“This is crazy”: NASCAR fans react as SHR revisit their ‘Vegas racers’ childhood feat. Noah Gragson and his Xfinity buddy

Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) is a racing team with six drivers under their banner, and many of them go way back in time. Recently, the team posted some childhood pictures of their NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series drivers on their X account ahead of the Vegas race on October 20, 2024.

The image featured Cup Series driver Noah Gragson and his Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst. The iconic duo hails from Las Vegas and have been friends since their childhood days. Herbst and Gragson went to the same school and used to race together at the Bullring in Las Vegas.

Riley Herbst started his career with SHR in 2021 and since then, he has driven the #98 Ford Mustang in the Xfinity Series. On the other hand, Noah Gragson joined SHR in 2023, signing a multi-year deal to drive their #10 Ford Mustang in the Cup Series.

The image SHR's team posted displayed the iconic duo from their teenage days enjoying their time together. In one image, both Gragson and Berbst were going on a ride on their kick scooter. In the second image, they were playing different musical instruments, and Gragson played trumpet while Herbst played a saxophone wearing a 'MONSTER' energy cap. SHR captioned the post:

"Our Vegas racers are headed home."

Fans quickly joined the playful banter of the Stewart Haas Racing team among the drivers. Some of the fans were surprised to see the two drivers together in their childhood.

A fan-made hilarious comment about Riley Herbst's monster energy cap and wrote:

"I had no idea @rileyherbst had been with @MonsterEnergy THAT long!"

Another fan was surprised to see the two drivers together and commented:

"Herbst and Gragson knew each other?"

One fan was amazed by the duo's long-lasting friendship that goes back to their childhood days and commented:

"This is crazy who knew they go back this far"

A stickler fan of the sport shared an image of the duo with Zane Smith and commented:

"An Now #NASCAR"

The duo has also been friends with Zane Smit since their childhood and are often seen together.

The Visit Las Vegas page also joined the fans in the comments and wrote:

"👏👏"

---

Tony Stewart announced the decision to shut down Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) after the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season

Stewart-Haas Racing's co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas declared to shut down all the operations of the SHR organization after a year-long rumor. The organization was started in 2002 with Haas CNC racing, and in 2009, two-time Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart joined the team as a driver and co-owner. He brought one championship title to the team in 2011 and the next title was won by NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick in 2014.

SHR co-owners announced: (via NASCAR on FOX)

"We have made the difficult decision to close Stewart-Haas Racing at the conclusion of the 2024 season. It is a decision that did not come easily, nor was it made quickly."

"Racing is a labor-intensive, humbling sport. It requires unwavering commitment and vast resources, with a 365-day mindset to be better than everyone else. It's part of what makes success so rewarding. But the commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we've reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it's time to pass the torch," they added.

"We have tremendous respect and appreciation for all of our employees, and we will work diligently to assist them during this transition to find new opportunities beyond the 2024 race season," they stated.

The Stewart-Haas Racing team currently has four cars in the Cup Series driven by Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, and Ryan Preece. The team also has two cars in the Xfinity Series driven by Riley Herbst and Cole Custer.