Toyota GAZOO Racing – Riley Herbst
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
LAS VEGAS (March 15, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Riley Herbst was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
RILEY HERBST, No. 35 SunnyD Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
What has been the adjustment period been like from Xfinity to Cup?
“It has been a lot of fun honestly. I feel like it has gone okay the first three weeks as well. Just some solid finishes. Obviously, last week was unfortunate, but the jump is tremendous, and everyone tells you about it. It is one of those things that you don’t really know until you experience it, but I’ve felt like I’ve surrounded myself with really good people at 23XI and really good mentors with Denny (Hamlin), Tyler (Reddick) and Bubba (Wallace). I’ve felt like we’ve came out of the gates in good shape, and I was pleased with our results and how we were running. Last week was unfortunate like I said – this week is going to be another challenge with a mile-and-a-half, but it will be fun. I’m taking it in stride each week and trying to enjoy each week and everything new about it. It has been a lot of fun these last two months getting to know everybody and just get my feet underneath me. Hopefully, we will continue to build a good foundation.”
What are your goals for the rest of the season?
“The biggest thing is to finish the race. You don’t get any points if you don’t finish. I think that is what kind of put us in a big hole from this past weekend at Phoenix, but quite honestly, I don’t think anyone is micromanaging the points by any means. That is not our objective. Our objective to get better each week and run more competitive each week. We fall where we we fall. Nobody is too considered about the point standings four weeks in by any means. I’ve got a progress check where we need to be, where we need to be better, where we need to excel and where we need to pick up the pace a little bit. I think there is some checked boxes that we’ve excelled at, and there are some areas that we need to improve on as well. I think it was a good four weeks to get our test results back and try to set ourselves up for a solid run until the Easter break.”
How important is it to you to have Vegas on the NASCAR schedule?
“It is awesome. I think Las Vegas is such a big and unique town. There’s so many different things to do. I think the racing culture has grown tremendously, honestly, with myself and Noah Gragson growing up racing at the Bullring too. That is really cool, and now with the Formula 1 race, a lot of more motorheads are starting to come out to Las Vegas and be from Las Vegas which is cool. Just the presence that Las Vegas Motor Speedway has in the NASCAR calendar – the race in the fall is huge because, I think, that can lock yourself in the final four. It’s really cool that NASCAR promotes Las Vegas – my home city, which means so much to me. Hopefully it continues to grow, and like you said, we get more short tracks, more dirt tracks on the West Coast and no more of them shutting down.”
How many friends or family members do you have coming to the race this weekend?
“It is cool. It is honestly one of those take a step back moments for a lot of people in the field. It’s the first mile-and-a-half race of the year, and the end of the West Coast swing – really excited to get back to Charlotte, but for me, I used to camp on motorhome hill. I used to go to the bridges and watch the hauler parade, so it is kind of like a full circle moment for myself. To race a Cup car at my home track is a dream that I’ve had forever, and it’s really special. Just trying to enjoy the moment and take it all in before we head out to the less unique tracks for me, I guess personally. It is a really cool moment for myself and my family, and to share it with Noah (Gragson) is pretty special as well.”
We are headed to Homestead next weekend. Where do you prefer to run there?
“So my kind of new thing is to throw all of the stats, every result at every race track, in the previous – because this race car is so different than anything I’ve ever driven, so it is kind of hard to look back on history and hope that it repeats itself going forward, but for your question on where to run, I think Homestead is such a cool race track because it is starting to wear more and more. The bumps are getting bigger in (turns) three and four but running along the fence is a lot of fun. The bottom, when your race car is really good, is a lot of fun as well, because you can go into clean air. You just have to hook the line. That race track is awesome. I like the rectangle shape of it, rather than the d-shaped oval. It is very unique. Good race track, great weather and good fans, so looking forward to it.”
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