Riley Herbst

Herbst began racing go-karts at age five, competing in events up and down the West Coast.

He soon followed in his family’s footsteps, transitioning to off-road racing, where his grandfather, Jerry, and uncles Tim and Ed, and father Troy, are all Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame inductees for being championship-winning off-road racers.

Herbst sought a return to pavement. It began with Legends cars before moving up to Speed Trucks and Super Late Models, where in 2015, Herbst was a regular at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway, running both classes and winning the Speed Trucks track championship.

That set the stage for Herbst’s NASCAR path as he competed in the K&N Pro Series, running the full Pro Series West schedule, scoring seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. He also made three starts in the companion Pro Series East and finished inside the top-10 each time.

Following a successful season in K&N, Herbst advanced to the ARCA Menards Series and won his first career ARCA race on June 9 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. He scored his first career pole a week prior at Elko (Minn.) Speedway, and his six top-fives and 10 top-10s on the year earned him the series’ rookie-of-the-year title.

Herbst dominated more than half the race to secure his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, which came at his hometown track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Herbst would add to his win total for the year, earning victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.

In late November, 23XI announced that Herbst would race full-time in the Cup Series in the No. 35 Toyota, which adds to the team's other two cars.