23XI Racing is moving forward with plans to expand to three cars in 2025.
The team announced that longtime Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst will join Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace next season. Herbst has three wins in 175 Xfinity Series starts and has raced full-time for Stewart-Haas Racing for the past four seasons.
23XI Racing had long been rumored to expand to three cars next season, although it was unclear how its lawsuit against NASCAR would impact those plans. 23XI and Front Row Motorsports have filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR over the sanctioning body’s franchise agreement. In the lawsuit, both teams accuse NASCAR of monopolistic business practices.
NASCAR recently removed a lawsuit clause in its terms of participation that allows FRM and 23XI to compete as open teams in 2025 if their lawsuit fails or if they have not signed the charter agreement by 2025 Daytona 500. Open teams are starting spots are not guaranteed in any Cup Series race and receive a lesser share of the purse money.
Front Row is also expanding to three cars next season. Both teams were to purchase charters from the now-shuttered Stewart-Haas Racing. But because the teams themselves do not have their own two charters, the immediate outcome of the charter purchases is unclear due to the lawsuit.
Herbst won two races in 2024 and finished seventh, his career-best finish in the points standings. His second victory came in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. He earned the first victory of his career in 2023 in his hometown of Las Vegas.
Herbst, whose family owns a chain of convenience stores, has been sponsored by Monster for almost his entire career. The energy drink will continue to sponsor Herbst at the Cup Series level and has at times been a primary sponsor for Ty Gibbs of Reddick and Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024.
