Herbst looks ahead to sophomore Cup Series season

Riley Herbst is set to enter his second full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Las Vegas racer was 35th overall in his rookie 2025 season, with no top-10 finishes. Soon to be back at it with the 23XI Racing team and with Davin Restivo once again returning in the role of crew chief, Herbst is eager to get started at next weekend's Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium followed shortly thereafter by the Daytona 500.

“We’ve been in the simulator getting the next tracks dialed and we’re taking some notes,' he related. "Yeah, we’re excited.”

First up for Herbst will be the Cook Out Clash exhibition race at the 0.25-mile Bowman Gray Stadium venue.

“It’s a neat little track, a fun event," he said. "No points, obviously. It’s just a nice exhibition race for the fans to enjoy some NASCAR before Daytona. I know it’s an exhibition race, but yeah, we should count it as a points race. It’s always cool to want back in the race car and we’re ready for Bowman Gray. It’s a shorter race because it’s an exhibition. It’s a short track and it’s fun. Short track racing is a good time, especially in stock cars.”

A fortnight later, Herbt and 23XI Racing will look to Daytona International Speedway and the rapidly approaching 2026 Daytona 500.

“The 500 is awesome,” declared Herbst. “We had a good run there last year. (Herbst was 17th overall in 2025). Hopefully, we can do it again. The Daytona 500, that’s the best race of the year. It’s a week-long event. It’s super fun for all the teams and drivers to get down to Daytona where it’s a lot warmer and the weather is good. We’ve got practice, qualifying and the 150s and the 'Great American Race' on Sunday. It’s a really cool race with a lot of activities for the fans to show up and watch us race. I’m excited to go do it. It’s definitely one of my favorites. The excitement of the new year plays into it and racing in the 500 is a dream come true. It’s a very exhilarating for 500 miles and it’s close-quarter racing and it’s pretty awesome.”

Finishing 35th in 2025 Cup Series points without a top-10 result, Herbst admits it was something of a rough and tumble rookie season.

“Man, it was really difficult,” he said. “But it was good to get to get that year under my belt and get all the experience and the laps. The rookie year is difficult. We learned a lot and hopefully we can expand and have a better year this year. You know, some races were good and a lot of races were bad. There were just a lot of learning races. Going to places the first time in these cars is difficult, so this year should be a lot better and I’m looking forward to it. There were a lot of ups and downs this year. Not necessarily downs, but just a lot of learning moments.”

Herbst also admits the NASCAR media has not been necessarily kind at times.

“Yeah, it is what it is, right?” said Herbst. “It’s good to have a lot of media and fans. That means the sport is growing and it means the sport is big and people care about what you do. It’s just all kind of noise. You just do the best you can each week. It is what it is. I don’t really pay too much attention to it, honestly.”

Herbst is also buoyed by what he's seen from crew chief Restivo and the entire No. 35 team as it prepared for the start of the season.

“Davin has been working hard,” said Herbst. “We also have a couple of new engineers on the team, so I’m looking forward to their insight and experience on how to make or car go faster.

“It feels good over here at 23XI Racing. There is a great group of guys. All three of the teams work really well together. The people over at Airspeed are phenomenal. We’re all working together. We all are one team that has three individual cells. It’s a really good chemistry.”

Herbst aims for more consistent showings in NASCAR marathon season as he looks to work his way up the pecking order. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

So what does Herbst feel he needs to improve upon this year?

“I would say consistency,” he noted. “We need more consistency from lap one of practice to the end of the race. That will improve race finishes and race pace and all that. That’s probably our number one goal. We’ve got to work on qualifying a little bit. We’ve got a long checklist that we talk about and hopefully we can expand upon this year.

"We have a set list. We want to be in the top 20 quite a bit more this year. We want to get consistently there. Hopefully we can lead some more laps. We just want to be more and more competitive each week. We just want to expand on what we did last year. We want to be better.”

Herbst looks forward to the opening phase of the season which will see the NASCAR Cup tour hit Daytona, Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix and Herbst’s hometown track of Las Vegas

“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun,” said Herbst. “I love all those racetracks a lot. Atlanta has been quite exciting the last few times that we’ve been there. We had a really good run there in the fall last year and led a lot of laps. Excited to get back there. Circuit of The Americas is a really cool racetrack, just cool how a race car goes around that place. And with Vegas, it’s always fun to go home. It’s a fun racetrack and it’s got a lot of character to it with some bumps in the corners. We had a solid finish there last year and hopefully we can improve on that this year and have a good run.

"We’re going to focus on what we can control and do the best we can each week. I absolutely think we can shoot for top 10s. I think there quite a few racetracks that suit us well and that we can capitalize on and get top-10 finishes, for sure. We’re going into year two with a lot more experience and a lot more knowledge. Hopefully we can capitalize on everything.”