Riley Dederick Kern Herbst (born February 24, 1999) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing.
For 2027, Herbst will drive the No. 84 Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club.
Racing career
Early years Herbst began racing karts as a five-year-old. He progressed through legends, Speed Trucks, and Super Late Models.
In 2015, Herbst raced weekly at Irwindale Speedway in a Super Late Model as well as winning the track's Speed Trucks championship. In 2016, he raced several NASCAR East and West series races along with racing a Super Late Model at Irwindale.
Off-road racing Herbst is from a family rooted in off-road racing. His father Troy, grandfather Jerry, and uncles Ed and Tim participate in desert racing such as the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. The quartet was inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
During his youth, Herbst competed in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series' Junior 1 Kart division.
In 2020, Herbst joined his cousins Pierce and Thor at the 2020 Baja 1000, where they finished second in the Trophy Truck Spec class. The trio also ran the 2021 1000 and placed ninth.
Herbst, his father, Troy, and Jordan Dean won the Trophy Truck Spec class in the 2023 Baja 1000, finishing eighth overall.
ARCA Menards Series
In 2017, Herbst drove full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 18 Toyota in the ARCA Racing Series. He drove the No. 81 in the first race but withdrew due to age limitations. He then moved to the No. 18 for the rest of the season. He won one race at Pocono, earned five top-fives, ten top-tens, and finished seventh in the final standings. He also claimed the series' Rookie of the Year award over Gus Dean after passing Dean in the season's final event. For the 2019 season, he split JGR's No. 18 with Ty Gibbs.
Xfinity Series
In May 2018, Herbst was named to the 2018 NASCAR Next class. In June 2018, Herbst joined JGR for his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Iowa Speedway. For the 2019 season, he split JGR's No. 18 with Jeffrey Earnhardt, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin.
In 2020, Herbst assumed full-time driving duties in the No. 18. He qualified for the playoffs but was eliminated following the first round. He ended the year with a twelfth place points finish, four top-five finishes, seventeen top tens, and the best finish of second at Auto Club Speedway and Kentucky Speedway. After the season, JGR signed Daniel Hemric to drive the No. 18 full-time starting in 2021, leaving Herbst without a ride.
On December 10, 2020, Stewart–Haas Racing announced Herbst would drive the No. 98 Ford beginning with the 2021 season. After a rough start to the season that saw his involvement in wrecks—none of which were of his doing—in three of the first four races, he rebounded with a fourth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway. In 2022, Herbst would have his best season in his Xfinity career; his eight top-fives and twenty top-ten finishes during the season were all career-highs.
Herbst began the 2023 season with a sixth-place finish at Daytona. He then scored five more consecutive top-ten finishes. Despite missing the playoffs, Herbst scored his first career win at Las Vegas. The end to his season was strong, as the win was part of a five-race streak of top-five finishes.
Remaining at SHR for 2024, Herbst repeated the previous year's result to finish sixth at Daytona. Having run in the top positions throughout the following race at Atlanta, he ran out of fuel whilst sitting second with a few laps left, eventually dropping to 15th. Herbst scored his first win of the season at Indianapolis after he made a spectacular last lap pass on Aric Almirola. Unfortunately, he would be knocked out of the first round of the playoffs. At Phoenix, Herbst gave Stewart–Haas Racing its final race win; he finished seventh in the points standings.
On May 28, 2024, Stewart–Haas Racing announced it would shut down its NASCAR operations at the end of the season.
Camping World Truck Series In 2018, Herbst was tabbed to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the No. 51 at Gateway Motorsports Park finishing 8th and the No. 46 at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway finishing 29th.
On October 12, 2019, Herbst was passing Johnny Sauter on the final lap for the win in the tri-oval at Talladega Superspeedway but was blocked across the apron, forcing NASCAR to penalize Sauter and give Spencer Boyd his first career win. Herbst would finish third.
Herbst returned to the Truck Series in 2021 for the Daytona road course race, driving the No. 17 Ford for David Gilliland Racing. He returned to the No. 17 truck for Daytona and Kansas in 2022.
Cup Series On January 31, 2023, Herbst was announced to have signed with Rick Ware Racing to make his Cup Series debut in the No. 15 Ford at the 2023 Daytona 500. Herbst would go on to finish tenth in his debut despite being involved in a multi-car crash late in the race. He is also one of five drivers in NASCAR history to score a top-ten in their first Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series starts. He made another start for RWR at Talladega Superspeedway, where he started 36th and finished twentieth. He competed for Front Row Motorsports at the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona in the No. 36 Ford. He started in sixth but fell to the back at the end of stage 1 before getting caught up in the big one at the end of stage 2. He would be classified in 38th place. Herbst would compete for Front Row in the No. 36 again in the fall Talladega race that same year. Herbst would start in sixth again, but this time was able to finish the race despite crashing again. He was also in contention for the win as he ran in fourth for the closing laps of the race and pushed Ryan Blaney to the lead on the final lap and almost pushed Kevin Harvick to the victory before he got spun by Corey LaJoie and took out most of the field coming out of the tri-oval. Herbst would come across the line in ninth (originally tenth before Harvick got disqualified), his best career finish in the Cup Series.
Herbst signed with Rick Ware for the 2024 Daytona 500, driving the No. 15 again but this time with Monster Energy as a sponsor instead of SunnyD, which was his sponsor in the previous year's race. Herbst qualified in twelfth but finished in twentieth in the Duels, which started him in 36th for the race. Herbst was at one point in the top ten during the race but ultimately finished in 24th. Herbst ran another race that same year in the No. 15 at Kansas, starting 37th and finishing 35th, two laps down. Herbst ran two more races for Rick Ware at Nashville and Richmond, finishing 37th and 33rd.
On November 20, 2024, 23XI Racing announced that Herbst would drive the No. 35 Toyota full-time for the 2025 season. Herbst ran long-time partner Monster Energy as his sponsor. He started the season with a seventeenth-place at the 2025 Daytona 500. Herbst struggled throughout the season, failing to score a single top-ten finish and only finishing inside the top-twenty-eight times with a best finish of fourteenth at Texas, and finished 35th in the final standings. Shortly after the Charlotte Roval race, the No. 35 car was disqualified for failing post-race height inspection.
Herbst started the 2026 season with an eighth-place finish at the 2026 Daytona 500. On May 30th, it was confirmed that Corey Heim would replace Herbst in the 35 car at 23XI. On September 3, it was announced that Herbst would join Legacy Motor Club, driving their No. 84, with Monster returning as his sponsor.
Personal life Herbst's family owns the Terrible Herbst company, a privately held gas station and convenience store chain in Las Vegas and Southern Utah.
Motorsports career results
Stock car career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Top 5 Top 10 Points Position 2015 CARS Super Late Model Tour LFR Development Group 1 0 0 0 22 47th 2016 CARS Super Late Model Tour Fury Race Cars 1 0 1 1 31 40th NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Bill McAnally Racing 3 0 0 3 105 29th NASCAR K&N Pro Series West 14 0 7 10 510 7th 2017 ARCA Racing Series Joe Gibbs Racing 19 1 6 10 4555 5th NASCAR K&N Pro Series East MDM Motorsports 1 0 0 1 37 47th NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Bill McAnally Racing 2 0 1 2 76 28th 2018 ARCA Racing Series Joe Gibbs Racing 20 0 8 15 4595 3rd CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour Glen Moffitt 1 0 0 0 12 73rd NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kyle Busch Motorsports 2 0 0 1 81 39th DGR-Crosley 2 0 0 0 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East 1 0 1 1 41 40th NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 1 0 0 1 0 NC† 2019 ARCA Menards Series Joe Gibbs Racing 8 0 2 5 1485 16th CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour Nelson Motorsports 1 0 1 1 28 40th NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Kyle Busch Motorsports 3 0 1 2 61 44th NASCAR K&N Pro Series East DGR-Crosley 3 0 0 1 96 22nd NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Levin Racing with Joe Gibbs Racing 1 0 0 1 35 48th NASCAR Pinty's Series DJK Racing 1 0 0 0 24 43rd NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 9 0 0 3 0 NC† 2020 ARCA Menards Series Joe Gibbs Racing 4 1 3 4 167 24th NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Kyle Busch Motorsports 1 0 0 0 0 NC† NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 33 0 4 17 2152 12th 2021 ARCA Menards Series David Gilliland Racing 1 0 0 1 38 79th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 1 0 1 1 0 NC† NASCAR Xfinity Series Stewart–Haas Racing 33 0 5 13 2157 11th 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series David Gilliland Racing 2 0 0 0 0 NC† NASCAR Xfinity Series Stewart–Haas Racing 33 0 8 20 2197 10th 2023 ARCA Menards Series West Jerry Pitts Racing 2 0 1 1 68 27th NASCAR Cup Series Rick Ware Racing 2 0 0 1 0 NC† Front Row Motorsports 2 0 0 1 NASCAR Xfinity Series Stewart–Haas Racing 33 1 10 17 904 13th 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rick Ware Racing 4 0 0 0 0 NC† NASCAR Xfinity Series Stewart–Haas Racing 33 2 7 15 2254 7th 2025 NASCAR Cup Series 23XI Racing 36 0 0 0 399 35th NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 4 0 2 2 0 NC† † As Herbst was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Cup Series NASCAR Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Pts Ref 2023 Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL COA RCH BRD MAR TAL DOV KAN DAR CLT GTW SON NSH CSC ATL NHA POC RCH MCH IRC GLN 45th 01 Front Row Motorsports 36 Ford DAY DAR KAN BRI TEX TAL ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO 2024 Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford DAY ATL LVS PHO BRI COA RCH MAR TEX TAL DOV KAN DAR CLT GTW SON IOW NHA NSH CSC POC IND RCH MCH DAY DAR ATL GLN BRI KAN TAL ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO 55th 01 2025 23XI Racing 35 Toyota DAY ATL COA PHO LVS HOM MAR DAR BRI TAL TEX KAN CLT NSH MCH MXC POC ATL CSC SON DOV IND IOW GLN RCH DAY DAR GTW BRI NHA KAN ROV LVS TAL MAR PHO 35th 399 2026 DAY ATL COA PHO LVS DAR MAR BRI KAN TAL TEX GLN CLT NSH MCH POC COR SON CHI ATL NWS IND IOW RCH NHA DAY DAR GTW BRI KAN LVS CLT PHO TAL MAR HOM -* -*
Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 2023 Rick Ware Racing Ford 38 10 2024 36 24 2025 23XI Racing Toyota 24 17 2026 28 8
Xfinity Series