Riley Herbst is a NASCAR driver on the rise as he’s among the 10 best drivers in the Xfinity Series. For the Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, the 24-year-old is paying tribute to the late race legend Ken Block by sporting the Gymkhana “Drip” car paint scheme on his No. 98 Moster Entergy Ford Mustang for NASCAR’s Official Throwback Weekend. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Herbst who talked about the car and how much Block meant to him.
“Really excited to get down there and race and put this Gymkhana 3 scheme on the high banks at Darlington and just super honored to be able to run this scheme and very grateful,” Herbst told PopCulture. Block died on Jan. 2 at the age of 55 after being involved in a snowmobile accident near his ranch in Woodland, Utah. He was a rally driver competing in multiple organizations, including the World Rally Championship and Rally America. Block had success while competing in the X Games, winning five medals from 2006 to 2014.
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When asked what he remembers most about Block, Herbst said, “Just being able to rent out the city of San Francisco and make drifting videos through it through Gymkhana 5 is something very remarkable. And just the way he pushed the younger demographic like myself when he was coming up to motorsports and just make us fans of racing and what he did. And he made racing cool to the younger population, which was really neat to see. And just being able to see what he did through all of his videos and just how much of an icon he truly was.”
Herbst is hoping the paint scheme will help him win at the Shriners Children’s 200 at Darlington Raceway so he can be in a position to win the Xfinity Series Championship. But he has already proven that he can hang with the drivers in the Cup Series, finishing 10th place in this year’s Daytona 500.
“It was definitely a wild event and it seems so long ago now, but I was so grateful to make my first Cup start, let alone in the Daytona 500, and get a top 10 out of it was very cool as well,” Herbst said. “And I just thought the whole day was kind of a blur from the driver introduction to the checkered flag. But I learned so much and gained so much experience that hopefully I can take with me the rest of my career.”
