NASCAR: 23XI Racing eyeing expansion for 2022?

While 23XI Racing have only been competing in the NASCAR Cup Series for the last few months, are they already eyeing expansion?

Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan announced in September that they had purchased a charter from Germain Racing and would be creating a new Cup Series team, 23XI Racing, for the 2021 season.

They announced that Bubba Wallace, who spent the first season of his career behind the wheel of the #43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports, would be the driver of the team’s #23 car.

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They confirmed Toyota as their manufacturer and formed a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Right from the get-go, Hamlin, who competes full-time behind the wheel of the #11 Toyota, had his eyes on expansion.

Here is what he had to say about the matter.

"“We’re trying our best to be the team that Toyota feels like they have a place for their young guys to go. Or maybe, we go for an established veteran who’s got a great resume.“I’d like to expand as soon as possible. The quicker we expand, the more resources we will have as a race team to get better. The better people that we can hire. Everything gets better, the more information that you can throw into the pot. So, when it makes sense for us, is when it financially makes sense for us. It’s about getting a sponsor, and a driver, and a crew chief first. Those three things have all got to line up. Then you’ve got to try and find a charter. There are a lot of obstacles in the way of it happening, but certainly, we feel like we’re active in the space.“From this year and beyond, the goal will be expanding to two cars, then three cars, to make this a multi-car operation. The more race cars we field, the more opportunities we have to win. Making sure we have the smartest people and the best drivers is also really important for us and our on-track successes.”"

As Hamlin mentioned, there are quite a few challenges along the way. The growing pains have been evident for the team so far this season. It took Wallace until the season’s 13th race at Dover International Speedway to secure a top 15 finish.

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Only three other full-time drivers, two Rick Ware Racing drivers and a StarCom Racing driver, had failed to secure a top 15 finish through 12 races — not exactly the company that Wallace wants to be keeping in any statistical category.

Wallace has yet to finish a race in the top 10 and sits in 22nd place in the point standings with an average finish of 21.6, which is worse than where he finished his third and final season with Richard Petty’s team last year.

So would expanding to a two-car operation in year number two really be the team’s best option?

Let’s throw sponsorship out the window for a second. We’re talking about a team owned by a future NASCAR Hall of Famer and the NBA GOAT. You can’t deny that immense potential to attract new partners, and we’ve already seen that with Wallace.

Even still, there is the issue of buying a charter. Without a charter, the purse payout in each race is dramatically lower. Charter sales happen, but there are only 36 charters, and finding a team willing to part with one is becoming more and more challenging.

Likewise, the prices of charters that are actually being sold are also going way up compared to what they were a few years ago, and with the Next Gen car coming in 2022, there are quite a few teams eyeing up charters in order to field full-time entries in the Cup Series.

MBM Motorsports team owner Carl Long has been open about his team’s inability to buy a charter for several years, and he indicated a market price skyrocket of over 500% from just a couple of years ago when he recently spoke with Beyond the Flag.

But a second car could definitely play to the team’s advantage, especially if they do pick up an “established veteran” such as Kurt Busch, who has recently emerged as a candidate to move to the team for 2022. His experience could be paramount in terms of helping to ease those growing pains and to help Wallace develop.

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If any team is going to pull off an expansion in year number two, it’s 23XI Racing. Hamlin clearly had a long-term vision for this group when he set out on this venture, and so did Jordan, who previously said he wasn’t interested in going into Cup Series ownership. This team is already a step ahead of some of the other teams looking for charters in that they are learning and improving on a week to week basis at the sport’s top level in 2021.

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