Riley Herbst is up for a challenge in 2025. The Las Vegas, Nevada native is moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time, where he’ll compete for Rookie of The Year honors driving the No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing.
While it’s only a two-driver rookie class, it’s destined to be an uphill battle for Herbst, as he’ll compete against Trackhouse Racing driver Shane Van Gisbergen, who many expect to have a real shot at qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a victory on a road course.
That hasn’t shaken the 25-year-old driver, who in collaboration with the leadership and competition staff at 23XI Racing, have come up with a set of baseline goals for the No. 35 team in 2025.
“Yeah, I have expectations. We have worked really hard on them with the leadership team at Airspeed and the competition side as well. A lot of it is going to stay in-house, to be honest with you, but just from a macro level, it is about improving each week, understanding my team and my race car each week, and when Phoenix and the checkered flag flies, just be a way better race car driver than I am right now.”
“Just try to take the same steps, hopefully, a little quicker, that I did in the Xfinity car.”
Herbst has spent the last four seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (one with Joe Gibbs Racing and three with Stewart-Haas Racing). In that time, the driver collected three victories, with last season being his first multi-win campaign in the second-tier series.
One of the key components in the breakout success of Herbst during the last two seasons has been his crew chief, Davin Restivo, who will come along with him to serve as sa hot-caller for 23XI Racing in 2025.
However, as Herbst explained during DAYTONA 500 Media Day on Wednesday, keeping the driver-crew chief pairing together wasn’t exactly the plan for 23XI Racing, but rather a sequence of hirings that ended up meshing pretty well together.
“It wasn’t like – I’m coming, and Davin [Restivo] is coming too. Davin was on Dave Rogers’ radar just like Charles Denike, so we were having individual interviews at the same time,” Herbst said. “We both knew that we were talking to the team, but it was cool that they thought the same thing I thought about Davin – that he is a race winner. He is extremely intelligent, and he is really good with race cars, and I think he brings a lot to Airspeed, 23XI, and myself.”
With Restivo and the star-studded competition staff at 23XI Racing on his side, Herbst is more than giddy to be competing at NASCAR’s top-level and to be doing so for an organization that has already achieved so much in its short tenure in NASCAR, including a Championship 4 berth last season with Tyler Reddick.
“I probably have more confidence than I’m supposed to have at this point,” Herbst quipped. “I’m literally on the best race team in the garage. I have the two best owners, who are so involved. Just sitting on the couch last year, I never thought about how involved Denny [Hamlin] and Michael [Jordan] can be – but walking to Airspeed – and everyone says that to me.”
“They are like 23XI has overachieved. If you walk into Airspeed, they work so hard at their craft and what they do – them going to the final four last year is nothing short of hard work and really good race car drivers, really good engineers, really good crew chiefs, really good everything in that building. It has been phenomenal to join this team and I’m very excited for the future.”
Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing and a 54-time NASCAR Cup Series winner, has spoken highly of Herbst in the past and continued to do so on Wednesday when asked by members of the media about his expectations for the driver of the No. 35 In 2025.
“My expectations are that he is going to perform better than 95 percent of people’s expectations.” Hamlin said. “I think there is still going to be a learning curve there, but I just want to see him get better as the year goes on. I know that is a cliché answer, but I believe he is better than people think. I know his team is good. I really want to see him contend inside the top-20 on a regular basis by race 15.”
Herbst will also help 23XI Racing further bolster its relationship with sponsor Monster Energy, who has taken on a significant role as a sponsor of the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE and Tyler Reddick, and will do so with Herbst, as well, in 2025.
The 2025 DAYTONA 500 (February 16) will mark the third run in ‘The Great American Race’, who in his series debut two seasons ago, managed to score a top-10 finish for Rick Ware Racing. Of his eight previous Cup Series starts, most have come on superspeedway, and have come with strong results.
“It is a different team, different manufacturer, but I’m confident. I know that I can do this. I believe in my talents. I believe in my capabilities, and now I’m at a team that believes in my capabilities as well, and we are looking forward to good things this year, and we know there will be a learning curve, but it is going to be fun. This weekend is going to be fun. This is my first year, rookie year Daytona 500, so this is good stuff.”
For nearly every driver on the stock car path in the United States, it’s a dream to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, something that Herbst isn’t taking lightly, as he gets to do so with such a strong and polarizing organization.
“Yeah, it absolutely has succeeded [my dreams]. Every single time I walk into Airspeed, I kind of have to take a step back and just realize where I am – the top level of motorsport in America, with what I think is the best team in NASCAR. Grateful doesn’t even begin to explain how I’m feeling, and I’m just looking forward to it.”
