Drew Herring to Pilot No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota at Kentucky Speedway

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In: Xfinity Series News

This week the No. 54 Monster Energy seat will again see 26-year-old driver Drew Herring in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry. Herring, a familiar face at JGR, along with the now 10-time 2013 winners, look forward to week 27 running the Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. The team drives into the Bluegrass-state event, on a race high, having won the previous NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway in Joliet, with driver Kyle Busch. With the week 26 victory, their seventh win from the pole qualifying spot this year, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 group and owner J.D. Gibbs continue to target first place in the series’ Owner’s Championship battle, now only 13 points behind the No. 22 Penske Ford. This week, with the help of Herring, they hope to reduce that deficit and keep the No. 54 headed on the right track for a championship. 

Herring began his Nationwide Series career in 2010 at Baker Curb Racing with his debut race at Iowa Speedway. He accomplished a 15th-place finish in that inaugural series run and then continued that year with two top-20 finishes in four series starts. The next year, Herring connected with Joe Gibbs Racing and finished 12th or better in all four of his Nationwide Series starts.

2012 brought continued growth for the Benson, N.C. native when he made his first start in the No. 18 JGR entry at the site of this weekend’s event, the Kentucky Speedway, where under this year’s No. 54 crew chief Adam Stevens, he qualified fourth, led two laps and brought home a fourth-place finish, the highest finish of his career to date. This was also the year when Herring made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports, back at Iowa Speedway for the fall race. His first foray into truck racing accomplished a 17th-place start, 19 laps led and a seventh-place finish.

Herring has two starts already under his belt in the black No. 54 Camry this year. During the first 2013Nationwide Series Iowa race in June, Herring and team started ninth, battled weather and car conditions to produce an 11th-place finish. For the second Iowa Nationwide event in August, Herring again piloted the Monster Energy Toyota, and this time produced an exciting pole-qualifying position, the first of his young Nationwide Series career and the team would go on to record a sixth-place finish. In need of another seat to be filled, at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in late August, Joe Gibbs Racing asked Herring to drive the No. 18 Z-Line Designs machine. The rookie was happy to have the opportunity to compete on the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ and posted a top-15 starting spot, but was disappointed when a late-race accident forced him out of the show and into a 36th-place finishing position.

Herring hoped the Bristol event would not be his last opportunity to compete in the Nationwide Series this season. While he does have a full-time role filling test session duties for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports, and also works the CNC machine at JGR, making internal parts for the race team, his continual goal is to earn more seat time, to further his growth as a NASCAR driver. This weekend Herring will have that additional opportunity and plans to take full advantage of the extra track time with the already successful winning team. Together they will drive towards their 11th victory of the season.

KBM PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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