MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Seven races into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series, Riley Herbst is positioned 30th in the standings.
The 23XI Racing driver’s best results coming through with an eighth at the season-opening Daytona 500 and an 18th at the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway, the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE wheelman has posted up an average finishing position of 25th.
Now in his second full Cup Series season, the Las Vegas native has focused in on improving his finishing results and scratching and clawing his way up the Cup Series results board. Straight off 35th finishing positions at the last two races at Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway, Herbst will now look to frantic Bristol Motor Speedway and this Sunday’s Food City 500.
Keen to score another top-10 finish, Herbst is looking forward to 0.533-mile concrete oval and all that comes with it.
“I’m just getting ready for this upcoming race at Bristol,” said Herbst on Wednesday afternoon. “Bristol is a lot of fun. I’m excited for the upcoming weekend. Bristol is a cool place. It’s one of those pure NASCAR tracks. It’s just so much fun to driver 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.”
And what does Herbst hope to achieve at Bristol Motor Speedway come this Sunday?
“Man, I think we can get a solid top 15 and get back on track what we were doing in the beginning of the year,” answered Herbst. “Yeah, we’re excited. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
Herbst believes his team has been better than the results show.
“Honestly, each race we’ve been top 15 besides last week at Martinsville where we just struggled,” explained Herbst. “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, Herbst will look to races at Kansas Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International.
“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. Like I said, 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 moth 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. Like I said, and I know I sound like a broken record, but we’re eager to get back to where we belong and back on track.”
A primary goal for Herbst is to keep improving.
“Yeah, I mean 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 moth 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.”
Herbst has been working on strengthening his self-confidence.
“Yes, confidence comes from your preparation, so I feel like our preparation is super-high right now. 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,” Herbst said. “And to what Denny (Hamlin, team co-owner) is saying, we want to be in the top 10 and top 15 conversation each week. And I think that will be very satisfactory to everybody. Especially myself.”
As a member for 23XI Racing, the results have been somewhat slow in coming for Herbst and the NASCAR media and fanbase has been critical. Herbst realizes it.
“To be honest with you Eric, I don’t read too much,” pointed out Herbst. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. 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. We’re excited to get to Bristol this weekend. It’s such a fun race track. 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.”
