DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — 23XI Racing will have an expanded NASCAR operation this year and bigger goals. The Cup Series team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin is aiming to produce multiple playoff-worthy seasons.
Hamlin said he’d like to see both of his team’s cars — which includes the new No. 45 Toyota driven by former Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kurt Busch — advance to the series’ 16-car playoffs this year. That quest will start this weekend when the Cup Series season officially kicks off in Daytona Beach with the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Busch won at least one race in the last eight seasons of his career. He made the playoffs last year with a win at Atlanta, and was eliminated from postseason contention before the Round of 12. The veteran driver said his expectations for this year are similarly ambitious despite the move to the young team.
“Winning races, both cars in the playoffs,” Busch said. “And for us, making a run through the playoffs to have a shot at the Final Four — that’s what we want to do on the 45 car. There’s no reason to think that we can’t with the information sharing and the technology that we have with Toyota.”
Busch, 43, is teaming with 23XI’s original driver Bubba Wallace, who won his first Cup race last season at Talladega in the No. 23 Toyota. Wallace’s average finish with 23XI a year ago was 19.7 and he did not advance to the postseason, but Hamlin said Wallace “isn’t far off” from that playoff goal.
“It’s one DNF away,” Hamlin said. “When you look at the standings for who’s a contender ... you can gain a couple spots a week, and on average, change your average finish from 20th to 18th, and you’re there. It’s not that much and you really won’t see that much, and yet, you’ll see a big change in the standings.”
Wallace noted that playoffs were an obvious goal for any team, but that consistency would be a particular point of emphasis for his No. 23 group after mixed finishes last season.
“Smoothing out the graph on a results chart is important for us, and bringing that graph lower and lower, and better,” Wallace said.
Busch pointed to the team’s personnel as adding a competitive boost. Mike Wheeler, Wallace’s former crew chief, stepped into a full-time competition director role for 23XI last fall. Former Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Dave Rogers, who worked with Xfinity champion Daniel Hemric last season, has moved into a performance director role for the organization.
Billy Scott will be the crew chief for Busch this season, and Bootie Barker will continue his work as Wallace’s crew chief this year. Wallace said he’s continuing to develop an off-the-track-relationship with Barker, who is introducing Wallace to his bourbon collecting hobby.
“I’m not just name dropping,” Busch said. “We’ve got the right guys in the right places. To gather the information from JGR and work with them and Toyota to make a good run of this and 2022.”
