As a result of his hard crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway just six days ago, Riley Herbst will be sidelined for Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to conclude the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season.
The 23XI Racing driver initially advanced to the second round of qualifying for the 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval on Friday evening and qualified his No. 35 Toyota fifth.
The team released a statement on Saturday afternoon confirming that Herbst will not compete and that Harrison Burton is set to fill in for him behind the wheel of the No. 35 car.
An update on today’s race. A driver change for the No. 35 team. pic.twitter.com/w0blYPsjAe
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) August 29, 2026
Riley Herbst out, Harrison Burton in at 23XI for Daytona
Burton is the 2024 winner of this race, but he has not been back in the Cup Series since losing his ride with Wood Brothers Racing at the end of that year. He remains the only driver in Cup Series history to win the summer Daytona race and then not return for the following year's Daytona 500 for something other than health reasons.
Herbst is 26th in the point standings and has been eliminated from postseason contention for several weeks, with no more "win and in" format to add to what is generally already a chaotic summer Daytona race.
Due to the driver change, Burton is set to start the race at the tail end of the inside lane, meaning that all drivers who had been lined up to start on the inside lane behind Herbst, starting with Trackhouse Racing's Connor Zilisch in seventh place, are set to move up one row (two positions) each.
Here's an updated look at the starting lineup for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Updated Daytona starting lineup
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
2 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
3 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
4 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
5 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
6 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
7 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
8 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
9 | Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota |
10 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
11 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
12 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
13 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
14 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
15 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
16 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
17 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
18 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
19 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
20 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
21 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
22 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
23 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
24 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
25 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
26 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
27 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
28 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
29 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
30 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
31 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
32 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
33 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
34 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
35 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
36 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
37 | Daniel Dye, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet |
38 | Casey Mears, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet |
39 | Harrison Burton, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
40 | Joey Gase, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet |
NBC's live coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET this evening. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from the "World Center of Racing" to wrap up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season!
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