By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Behind the sunshine of the Championship 4, Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway saw another special raceday for one driver: Drew Herring.
The North Carolina native made his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Ford EcoBoost 400. The start came with Gaunt Brothers Racing and their No. 96 Toyota, finishing 29th after starting 37th.
And it wasn’t a random showing for the 32-year-old, who has kept a close connection to Toyota Racing Development (TRD) since 2013 as their simulation driver at the JGR shop. Gaunt Brothers is a Toyota team, opening the door for Herring to make the jump up.
“There was a lot of people who had a hand in getting me here,” Herring said. “A lot of people from TRD. It’s pretty awesome those guys — we try to do a really good job back at the shop with the program I’m a part of. Because the better job we do, the better job they’re going to be able to do on the weekend.”
With Joe Gibbs Racing ending the season with a 1-2-3 finish in the 400-mile race, they also scored the series championship with Kyle Busch as well as securing 19 race wins, the most by a single team in the modern era of NASCAR.
“We like winning 19 races a year and setting records,” he said. “That’s pretty awesome.”
More than a team alliance, Herring’s Cup debut was the culmination of countless hours and thousands of race laps behind the wheel. In his first national NASCAR start since 2017, the anticipating shot at Cup was met with priceless nostalgia.
“It’s a night I’ll never forget,” he said. “I started racing when I was nine, watching NASCAR since Day No. 1. My grandpa loves it, my dad loves it. I grew up loving racing and watching it. It had always been a dream to be out here, man. I finally got an opportunity to do it. What a learning experience, learning from Lap 1 all the way to the finish.”
The opportunity was well-received in the NASCAR garage, catching the wishes and praises from JGR drivers Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. earlier in the week. For Herring, the support meant the world.
“For those guys to be excited is awesome,” he said. “I tried not to hound them too much. I talked to Kyle a little bit. They had a much bigger job this weekend and there’s enough dog-and-pony stuff going on, much less someone else in their ear. I know they wouldn’t have minded. But I didn’t want to be another guy chirping at them.”
And it was quite the track to make a debut. Changing from day to night, Herring got a full taste of how air affects Cup cars in 2019.
“I’ve raced Trucks, raced Xfinity, and they’re bad. This is a whole other level,” he said. “A lot of times, you’re moving lanes and it’s not to find speed, it’s literally to just get in clean air. You can be three tenths [of a second] quicker on the bottom, and as soon as that guy takes it away from you, you lose a half-second. That’s the nature of the beast and what you have to do.”
Not all lessons were easy to learn.
“Unfortunately, the one thing I didn’t want to do: I sped on pit road, cost us an extra lap,” he said. “That happens, you know. That put a lot of pressure on myself. Those are the kinds of mistakes you make when you’re not in a car weekly.”
Indeed, for a driver who has never had a full-time ride in national NASCAR, Herring relies heavily on his sim driving opportunities with JGR throughout the season. And though this year is officially done, the work isn’t over for Herring and team.
“We’ll be in there Tuesday,” he said. “We want to go while it’s still fresh in my head and hit the sim back at Homestead, post that so we can make sure we have a really good dialed-in setup for next year when we’re here.
“You don’t win 19 races in a season by becoming complacent or taking time off. I can promise everyone here is going to get back at the shop and get to work.
“I’m thankful for this opportunity. I want to it more though. One isn’t nearly enough.”