TALLADEGA, Ala. — Riley Herbst has responded to a preseason challenge from 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin, and he has caught the attention of his manufacturer support in the process.
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He has improved his average starting position from 27.0 as a rookie to 19.6. He has improved his average finishing position from 26.4 to 23.3 while spending far more time inside the top 20.
"Loving it," Tyler Gibbs, TRD (Toyota Racing Develoment) USA president, told FanBuzz. "I mean, last year was tough, right? He's a rookie. He's coming to a team that has such expectations and all the rest of that stuff, and now you're seeing him begin to play that out."
Hamlin spoke about Herbst ahead of the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. He very clearly said that he needed to see some progress from the driver of the No. 35 Toyota during the 2026 season, as well as the other members of the team.
"We've got to see better performance, for sure," Hamlin said in February. "I think that certainly, where the 35 (Herbst) was running last year was just not up to what we expect. We have a — we signed a multi-year agreement with Riley because we want to see where it goes in the second year.
"And certainly I want to see a gain in performance. Needs to be challenging inside that top 10, top 15, that's where we expect our cars to run. And certainly the more experienced guys in Tyler (Reddick) and Bubba (Wallace), they need to be competing for race wins more often."
Herbst, a Las Vegas native, kicked off his sophomore season by scoring six stage points and finishing eighth in the Daytona 500. He then posted a top-20 finish at Phoenix Raceway.
The spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway served as a standout event for Herbst, at least for a while. He qualified fourth and spent extensive time inside of the top five while battling Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and other contenders.
However, he ultimately finished 21st after getting shuffled back outside of the top 20 and then being spun by Kyle Busch in the closing laps.
📈📈📈@rileyherbst put up his 2nd best average running position ever, and it was his best at a non-drafting oval. pic.twitter.com/sWMDK7lerk
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) April 14, 2026
Last weekend at Kansas, Herbst qualified 22nd, but he raced his way to 14th place by the end of stage 1. He then continued racing in the top 20 before ending stage 2 in 12th place.
He missed out on stage points at the intermediate track, but he finished 14th. This showed his continued progress at Kansas. He finished 35th in his first start there in 2024. He then finished 27th and 22nd as a rookie with 23XI Racing.
"He's had some difficulties in terms of some different stops during the race that maybe made his results not representative of what they ultimately would be," Gibbs added.
"But again, last weekend (at Kansas), you saw him racing really, really strong. The weekend before, it was the same, so we're excited to see Riley coming along as a second-year driver."
Herbst started his rookie season well with an average finish of 21.4 in the first five races of the season. However, the rest of the season went off the rails as he finished 30th or worse in 11 of the remaining 31 races.
The second-year Cup driver is off to another strong start. Now, it's up to him and the No. 35 team to continue building for the rest of the season.
Whether they achieve this remains to be seen, but Gibbs and TRD USA are certainly happy with what they have seen so far.
