The 25-year-old Herbst from Las Vegas, Nevada, will pilot the No. 35 Toyota sponsored by Monster Energy for his first full-time campaign in NASCAR's premier series and in 23XI Racing's first season fielding three full-time entries.
The National Motorsports Press Association upheld Trackhouse Racing's penalties originally levied for violating the Member Code of Conduct section from the NASCAR Rule Book following the team's on-track actions from this past weekend's Playoff event at Martinsville.
Three Cup Series teams (Nos. 1, 3 and 23) have been docked 50 driver/owner points and fined $100,000 apiece for violating NASCAR's Member Conduct sections in the Rule Book amid acts of manipulation and providing on-track advantages for respective Playoff manufacturer competitors during the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville.
Denike, who is in his second consecutive full-time season as a crew chief in the Craftsman Truck Series for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, will replace veteran Bootie Barker as Bubba Wallace's No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota crew chief for the 2025 Cup Series season.
The two-time Xfinity Series champion led a race-high 97 of 267-scheduled laps and executed a final-lap pass on Playoff contender Ryan Blaney to grab his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and race his way into his first Championship 4 appearance.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led a race-high 62 of 109-scheduled laps and muscled away from the field during a 26-lap dash to the finish to notch his sixth Cup victory of the 2024 season and race his way into the Playoff's Round of 8.
The 30-year-old Wallace from Mobile, Alabama, will remain at 23XI Racing on a new multiyear basis as he is currently campaigning in his seventh consecutive season in the Cup Series division.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 champion from Bogota, Columbia, is scheduled to make his first Cup Series start since 2014 in 23XI Racing's third "all-star" entry at the sight of his latest Cup victory achieved 14 years ago.
In a span of 367 grueling laps of the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace went from competing against one another for the 16th and final berth to this year’s Playoffs to both being knocked out of contention amid a new race winner capitalizing on the Playoff’s “Win and You’re In” format.
The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, fought through an illness to claim his first regular-season title in NASCAR's premier series by a single point.
