Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next is 23XI Racing’s Riley Herbst, who is currently 27th in the standings (an improvement of eight positions from last year) during his second season in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was announced last weekend that Herbst will not return to 23XI next year, and his next team has not yet been officially announced.1. Do you typically arrive for things early, late or on time, and why?I’m early. Probably 10 minutes early. I hate waiting on people, and so I assume people hate waiting on me. I’ll get to things and sit in my car and watch YouTube videos or doomscroll. But yeah, if I show up on the minute, I get anxiety and stuff.I will say, though, the things that don’t take other people’s time, I’m late. Like a commercial airport, they’re gonna leave with or without me, so I show up super late. They’re calling my name (on the P.A.).2. What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?I know you’ve gotten this answer 100 times, so I’ll just make it 101, but I hate the adult autograph collectors. I love children autograph collectors because I was one of those, but the adult ones are crazy. Honestly, it’s a bit out of hand. (In NASCAR, each week, some adults bring dozens of items to be autographed by drivers and then presumably resell them.)Is there anything that could be done about it? Because I see these suitcases …Suitcases! And I just don’t understand how they get hot (VIP) passes. It’s almost like an inside job. This is tinfoil hat time. Somebody’s giving them hot passes — or VIP passes or whatever they’re called now. But yeah, it’s crazy.3. What is something you’ve learned to stop explaining to people?Explaining to people the way I hold myself at the racetrack. A lot of people think I’m not having fun or that I’m a different person away from the racetrack, because I am.When I get to the racetrack, I don’t really go out and B.S. and have fun and do things like that. I’m here to try to do the best I can do. I think it’s a disservice to my team if I’m not focused on what I need to do, or if I’m going out and doing crazy stuff.“When I get to the racetrack, I don’t really go out and B.S. and have fun and do things like that,” Riley Herbst says. “I’m here to try to do the best I can do.” (David Jensen / Getty Images)4. If you could go back to the early days before you reached NASCAR, what is one different decision you wish you had made in your career?I wish I would have run more Late Model races as a younger kid. I didn’t get in a Late Model until I was 16 years old. Maybe 15 and a half. But I was pretty old compared to some of these kids.Other than that, nothing. I like where I’m at. I like the position I’m in. And I believe in the Butterfly Effect a little bit.5. What is it like to be in a debrief after a bad race?Well, I’ve had quite a few of those, so I’ve gotten pretty numb to it. As I like to tell people, I’m kind of numb to all experiences now.It’s difficult, but it’s just a challenge to get better. This is a professional sport, and I feel like if people don’t hold you accountable, or if you don’t hold yourself accountable, then you’re not going to get better. I do enjoy getting better, and sometimes getting better is not always fun.6. I’m asking each person a pair of wild-card questions: One about the past and one about the present. Your average running position has improved dramatically this season (4.5 positions). What do you think is the biggest factor in making that kind of leap?Honestly, just time. I got the same narrative after the first year in the O’Reilly Series, and it’s kind of a cyclical thing. It just takes some people longer than others.Obviously, 20th or 21st is not where you want to be either, so there’s still huge room for improvement. But I’d way rather have you guys talking about that than four positions the other direction.7. In terms of the past, you come from a great off-road racing heritage in the desert. What are some of your memories from growing up around off-road racing, and how did that shape your love of motorsports?Just like other people who have huge motorsports histories — Todd (Gilliland), Harrison (Burton), (Ryan) Blaney, (John Hunter) Nemechek — as a kid, you think it’s normal. You think everybody’s parents go drive race cars on the weekend. Obviously, you go to school and realize their parents don’t drive race cars, but you don’t really put two and two together as a kid.That was probably the weirdest thing once I became more conscious of it. We’d go out there on weekends. Zane (Smith’s) father ran the off-road team. He was the crew chief, head mechanic, everything. Me and Zane would wash the cars, scrape mud off the cars. That’s what we did every weekend.We’d take our RC cars and play battle royale with them and see whose got destroyed first. We had fun in the middle of nowhere as two kids.I still can’t get over that out of all the people who try motorsports, you, Zane and Noah (Gragson) all grew up together and now you’re all in the Cup Series.Yeah, it is mind-blowing. It feels like yesterday we were at the Bullring in Las Vegas. The three of us were literally like brothers. One Saturday night we were probably not talking and mad at each other. The next weekend, we were eating pizza on top of Legend cars and showing each other pictures of new NASCAR die-casts we got.Zane Smith (left) and Riley Herbst, in 2025. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)8. If you could get any driver’s helmet in the history of motorsports, whose would it be?Right now, I want Lando (Norris’) basketball helmet from Miami. But probably five years ago, I would’ve said a (Michael) Schumacher helmet. That’s the pinnacle, I think.9. When things are not going well, do you prefer that people leave you alone or check in on you?It’s interesting because I think everyone I’ve read has said, “leave me alone.” And I think that’s true for me, too. There’s probably a correlation there on the psychological side — that all of us are similar in that aspect.We’ve been raised since we were 6 years old to compete. We know when we didn’t do well. We’re not oblivious to that. And especially for me, I can self-reflect on my own and try to get better.10. What is something about yourself that would surprise people who think they “know” you?I’m infatuated with U.S. history. That’s the only thing that kept me in grade school. I loved the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, the colonies. It’s mind-blowing, it’s a few generations ago. For my 18th birthday, my parents asked me what I wanted to do, and we went to Washington, D.C., just the three of us. I wanted to see all the monuments and memorials.11. What is something you laugh about now that was absolutely not funny at the time?I would say 2019 Michigan, literally the worst racing weekend in my short history. I blew up in the ARCA race, or had an electrical issue. In Xfinity practice, we were actually really fast. That’s when (Christopher) Bell was still in the 20 … I was right below Bell on the speed chart and thought I was doing it, then I went to go get more, slipped on a seam and destroyed it.Then in the race, starting last, I got involved in a wreck. So three races, three DNFs.12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last one was with Álex Palou and he said: “What is the best way to save tires on short ovals, and would you like to race an IndyCar on a short oval?”Growing up road racing, you just don’t think that way. Saving tires on an oval is mind-blowing to me. You want to leave the corner as low and straight as possible with your hands, trying to keep both rear tires attached and moving in the same direction with equal load. You want to be easy into the corner and not overcharge it, because entry can wear rear tires just as much as exit can.And would I want to drive an IndyCar? Absolutely. I think it would be fun. I know Iowa is so fast now after the repave, but Iowa would be cool. Nashville would be fun. Any place bigger than that seems a little sketchy.