out.

98
R.I.P

— Riley Herbst (@rileyherbst) August 17, 2024

“98. R.I.P,” Herbst posted, putting an end to any speculation that he could drive for the Haas Factory next season in the Xfintiy Series.

If Herbst’s prior comments are to be believed, he had an offer from the Haas Factory Team on the table, along with a myriad of others, in all three of NASCAR’s premier series.

“I’m looking at opportunities at all three levels,” Herbst said, earlier this season. “I’ve had a lot of talks with Haas Factory and they are going really well. Obviously, they have really fast racecars, as you saw today. I think I’m going to put my chips on the table with Kevin Harvick and everyone at Kevin Harvick Inc. and rely on what they think my next step should be and where I should position myself best for the future.

“I think the biggest thing that gets overlooked is it’s not just my decision. I have a say in it and I get to point the ship and get information from strong people that I have a lot of respect for, like Kevin and I can kind of point the ship in the direction I want. But there’s a really big company out in Corona that has a really big say in Monster Energy. That’s probably going to be more of a weight than my say in the offseason and we will see what they want to do.”

Some have speculated Riley Herbst could be headed to the NASCAR Cup Series, with multiple options, including a third 23XI Racing charter, available. Time will tell, but it looks like this chapter in his career will close when the 2024 season ends.