23XI Racing

23XI Racing

Owner(s)	Michael Jordan Denny Hamlin Curtis Polk
Principal(s)	Steve Lauletta (President)
Base	Huntersville, North Carolina
Series	NASCAR Cup Series
Race drivers	23. Bubba Wallace 45. Tyler Reddick 50. Kamui Kobayashi, Corey Heim, Juan Pablo Montoya (part-time)
Sponsors	23. McDonald's, MoneyLion, Columbia Sportswear (Star Wars), U.S. Air Force, Leidos, Mobil 1, Xfinity, Draft Kings, Toyota 45. Monster Energy (The Beast Unleashed), Xfinity, Mobil 1, SiriusXM, MoneyLion, Jordan Brand, McDonald's, Upper Deck, Draft Kings 50. Mobil 1
Manufacturer	Toyota
Opened	2020
Career
Debut	2021 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Latest race	2024 Xfinity 500 (Martinsville)
Races competed	143
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	8
Pole positions	6

23XI Racing (pronounced twenty-three eleven) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is owned and operated by Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordan, along with current Joe Gibbs Racing driver and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. The team name represents a combination of Michael Jordan's No. 23 he wore during most of his NBA career and Denny Hamlin's No. 11 which he has driven his entire career in the Cup series. The organization fields the Nos. 23 and 45 Toyota teams full-time for drivers Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, as well as the No. 50 Toyota team part-time for three other drivers, including Kamui Kobayashi, Corey Heim, and Juan Pablo Montoya. They currently have a technical alliance with JGR.

History

The previous logo for 23XI Racing.

During the summer of 2020, rumors swirled that Michael Jordan intended on purchasing an ownership stake in Richard Petty Motorsports, who fielded the only black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace. Such claims were repeatedly denied by Jordan's management team.

On September 8, 2021, veteran motorsports executive Steve Lauletta was named team president after serving as the interim president since the team's foundation.

On July 12, 2022, 23XI Racing announced that two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick signed with the team for the 2024 season. On July 23, 2022, Hamlin announced that starting in 2023, 23XI would have its own pit crews instead of leasing them from Joe Gibbs Racing.

In May, 2024, 23XI opened its doors to their brand new state-of-the-art facility known as "Airspeed" in Huntersville, North Carolina. Airspeed is the headquarters for 23XI, where they prepare their racecars for the upcoming races. There is much more to Airspeed then just a race shop, fans can visit the location to get tours and see memorabilia, as well as purchase fan gear. When looking at NASCAR race shops, 23XI is ahead of the game with their revolutionary shop called "Airspeed".

On October 2, 2024, it was announced that 23XI Racing, along with Front Row Motorsports, filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR over the terms of the updated charter agreement, as well as anti-competitive practices committed by the France family.

Car No. 23 history

Bubba Wallace (2021–present)

Wallace's No. 23 car during the 2021 Toyota/Save Mart 350

On September 21, 2020, Jordan and Denny Hamlin announced the formation of a Cup team to begin competition in 2021 with Jordan as majority owner, Hamlin as minority owner, and Wallace, who eleven days prior had announced his departure from Richard Petty Motorsports, as their first official driver. The team bought a guaranteed starting spot in every 2021 race by purchasing a charter from Germain Racing. The team's name, car number and manufacturer were not revealed at the time of the announcement. Hamlin later said that the two had discussed owning a team but that it never came to fruition. On October 22, the team announced its name, 23XI Racing, and would use the number 23 (Jordan's number during his basketball career). On October 30, the team revealed that they will run Toyotas with a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing (whose No. 11 car is driven by Hamlin) and operate out of a shop owned (and formerly used) by Germain Racing. On December 14, 23XI Racing announced that DoorDash, McDonald's, Columbia Sportswear, Dr Pepper, and Root, Inc. will be the sponsors of the No. 23 team in 2021. It was also announced that several crew members of the former Germain operation would join the team as a pit crew. On February 3, it was announced that former Germain driver Ty Dillon (who attempted to make the Daytona 500 with fellow Toyota team Gaunt Brothers Racing) would run the car in the 2021 Busch Clash, as Wallace was not eligible to run the clash.

Wallace finished second in his Duel and finished 17th at the 2021 Daytona 500 after being involved in a last-lap crash. At the Daytona road course he had troubles all day and finished 26th. Wallace struggled out the gate until Phoenix, which was his first strong run of the season. Wallace was running top 15 for most of the day before working his way into the top 10. Following a caution and most of the field pitting, while Wallace stayed out, he restarted first. This move did not work out well for Wallace. Due to him being on old tires and the rest of the field being on new tires, Wallace was quickly cycled out of the first position, dropped back, and wound up making contact with Cole Custer. He ended up finishing 16th. At the 2021 GEICO 500 at Talladega, Wallace had a strong car the entire day. Wallace was running top 10 for a good portion of the day and ended up winning stage 2. This was Wallace's first career stage win. After an overtime restart, Wallace was cycled to the back of the pack and wound up finishing 19th. At Dover, Wallace finished 11th. At Pocono, Wallace finished the first race in 14th, but finished the second race fifth, scoring the team's best finish and their first top-five. He finished third at the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, but he was officially scored with a second-place finish after Chris Buescher was disqualified post-inspection. On September 16, Bootie Barker was named crew chief for the remainder of the season after Wheeler was promoted to Director of Competition. Wallace scored his first career win at the rain-shortened 2021 YellaWood 500 at Talladega, becoming only the second Black driver after Wendell Scott to win a Cup race. Wallace finished the season 21st in points.

Wallace began the 2022 season by finishing in second place at the 2022 Daytona 500. On March 29, 2022, Barker was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the 2022 Texas Grand Prix at COTA. Dave Rogers was announced as Wallace's crew chief for Richmond, Martinsville, Bristol, and Talladega. Later in the regular season, Wallace showed strong form, posting four consecutive top-10s at New Hampshire, Pocono, Indianapolis road course, and Michigan.

After failing to make the driver playoffs at Daytona, it was announced that Ty Gibbs would switch to the No. 23 to allow Wallace to compete in the owners championship with the No. 45. At the Texas playoff race, Gibbs veered into Ty Dillon on pit road, nearly sending Dillon towards a NASCAR official and a group of pit crew members; he was subsequently fined US$75,000 and the No. 23 was docked 25 owner points. At Phoenix, Daniel Hemric substituted for Gibbs after the death of his father, Coy Gibbs. Hemric finished 17th.

Wallace started the 2023 season with a 20th-place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. He improved his finishes enough to make the playoffs for the first time in his career. Wallace was eliminated from the Round of 12 at the conclusion of the Charlotte Roval race.

During the 2024 season, Wallace was fined US$50,000 for intentionally door-slamming Alex Bowman during the cool-down lap after the Chicago street race. Following the Martinsville playoff race, the No. 23 was docked 50 owner and driver points and Wallace and the team were each fined US$100,000 for race manipulation, when Wallace faked a tire failure and slowed down to allow fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell to pass him in an attempt to make the Championship 4. In addition, Barker was suspended for the Phoenix finale.

Car No. 23 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	Owners	Pts
2021	Bubba Wallace	23	Toyota	DAY 17	DAY 26	HOM 22	LVS 28	PHO 16	ATL 16	BRI 27	MAR 16	RCH 26	TAL 19	KAN 26	DAR 21	DOV 11	COA 39	CLT 14	SON 14	NSH 20	POC 14	POC 5	ROA 24	ATL 14	NHA 26	GLN 23	IND 13	MCH 19	DAY 2	DAR 21	RCH 32	BRI 16	LVS 16	TAL 1	CLT 14	TEX 32	KAN 14	MAR 25	PHO 39	21st	699
2022				DAY 2	CAL 19	LVS 25	PHO 22	ATL 13	COA 38	RCH 26	MAR 16	BRI 28	TAL 17	DOV 16	DAR 27	KAN 10	CLT 28	GTW 26	SON 36	NSH 12	ROA 35	ATL 14	NHA 3	POC 8	IND 5	MCH 2	RCH 13	GLN 35	DAY 11											24th	658
	Ty Gibbs																													DAR 15	KAN 34	BRI 35	TEX 20	TAL 37	CLT 22	LVS 22	HOM 21	MAR 19
	Daniel Hemric																																						PHO 17
2023	Bubba Wallace			DAY 20	CAL 30	LVS 4	PHO 14	ATL 27	COA 37	RCH 22	BRD 12	MAR 9	TAL 28	DOV 12	KAN 4	DAR 5	CLT 4	GTW 30	SON 17	NSH 15	CSC 31	ATL 25	NHA 8	POC 11	RCH 12	MCH 18	IRC 18	GLN 12	DAY 12	DAR 7	KAN 32	BRI 14	TEX 3*	TAL 23	ROV 16	LVS 12	HOM 6	MAR 11	PHO 10	17th	899
2024				DAY 5	ATL 5	LVS 35	PHO 16	BRI 29	COA 15	RCH 13	MAR 4	TEX 7	TAL 32	DOV 36	KAN 17	DAR 7	CLT 11	GTW 21	SON 20	IOW 17	NHA 34	NSH 7	CSC 13	POC 10	IND 5	RCH 4	MCH 26	DAY 6	DAR 16	ATL 29	GLN 17	BRI 3	KAN 17	TAL 9	ROV 9	LVS 12	HOM 18	MAR 18	PHO

Car No. 45 history

Kurt Busch in the No. 45 at Auto Club Speedway in 2022

Kurt Busch (2022)

On August 27, 2021, 23XI Racing announced that Kurt Busch will pilot the No. 45 Toyota Camry in 2022 (With the number 45 being a reference to a jersey number Jordan wore during his baseball career and for 23 games during the 1994–95 NBA season.) His long time sponsor Monster Energy will follow him. Following the end of the 2021 season, 23XI purchased the former StarCom Racing's charter for US$13.5 million, making it the most expensive charter purchase since the implementation of the system in 2016.

Busch began his 2022 season with a 19th-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Despite a promising start with top-five finishes at Phoenix and Atlanta, he suffered from poor finishes at COTA, Richmond, Bristol dirt, Dover, and Darlington. However, he rebounded with a win at Kansas. At the Pocono race, Busch was not medically cleared after a crash during qualifying, and subsequently missed the last five races of the regular season. Xfinity Series driver Ty Gibbs substituted Busch for the next six races. He finished 16th at Pocono and 17th at Indianapolis. A 10th-place finish at Michigan earned Gibbs his first top-10 finish. The following week at Richmond, Gibbs finished 36th, last due to an engine failure. Gibbs finished 26th at Watkins Glen. On August 25, Busch announced he withdrew his request for a playoff waiver.

Six days later, it was announced that Bubba Wallace would swap rides with Gibbs as the No. 45 entry is still eligible for the owner's championship. Wallace finished ninth at Darlington to open the playoffs. He scored his second career win at Kansas. On October 16, Busch announced he would step away from full-time competition in 2023, with the possibility of running the season on a part-time basis. At Las Vegas, Kyle Larson charged aggressively past Kevin Harvick and Wallace, causing Wallace to scrape the outside wall. Wallace retaliated with a right rear hook on Larson, wrecking both cars down the frontstretch and severely damaging Christopher Bell's car in the process. During the caution, Wallace engaged in a shoving match with Larson. Wallace was suspended for one race for the incident; John Hunter Nemechek was assigned to drive the No. 45 at Homestead.

Tyler Reddick (2023–present)

Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 at Auto Club Speedway in 2023.

On October 15, 2022, 23XI Racing announced that it bought out the remainder of Tyler Reddick's contract from Richard Childress Racing to replace Kurt Busch in the No. 45 for the 2023 season. Reddick originally signed with 23XI for 2024, but Busch's concussion and subsequent retirement from full-time competition led to this move.

Reddick started the 2023 season with a 39th place DNF at the 2023 Daytona 500. A month later, he scored his first win of the season at COTA in triple overtime. On May 16, NASCAR docked the No. 45 team 10 owner and driver points for unapproved ballasts during inspection prior to qualifying at Darlington. During the playoffs, Reddick won at Kansas to advance to the Round of 12.

Reddick started the 2024 season with a 29th place DNF at the 2024 Daytona 500. He scored his first win of the season at Talladega by overtaking Brad Keselowski on the final stretch after Keselowski spun Michael McDowell and triggered a multi-car crash. He scored his second win of the season at Michigan. Following the Southern 500, Reddick clinched the regular season championship, beating Kyle Larson by just one point. During the playoffs, he locked himself into the Championship 4 by winning at Homestead.

Car No. 45 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	Owners	Pts
2022	Kurt Busch	45	Toyota	DAY 19	CAL 8	LVS 13	PHO 5	ATL 3	COA 32	RCH 35	MAR 6	BRI 32	TAL 16	DOV 31	DAR 28	KAN 1*	CLT 31	GTW 3	SON 18	NSH 2	ROA 23	ATL 22	NHA 10																	10th	2231
	Ty Gibbs																							POC 16	IND 17	MCH 10	RCH 36	GLN 26	DAY 13
	Bubba Wallace																													DAR 9	KAN 1	BRI 29	TEX 25	TAL 16	CLT 7	LVS 36		MAR 8	PHO 22
	John Hunter Nemechek																																				HOM 27
2023	Tyler Reddick			DAY 39	CAL 34	LVS 15	PHO 3	ATL 5	COA 1	RCH 16	BRD 2	MAR 22	TAL 16	DOV 7	KAN 9	DAR 22	CLT 5	GTW 35	SON 33	NSH 30	CSC 28	ATL 27	NHA 6	POC 2	RCH 16	MCH 30	IRC 4	GLN 8	DAY 25	DAR 2	KAN 1	BRI 15	TEX 25	TAL 16	ROV 6	LVS 7	HOM 3	MAR 26	PHO 22	6th	2344
2024				DAY 29	ATL 30	LVS 2	PHO 10	BRI 30	COA 5	RCH 10	MAR 7	TEX 4	TAL 1	DOV 11	KAN 20	DAR 32*	CLT 4	GTW 4	SON 8*	IOW 22	NHA 6	NSH 3	CSC 2	POC 6	IND 2*	RCH 3	MCH 1	DAY 28	DAR 10	ATL 6	GLN 27	BRI 20	KAN 25	TAL 20	ROV 11	LVS 35	HOM 1*	MAR 34	PHO

Car No. 50/67 history

Part-time (2023–present)

Pastrana at the Daytona 500

On January 17, 2023, 23XI announced that Travis Pastrana would attempt to enter the No. 67 Toyota Camry for the 2023 Daytona 500 with sponsorship coming from Black Rifle Coffee Company. On February 14, Pastrana made the entry field by scoring the second fastest lap among the non-chartered teams. He suffered an accident in the qualifying duel and started in the back for the race. Pastrana ended up finishing 11th in the race. On June 7, it was announced that Kamui Kobayashi would make his Cup debut in the No. 67 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, he would end up finishing 33rd in the race after getting caught up in several wrecks.

On March 13, 2024, it was announced that Kobayashi would once again compete in a race for the team, this time at COTA. The car number will race as the No. 50 instead of the No. 67 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of sponsor Mobil 1. The team plans to run the No. 50 for two more races during the season with different drivers.

On May 10, 2024, 23XI Racing announced that Corey Heim would drive the No. 50 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry at Nashville Superspeedway. Heim finished 29th after crashing out in one of five overtimes.

On August 2, 2024, the team announced that Juan Pablo Montoya would make his NASCAR Cup Series return for 23XI at Watkins Glen on September 15. This will be the 3rd and final start for the No. 50 Mobil 1 entry in 2024. Montoya finished 32nd in his return to stock car racing.

Car No. 50/67 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	Owners	Pts
2023	Travis Pastrana	67	Toyota	DAY 11	CAL	LVS	PHO	ATL	COA	RCH	BRD	MAR	TAL	DOV	KAN	DAR	CLT	GTW	SON	NSH	CSC	ATL	NHA	POC	RCH	MCH														41st	30
	Kamui Kobayashi																										IRC 33	GLN	DAY	DAR	KAN	BRI	TEX	TAL	ROV	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO
2024		50		DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	BRI	COA 29	RCH	MAR	TEX	TAL	DOV	KAN	DAR	CLT	GTW	SON	IOW	NHA
	Corey Heim																					NSH 29	CSC	POC	IND	RCH	MCH	DAY	DAR	ATL
	Juan Pablo Montoya																														GLN 32	BRI	KAN	TAL	ROV	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO

External links

• Official website
• 23XI Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference