Riley Herbst to drive No. 36 car for Front Row Motorsports at Daytona

Xfinity Series regular Riley Herbst will make his third-career NASCAR Cup Series start in this Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Herbst will be behind the wheel of the No. 36 car for Front Row Motorsports, which will field a third car alongside Michael McDowell in the No. 34 and Todd Gilliland of the No. 36, per Austin Konenski of Motorsports Wire.

Herbst, who mans the No. 98 for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Xfinity Series, sits 10th in the points standings, still in search of his first-career victory. He took part in February’s Daytona 500, racing his way to a 10th place finish in the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing. Herbst had another go in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, picking up a P20 result.

He is one of five Xfinity Series regulars to get the call-up for the final Cup Series race ahead of the playoffs, joining Austin Hill, Josh Berry, Chandler Smith and Brennan Poole. In addition, Cup Series part-timer J.J. Yeley will get the drive in the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing.

Riley Herbst looking to gain momentum ahead of Xfinity Series playoffs

Herbst is coming off one of his worst finishes of the season — a P35 result in this past Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 at Watkins Glen. Hardly the result Herbst was looking for as the Xfinity Series playoffs approach, though with Daytona looming, Herbst has a viable shot to pick up a win and some momentum.

“The goal is definitely to hit our stride during this later half of the season. We’ve been working really hard and we’re excited for the playoff season to come. We’re 11th in points,” Herbst said ahead of Watkins Glen, via RACER. “I’d really like to get a top five here at Watkins Glen tomorrow, for sure. That’s a very realistic goal for us this weekend and I think we can achieve it.

“From there we’ll go to Daytona. I’m excited. I love Daytona. It’s such a cool atmosphere and I think we’ll have a really fast car there. Then comes Darlington. Darlington is fun. It is such a unique race track. There is nothing like it on the schedule and we are looking forward to that race as well. We’re excited. We think we can capitalize here and hit the ground running.”