How Herbst is tackling the NASCAR Cup Series learning curve

Drafted into the 23XI Racing organization for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Riley Herbst has used the first 10 Cup races of 2025 to get up to speed.

Before hopping on the team jet and heading out to Kansas Speedway for this Sundays AdventHealth 400,  Herbst talked about his first full-time season at NASCAR’s top level.

Q: Does 23XI Racing measure up to what you first thought it might be?

RILEY HERBST: Yeah, actually, it beats what everybody says. It’s really cool, honestly. You couldn’t ask for a better place and better people. It’s just top notch with everything that they do. It’s cool to be a part of a team and be treated like this. It’s definitely new for me and it’s just phenomenal.

Q: How have your Cup teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick been to work and race with? I speak with those guys and it sounds like you guys really help one another.

RH: Yeah, that’s kind of our mantra. It’s forward together. Bubba and Tyler have been so great to me as a rookie. I’m just trying to learn from them and get better, because both of those guys are really good race car drivers and hopefully I can take some things from them and get better myself.

Q: 10 Cup races. You’re 33rd in points. What do you think about it all thus far?

RH: It’s been good. Candidly, it’s been very difficult. Just, the competition is so intense. From first to 40th, it’s winning race car drivers and it’s just fighting tooth and nail just to get every spot. It has been really eye-opening for me to see the level at which these guys race at. It’s good and it’s only going to get me better. That’s a good thing for me. There have been some high points these first 10 races and there has been some learning moments, as well. I’m looking forward and just trying to capitalize on the opportunity to get better.

Q: The Cup Series is so competitive and the talent, speed and performance present there runs so very deep. It is very hard to find any sort of competitive edge, huh?

RH: Yeah, it’s basically what we do every day. Everybody at the shop works tirelessly just to find a tenth of a second here and a tenth of a second there because it’s so competitive. Everybody is so close and everybody is so good, so it is hard to get that edge. It’s hard to get that little bit of a higher speed and a higher pace than the next day.

In every other series that I’ve been in, there has been some relaxed laps and just logging laps. You’re still racing, but you’re just trying to get through the race and to log the laps. In this Cup Series, it’s game on from the first lap and nobody is logging laps. It makes us better race cars drivers, but it has been an adjustment process and it has been something that I have been doing each week. I’m just trying to take it all in stride. That’s kind of been the mantra for me this year. I just want to get better each week and take each weekend as it is and taking it one step at a time.

It takes everything just to be good at this level, let alone win. There is so much in my notebook that I’m learning each week and that’s kind of what it is all about. It’s building a notebook and getting better and better each week. Everybody tells you what it is going to be like and how challenging it is going to be, and you can grasp it in a sense, but you don’t really understand it until you go out and do it and live in it and just kind of experience it for yourself.

Just like your parent throwing you into the deep end of the swimming pool. You’re just trying to figure it out on your own. Luckily, I have really good people around me here at 23XI Racing and good teammates to help me through this process. With every question, I can ask Denny or Bubba. That’s such a good resource at my fingertips to try and learn for all those guys. If I have questions from what happened the previous race, I’ll talk with all of them and get their opinions. They’re just trying to make me better, too, which is really awesome.

How is Denny to work with?

RJ: He’s great. He’s an awesome guy and an awesome team owner who wants all of his cars to do good. He puts his heart and soul into this race team and is trying to make all of us better at our craft. It’s really cool to see that from an owner and to see just how dedicated he is to his team members.

Q: A key objective for you this season is to complete all of the laps and finish the races so you can continue to learn. That sound correct?

RH: That’s 100-percent right. Kevin Harvick always told me that you can’t learn if you’re wrecking. You’ve got to complete all of the laps, and that’s how you learn. I want to get better every lap and build our notebook and be better the following week.

Q: I mean this in a positive way, but you’ve got a long road ahead of you, huh? Plenty to learn and absorb.

RH: Yeah, it’s a process. All of this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. This is definitely a process and luckily everybody involved is in it for the long haul. We understand it’s a climb, but it’s fun. That’s the fun part. It’s the journey and getting better each week. I’m having the time of my life working out and training and just understanding my craft and getting better at it each day. That’s awesome to see and hopefully the results will show all that.

Q: Goals. What’ll make you happy by the time the curtain comes down on the 2025 Cup season?

RH: We want to get better. We want to win Rookie of the Year. That’s our biggest goal, for sure. We want to be Rookie of the Year and we want some top 10 finishes, as well. We want to see the progression. We want to visualize the progression. I think that will make us all proud, and proud of the work that we have done. The lights are the brightest here, for sure, and I’m just so fortunate to be in this position with 23XI Racing. It’s so awesome. It’s very surreal and I’m just trying to take it all in each race weekend and to capitalize on the opportunity. I love it in the Cup car. It’s the best of the best.