Riley Herbst was born on February 24, 1999, in the United States and grew up in a family deeply rooted in off-road racing: his father Troy, grandfather Jerry, and uncles Ed and Tim regularly competed in desert races such as the Baja 500 and Baja 1000, for which the quartet was inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. Herbst himself got behind the wheel of a kart for the first time at age five and gained experience in parallel in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series.
Through Legends Cars, Speed Trucks, and Super Late Models, Herbst worked his way toward NASCAR. In 2015, he raced weekly in a Super Late Model at Irwindale Speedway and secured the championship in the Speed Trucks Division. In 2016, he gained additional experience in the NASCAR East and West Series. In 2017, he took over the number 18 cockpit at Joe Gibbs Racing in the ARCA Racing Series, won the race at Pocono, and was named Rookie of the Year for the season with five top-5 and ten top-10 finishes. A year later, in 2018, he made his debut for JGR at Iowa Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
In 2020, Herbst took over the full schedule at JGR in the number 18 of the Xfinity Series and finished the season with four top-5 and seventeen top-10 finishes in twelfth place in the overall standings. After a move to Stewart-Haas Racing starting with the number 98 from 2021 onward, 2022 saw his strongest Xfinity season to date with eight top-5 and twenty top-10 finishes. In 2023, he celebrated his first Xfinity victory at the Alsco Uniforms 302 in Las Vegas; in 2024, he followed up with a win at the Pennzoil 250 in Indianapolis and reaching the championship race in Phoenix, finishing the season seventh in the overall standings. Off the ovals, Herbst also continued the family tradition and won the Baja 1000 in the Trophy Truck Spec class in both 2023 and 2024.
Since his move to the NASCAR Cup Series, Herbst has piloted the Toyota Camry XSE with starting number 35. In the 2026 season, he will compete as a full-time driver for 23XI Racing and aims to translate the experience gained in the Xfinity Series into consistent top results at the highest level.
Riley Herbst in the News