Eight races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, 23XI Racing have emerged as regular frontrunners with both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Reddick finds himself in fifth place in the point standings with three top four finishes, while Wallace is off to the best start of his career in eighth with two top three results.
But their new teammate, Riley Herbst, has not yet finished higher than 17th place.
When the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated 23XI Racing acquired a third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing and added a third car for Herbst, there were some question marks about the move. Herbst spent nearly four full years in the Xfinity Series with top-tier equipment before he got his first win, and in five years with top teams, he tallied just three wins and never made it to the Championship 4.
Herbst was considered a bit of a "late bloomer" once he posted his first multi-win season in 2024, so it wasn't exactly expected that he would win at the Cup level immediately. However, given the success of his two teammates, he should be a lot higher than 34th place in the point standings, ahead of only Haas Factory Team's Cole Custer and Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware.
The overarching belief was that Herbst landed his seat primarily due to funding, and so far, you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody willing to argue against that. He has long been backed by Monster Energy, which have been affiliated with 23XI Racing since Kurt Busch arrived in 2022, so the pairing made sense from a partnership standpoint.
But the 26-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada has reeled off three straight finishes between 31st and 34th place and has been nowhere near the pace of his teammates during that stretch.
Could a quote from team co-owner Michael Jordan come back to haunt Herbst?
Back in 2021, there were questions when the Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned team opted to put Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota, their lone car at the time.
Jordan responded to the doubters by stating that "we don’t sign checks for losers", a quote that has resurfaced on numerous occasions since the 2021 season began.
While Wallace certainly would have liked to have had more success up to this point, he does have two wins and a playoff berth to his name, two things he had never achieved prior to his arrival to the Toyota organization.
Reddick has also proven Jordan's statement true. He won twice in his first year with the team in 2023, and he added three more wins and a regular season championship in 2024 en route to his first career Championship 4 appearance.
But Herbst isn't even the same ballpark as either one of his teammates, and if Jordan's quote is even remotely true, then the seat of the No. 35 Toyota might be getting warm.
Of course, there is already speculation that Herbst could be more of a placeholder for Corey Heim than anything. Heim recently became 23XI Racing's development driver, and he is slated to make multiple starts in a fourth entry for the team later in the year. He still competes full-time for Tricon Garage in the Truck Series, however, so a move to the Cup Series may not be imminent.
Then there is the possibility of Hamlin wrapping up his career with his own team, rather than with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has spent his entire career. But that is admittedly more of a longshot.
We're not going to call Herbst a "loser" simply for running poorly through eight races. But he has certainly not been a winner at the Cup level thus far, and if significant improvements aren't made, Jordan and company may need to put their money where their mouths are and find a more suitable third driver sooner rather than later.
This is a team that aims to compete for wins and championships, and they have proven they are capable of doing that. Running P34 is simply not sustainable, rookie or not.