Why is Michael Jordan’s Latest NASCAR Recruit Taking the #35 Car in the Cup Series?

Rahul Ahluwalia | 02/12/2024
(L-R) Riley Herbst and Michael Jordan

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular up until the 2024 racing season, Riley Herbst will be seen graduating to the big leagues next year as Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s Cup Series outfit expands to a three-car operation in 2025. 23XI Racing will be seen fielding the #35 Toyota Camry XSE in the sport, driven by Herbst.

The team’s president, Steve Lauletta, recently revealed an interesting anecdote on how the #35 number came to be as Hebrst’s number of choice for his full-time Cup Series entry. “The number, the #35, actually Michael Jordan wore it when he first started playing baseball, so he thought it’d sit with the #23 and the #45 which are his other numbers,” said Lauletta in an excerpt from SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

He added, “Denny’s dad drove the #8 and so five and three together make eight so we kind of found a couple of reasons why #35 fit in. It takes the three from the #23 and the five from the #45.”

Further elaborating on how hiring the now former #98 Ford Mustang driver made sense for 23XI not only from competition but a business standpoint as well, Lauletta said, “We’ve had a great relationship with Monster Energy for a number of years now back to Kurt (Busch) and with Tyler. To expand our relationship with them and give Riley the chance, there were just a ton of reasons why it made sense for us.”

While the young 25-year-old has experience behind the wheel of the Next Gen Cup car, a switch from Ford’s Xfinity Series platform to Toyota’s Cup Series car is going to be challenging for Herbst. His prior experience behind the wheel of a Cup car came in 2023 when he drove a Rick Ware Racing entry during that year’s running of the famed Daytona 500.

He achieved a noteworthy P10 finish during his first escapade as a Cup driver. The Las Vegas native has also been leaning on former Cup Series regular and 2014 champion Kevin Harvick for tips on how to go about his full-time debut in the big leagues.

Alongside Harvick, Herbst also has the experienced shoulders of Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick to lean on, the latter of which has just come off a championship four charge this past season.

It remains to be seen how well Herbst can adapt to the new environment, with Monster Energy and 23XI’s Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan backing the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver.

Post Edited By: Rahul Ahluwalia
23XI Racing Michael Jordan NASCAR Cup Series Riley Herbst

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Rahul Ahluwalia

Rahul Ahluwalia is a NASCAR Content Strategist and Journalist at The SportsRush. Hailing from a Journalism and Mass Communication background, Rahul's love for automobiles transformed into his passion for all things racing. With over 1200+ articles under his belt covering a mixture of NASCAR and F1, he has realized his calling in the world of motorsports with actual first hand experience behind the wheel to back it up. He has competed in several autocross events as well as rallycross-style competitions to hone his skills behind the wheel and better understand the mindset of a racecar driver, allowing him to further improve his writing as well. He also has an editorial background with respect to racing and has eye for stories which otherwise go unnoticed. Rahul is also an avid sim racer indulging in various disciplines such as rallying and oval racing during his free time. Having begun his motorsports journey at the start of 2020, he turned his passion into his work allowing him to delve deeper into the ever evolving and world of cars and motorsports. Apart from racing, Rahul also has sound technical knowledge of the automotive industry and automobiles in general. Having grown up playing video games such as Need for Speed, Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, it is easy to see where the love for racing and machines inculcated in the first place.

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