TOYOTA RACING – Riley Herbst
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 11, 2026) – 23XI Racing driver Riley Herbst was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.
RILEY HERBST, No. 35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Denny Hamlin talked about what his expectations were for you this year. Can you talk about the conversations you’ve had with the team?
“There’s no shying away from it, we want the results to be better on the 35 car. We had good enough racecars, we have good enough team members and I’m a good enough driver to have better results this year. It’s as simple as that. I think we are all on the same page with what we expect and what we want, and that’s to be better this year than last year.”
You’ve been competitive in the O’Reilly Series in the past, does that give you confidence heading into your second year in the Cup Series that you can keep improving?
“The narrative was really similar in my first year in the Xfinity Series and even into the second and third year. I’ve worked as hard as I can and surrounded myself with really good people and try to improve every day.”
What kind of conversations have you had with your team about running at a high level?
“Everyone at 23XI and Airspeed work a little bit different than most fundamental race shops. All three of us are pretty cohesive and work hand to hand together. There wasn’t much separation last year, nor will there be this year. We are all trying to run better on all three accounts. You can ask Tyler (Reddick) and Bubba (Wallace), that wasn’t the year they wanted last year either. I think all three of us and four this weekend want to succeed for Denny (Hamlin) and MJ (Michael Jordan) and everyone at Airspeed and how hard they work.”
From the outside looking in, what does everyone not see about team building with a race team?
“It’s always going to be difficult to make the jump from the O’Reilly Series to the Cup Series. And starting a new team, hiring people, and understanding the way 23XI and Airspeed handle things. Get everything right, get the fundamentals right. That’s just going to show and pay dividends this year as well. On top of that, I think I’m a way more experienced driver. I’ve grown mentally and physically in my racecraft so I’m excited for this year. I think everyone on the 35 has grown. More than anything we are all in it together, all of our teams, we work together cohesively me, Tyler, and Bubba each week. We study together and we review our races together and we want for each other to finish 1-2-3 each week. That hasn’t happened yet, but I think this weekend is a really good shot for that.”
What are your expectations for the season ahead?
“Specifically, I worked really hard this offseason. We’re way stronger mentally and physically. We’ve got some new faces to Airspeed to help the 35 team this year. Looking forward to it, that first year in the Cup Series is always rough. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t make big improvements this year and succeed pretty well.”
Have you been able to talk with Michael Jordan this offseason and what has been the message?
“The contact is always been consistent with ownership, Denny (Hamlin) and Michael (Jordan) are always at Airspeed encouraging us and giving us the tools we need to succeed at the highest level. Hopefully we can succeed, and that’s what all three of us want to do during the year and the fourth racing with us this weekend as well. Just give Denny and MJ a real big trophy and a lot of money to go along with it.”
What is the best part of Daytona 500 week?
“I love it. I’ve been telling everybody, this is one of my favorite weeks of the year. The anticipation, the excitement, the weather, Daytona is a really fun racetrack. The history that the 500 presents all of us and the challenges we will face for 500 miles on Sunday is really cool and I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great year for us on the 35 and the 45 and 23, all of us together. We are ready to go.”
What’s the coolest activation you’ve been able to do with Monster Energy?
“I’ve been with them for so long, they’ve been great partners. But the coolest on is the commercial we filmed at the end of the year last year called Dust of Smoke on YouTube. It’s a really video. We got to rent out right down the strip and drive the Cup car down the strip in Vegas and take the car down through the Valley of Fire, that was really fun. We had Vaughn (Gitten Jr.) join us for some drifting too. Monster Energy is top notch in everything they do and the activation to grow their brand and action sports is second to none.”
You seemed to hit your stride a few years into your O’Reilly Series career. Is that something you can take over here to the Cup Series?
“The belief in myself has never wavered. I’m confident in my ability, I’m confident in every single man and woman at Airspeed to provide us with really fast racecars. To answer your question, I knew it was going to be very difficult last year. People didn’t think so I guess, I don’t know. Yes, it’s difficult, it’s hard. These are the best stockcar drivers in the world and if it was easy, it would not be correct. I’m looking forward to this year. The gains we showed at a few tracks last year hopefully we can magnify it to every single track this year. The confidence is sky high, everyone over at Airspeed with all three cars to try and get more trophies, so that’s what we are looking to do.”
Do you think Daytona is one of your better tracks?
“I think I have a really good spotter and a good racecar, I’ve been fortunate to sit in really good racecars and that produces really good speed. You only need a couple of ingredients here at Daytona to have success and having great racecars is one of them. Hopefully we can have another solid run this year and we won’t be sliding through the grass.”
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