Herbst looking to build consistency, confidence and results in second NASCAR Cup Series season

Seven races into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series, Riley Herbst is positioned 30th in the standings. The 23XI Racing driver’s best results came through with an eighth at the season opening Daytona 500 and an 18th at Phoenix Raceway, the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE driver has posted up an average finishing position of 25th.

Now in his second full-time Cup season, the Las Vegas native has focused in on improving his finishing results and clawing his way up the Cup Series results board. Coming off the back of 35th-place classifications at the last two races at Darlington and Martinsville, Herbst will now look to this Sunday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“Bristol is a cool place," he said. "It’s one of those pure NASCAR tracks. It’s just so much fun to drive around there in a stock car. A lot goes into it. There is the physical demand and the mental demand – 500 laps around Bristol is no joke. There are so many moving pieces. The track is constantly changing and you’re on the edge of control for 500 laps.”

Herbst heads into Bristol looking to start building some consistency.

"I think we can get a solid top 15 and get back on track what we were doing in the beginning of the year,” he said.

“Honestly, each race we’ve been top 15 besides last week at Martinsville, where quote honestly, we just struggled. But at Darlington, we were having a career day and we were looking for a top 10 finish and we got wrecked, so that really hurt us in the point standings. And at Martinsville we were running around in 25th and we got wrecked again with our teammate. So, two DNFs back to back, which really sucked. But yeah, this year has been way better than last year. We’ve learned so much and we just have so much more pace this year, so we’re excited to keep that going into this weekend.

Following Bristol, races at Kansas Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International all beckon.

“Kansas is a fun track,” said Herbst. “It’s super-challenging. We can go out and win Talladega, so we’re super-excited to head down to Alabama and go win that race. Texas was one of our strongest races last year, where we finished 14th. Watkins Glen is an excellent track.

"Honestly, there is no bad race on the calendar. All these races are opportunities for us to go out and have a really strong run. We’re growing each week. I thought our first five races and our first month of the year was exceptional. We were right there in 20th in points and looking to get into the NASCAR Chase, and these last two weeks have really derailed us. But it didn’t really shake us too much. We’re ready to get back to where we belong. We’re excited. The morale is super high at 23XI Racing, We’ve got a great group of guys and a great team. I know I sound like a broken record, but we’re eager to get back to where we belong and back on track.”

After a rough couple of weeks, Herbst sees the upcoming races as a chance to get his season back on track. David Jensen/Getty Images

A primary goal for Herbst is to keep improving throughout course of the 2026 Cup season.

“Last year was a struggle, for sure,’ said Herbst. “You’re going to struggle in your first year in the Cup Series, so this year it’s important to capitalize and take everything we’ve learned last year and apply it and just be better. I thought we were doing a really good job with that the first month of the season. The last two weeks kind of got away from us, but we’ll get our focus back together and get back to where we need to be. And first and foremost, I think our overall raw speed is so much better than it was last year. Our qualifying efforts are way better, so that just sets you up for a really strong weekend. So we need to capitalize on that and keep it going.”

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin has made it clear that he wants to see Herbst running inside the top 10 to 15 throughout the 2026 season.

“We were on pace for that except for these last two weeks, so we know what the expectations are and they’re very capable for us,” said Herbst. “And Denny is great. I talk to him all the time for questions and comments and feedback, and he’s been nothing but helpful. It’s nice to have an owner like that who is invested and wants to see you do well.”

Herbst has also been working on strengthening his self-confidence.

“Yes, confidence comes from your preparation, so I feel like our preparation is super-high right now," he said. "We have really fast race cars and I have all the confidence in the world in my team and they have all the confidence in me. And to what Denny is saying, we want to be in the top 10 and top 15 conversation each week. I think that will be very satisfactory to everybody. Especially myself.

"Like I said before, we want to just be continuing to progress and we’re headed in the right direction. In motorsports, it’s very intense. It’s kind of a dog eat dog world, so we’re all cutthroat and want to do the best we can. I mean, we had a shot to win the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. We were about two or inches away from winning that. It would have been a career-changing win. We know we’re capable of that, and we know that we have the speed to do that, and we’ve got to keep focused and keep after it. This is my dream. I’m loving every minute of it. We’re working super-hard and yeah, we can only take it one race at a time and one year at a time and we’ll see what happens.”

Results have been somewhat slow in coming for Herbst, and the NASCAR media and fanbase has been critical. Herbst insists he isn't letting it affect him.

"I stick to my people around me and my team and I try to do the best I can each weekend, and that’s all I can ask for and all I can do," he said.

"We’re excited to get to Bristol this weekend. It’s such a fun racetrack. We’ll have a really fast car and like I said, we are preparing the way we need to prepare and we’re bringing fast race cars to the track. That’s a huge step in the right direction. These guys are awesome and the team is amazing and we’re building something great.”