Sunday’s Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado was an all-around fantastic day for 23XI Racing.
While focus will primarily be directed towards a stunning maiden Cup Series victory by the team’s development driver, Corey Heim, the battle he had with his teammate, Tyler Reddick, in the closing laps, and Bubba Wallace’s impressive recovery to finish runner-up, the team’s third full-time driver, Riley Herbst, also deserves his flowers.
Piloting the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, Herbst took the white flag locked in a tight battle with AJ Allmendinger for a fourth position, and made the pass, looking for his first career top-five result. However, before the lap was finished, the Las Vegas, Nevada-native had been punted by his fellow West Coaster and tossed down the order to eighth.
Sunday’s 75-lapper at Naval Base Coronado, the 16-turn, 3.4-mile street course may have been the best run of Herbst’s career in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“All in all, a good day for this No. 35,” Herbst told Marty Snider post-race. “I thought we had a fourth-place finish. Got moved there on the last lap by [AJ Allmendinger]. Finished eighth. We’ll take it and go try again at Sonoma.”
There were a lot of positives to take away from the afternoon for Herbst, who paced the field for three laps after a Lap 31 incident that took out Shane Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch, two of the pre-race favorites. The driver of the No. 35 was in and around the top-10 all afternoon, boasting an average running position of 11.49 – just 0.14 spots lower than the eventual race-winner.
While sure, the loss of a top-five result for Herbst is likely devastating, there is definitely a silver lining in all of this, as the second-year NASCAR Cup Series driver matched a career-best from this year’s DAYTONA 500 and improved upon his best road course finish by nine spots.
There’s been an uptick in performance on the No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE this season, as Herbst and the team are in their second season together. That familiarity, led by shot-caller Davin Restivo, and returning to racetracks for a second and third time, has created a substantial improvement in results on every type of racetrack.
In 2025, Herbst spent a total of 560 laps scored inside the top-15 in the NASCAR Cup Series, but, through the first-half of 2026, the driver of the No. 35 has more than doubled that, having logged 1,126 laps inside the top-15 as of the 17th race of the 36-race campaign. From season-to-season, Herbst has improved six spots in average running position and six spots in average finish, and at the halfway point of the season holds an average finish of 20.6.
Compared to this point last season, Herbst is sitting 11 positions higher in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, and heading to Sonoma, sits only 58 points below the cutline to make “The Chase”.
Unfortunately, that improvement won’t be enough to keep Herbst at 23XI Racing in 2027, as Corey Heim will replace him in the No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE, but all signs point to the fact that the 26-year-old driver will continue in the NASCAR Cup Series next season, and likely with Toyota Racing USA.
