"Am I not allowed to pass?": Riley Herbst reveals reasoning behind not pushing Hailie Deegan during NASCAR Xfinity race at Talladega

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular and driver for Stewart-Haas Racing in the junior nationwide series, Riley Herbst recently cleared the air on why he did not offer Hailie Deegan a push during the final laps of the 2024 Ag-Pro 300.

Despite both drivers hailing from the Ford camp, Hailie Deegan was seen quite vocal on her in-car radio after last weekend's Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway saw the #15 Ford Mustang driver tumble down the order due to the lack of a drafting partner.

Riley Herbst recently revealed why he made the move to pass Deegan on the outside as the 300-mile-long event drew to a close leading up to this week's race at Dover Motor Speedway. The 25-year-old driver elaborated in a pre-race press conference and told Bob Pockrass:

"I feel like I've watched it, I've heard everybody's opinion, I just don't understand. Am I not allowed to pass people on a green-white-checkered? It's just kind of baffling to me a little bit. We finished second so, I don't think if I would have pushed her, I had a better opportunity to win. I did the same thing to the #21 car (Austin Hill) through (turns) three and four so, it just wasn't really her."

Despite coming excruciatingly close to her first-ever win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Hailie Deegan fell short of the checkered flag last Saturday. It remains to be seen how she can perform during this Saturday's BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway.

Fans react to Riley Hebrst's explanation of not pushing Hailie Deegan last weekend

Fans on social media had their take on why Riley Herbst did not prefer to push fellow NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Hailie Deegan during last weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Many seemed to disagree with Herbst's reasoning and reacted to the same:

"He should’ve pushed her.. to me it seemed like they didn’t want to see Deegan get a W"

"If he pushed Hailie he probably would have won."

"Easy push her, then make the move at the end, not that hard" added another fan

Meanwhile, NASCAR heads to Dover Motor Speedway this weekend for the BetRivers 200 on Saturday at 1:30 pm ET, followed by the Wurth 400 on Sunday at 2:00 pm ET.