Denny Hamlin is growing into his role as 23XI Racing co-owner

Editor’s note: On Saturday, The Athletic reported that 23XI Racing will expand to a two-car team for the 2022 Cup Series season, and Kurt Busch is the leading candidate to drive the second car on a full-time basis.

Walk into 23XI Racing’s headquarters and you’ll see a trophy case behind the receptionist’s desk. This wasn’t something Denny Hamlin installed when he and partner Michael Jordan bought the shop. The previous occupant, Germain Racing, had stationed the trophy case there, and when 23XI Racing moved in on Jan. 2, Hamlin saw no need to remove it.

What stands out about the trophy case is that it sits bare.

Despite Hamlin being one of the most accomplished drivers of his era and Jordan being, well, Michael Jordan, there are no mementos signifying any of their respective achievements. None of Hamlin’s three Daytona 500 trophies, none of Jordan’s five MVP awards. Just an empty glass case holding nothing but air.

That’s how Hamlin prefers it. He wants the team he co-owns to see that trophy case and be motivated to strive for success.

“I do that at home,” Hamlin told The Athletic. “Essentially right when you walk in the front door there’s kind of a podium where I keep all my trophies from the previous year, and then January 1 I clean them out and I’ve got nothing. Every year is a reset.

“So, yeah, I didn’t want to put anything in there. We’ll earn our accolades as we go.”

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Many NASCAR teams are years in the making. 23XI Racing is not one of those teams. In many respects, it’s a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid NASCAR’s 10-week shutdown last spring, Hamlin began wondering what life would be like for him once his driving days were over. He began mulling the thought of owning a team, and it wasn’t long before rumors started swirling that Hamlin and Jordan, who had been friends for years after meeting when Hamlin attended games for the Jordan-owned Charlotte Hornets, would partner to purchase a stake in an existing team. Exploratory conversations with Richard Petty Motorsports commenced and through this process, Hamlin thought it might be best to start his own team rather than buy into one that’s already operational. Hamlin approached Jordan with the idea by text and flew down to South Florida shortly afterward. Eventually Jordan agreed, and from there they moved forward.

In September, Hamlin and Jordan announced the formation of 23XI Racing with Bubba Wallace as the driver. High-profile sponsors including DoorDash, McDonald’s, Dr. Pepper and Toyota signed on, and 23XI Racing became the most anticipated new NASCAR team in at least a decade.

“Just 12 months ago, I never would have imagined that we’d have a race team that’s for sure, much less in the Cup Series,” Hamlin said.

Success has been fleeting for 23XI Racing in its first season. Through 14 races, Wallace has not recorded a top-10 finish (he finished 11th at Dover) and the No. 23 team has seen several potential strong results go by the wayside.

Growing pains are expected for a first-year organization. The chemistry between Wallace and crew chief Mike Wheeler is still congealing while 23XI Racing figures out how to be a consistently competitive Cup Series team.

All involved with 23XI Racing recognize the team remains a work in progress. Collectively, they’re adamant that the team is meeting its expectations and making progress.

“I always remind people that it was four months of sprinting to get ready for Daytona, and now four months of actually racing, so only being in existence for eight months, I think we’re doing a pretty good job and are about where I expected us to be,” 23XI Racing president Steve Lauletta told The Athletic.

Everyone also understands there is a spotlight on them. This is what happens to any team Jordan’s involved with.

How, then, is the notoriously competitive Jordan handling the early hiccups? Has Jordan expressed frustration over the team’s performance, or does he understand this is a process and every team in NASCAR loses more than it wins?

“Both,” said Hamlin, whose results for Joe Gibbs Racing this season have him comfortably atop the Cup standings. “But, overall, he wants to be competitive, he wants to race for wins and be in the top five and 10. So that’s where I need to get our team by the end of the year.” (Jordan was not available for comment.)

Hamlin smiles as he walks across the 23XI Racing shop floor during a tour of the facility. He takes great pride in what he’s created, confident about the future course he’s charted for the team over the short and long term, in both its present location and where the team ideally will move no later than 2023.

23XI Racing’s current home. (Courtesy of 23XI Racing)

Currently, the shop that houses 23XI Racing is modest compared to the sprawling campuses of Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and JGR. Plans are in the works, however, to eventually move 23XI Racing into a new home in Huntersville, North Carolina, just down the road from JGR, of which 23XI Racing is an affiliate. In terms of total square footage, the proposed shop would be roughly three times bigger.

The increased size would allow perks like a large outdoor playground for kids, a cafe and a game room that would forge a fun atmosphere, with the hope that it ultimately leads to squeezing greater speed out of their Toyota Camrys. That philosophy is not dissimilar from how Joe Gibbs gradually built JGR from the ground up into a juggernaut; one Hamlin has experienced firsthand and had a significant role in. Where employees feel connected to their employer beyond just receiving a paycheck.

As Hamlin envisions it, 23XI Racing’s future possible headquarters would be part race shop, part business office, and would be included as part of a larger mixed-use business park being developed by Palillo Holdings LLC, which, according to Hamlin would also see apartments, hotels and restaurants constructed in the surrounding area.

A bigger footprint would also allow 23XI Racing to comfortably house multiple teams, as expansion beyond a one-car team is something Hamlin and Toyota would like to see happen. Expansion could materialize as soon as next year if sufficient sponsorship and a charter can be secured. A decision regarding expansion in 2022 is expected to be made within the next few months.

“It’s certainly something that we’re working very hard to try to pull off,” Lauletta said.

It can take years for a NASCAR team to launch and expand. But a bigger race shop would mean room for additional 23XI teams. (Courtesy of 23XI Racing)

All of this is a learning experience for Hamlin. On-the-job training if you will, because not only is he trying to mold a new team into Cup winners, but he’s delicately balancing the fact he drives for a different organization that competes against the team he co-owns.

He admits there are occasions during races when he has difficulty taking off his owner’s hat, like checking the scoring pylon under cautions to see how Wallace is running and occasionally offering pointed commentary on the radio. Most recently, Hamlin F-bombed Wheeler during the May 16 race at Dover, upset that Wallace, on older tires, was holding him up after he had just pitted for new tires.

Later, Hamlin conceded Wheeler made the right decision and Wallace was doing the right thing by racing him so hard. (Wallace would go to finish a season-best 11th.)

“I knew Bubba couldn’t hear me, so I knew Wheels and Freddie (Kraft, Wallace’s spotter) were the only guys that could hear me so I had to cuss to somebody,” Hamlin said, laughing. “But I was just frustrated. And looking back, that he fought as hard as he did, we actually gapped ourselves to the cars behind us so when I did get around him, he actually had some breathing room.”

Like any proud father, Hamlin could stand here chatting about his team all day. Except being an owner brings with it certain demands, leaving his day-to-day schedule jam-packed with more obligations than ever requiring his attention.

After all, there’s work to do if that trophy case is ever to become filled.

“I need to work on my schedule to get a little bit more time off because I am so strapped right now for time,” Hamlin said. “But, ultimately, this is what I signed up for. I enjoy projects, I enjoy the process of building something from the ground up.

“We’re building something special here.”

(Top photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)