If 23XI Racing expand to two cars for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, here are five possibilities to fill their second seat.
Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan joined forces to create 23XI Racing ahead of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, and they now field the #23 Toyota for former Richard Petty Motorsports driver Bubba Wallace.
But Hamlin wants them to become a multi-car operation as quickly as possible, and there has been quite a bit of speculation about the team’s future in recent weeks.
Here is what Hamlin had to say about the matter a few months ago.
"“I’d like to expand as soon as possible.… 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.”"
So if there are two full-time 23XI Racing Toyotas competing in the 2022 season, who will the second driver be? Here are five possibilities that range from the “young guys” to the “established veterans”.
Candidates for 23XI Racing expansion: No. 1 – Kurt Busch
We’ll start with an established veteran who has emerged as the top candidate to move to 23XI Racing in a second car next year. Kurt Busch is in a contract year with Chip Ganassi Racing as the driver of the #1 Chevrolet this year, and there has been speculation that the 2021 season could be his last.
Busch signed an extension with Chip Ganassi Racing back in 2019 because he wanted the chance to drive the Next Gen car. But even with the debut of the Next Gen car having been delayed to the 2022 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, he didn’t sign another new deal.
While that initially didn’t necessarily mean that he wouldn’t be back with the team next year, we do know now that he won’t be, since Trackhouse Racing Team are set to acquire the team after the 2021 season.
His experience would be ideal for a new team such as 23XI Racing, which have struggled and experienced quite a few growing pains with Wallace behind the wheel in their first season of competition, and he is absolutely on their radar.
Candidates for 23XI Racing expansion: No. 2 – Matt DiBenedetto
Matt DiBenedetto is an interesting candidate to consider here.
He is once again in a contract year competing for the Team Penske-affiliated Wood Brothers Racing, and while it had already been “confirmed” that Team Penske Xfinity Series driver Austin Cindric was set to replace him behind the wheel of the #21 Ford next year, this isn’t happening.
With Brad Keselowski moving from Team Penske to Roush Fenway Racing as a driver/co-owner, the #2 Ford is where Cindric is set to end up in 2022. But Wood Brothers Racing still decided not to keep DiBenedetto, hiring Harrison Burton to replace him.
Given the fact that it was Team Penske’s decision to keep him affiliated with the organization for the 2021 season despite initial plans to promote Cindric early, these two moves put together were somewhat surprising.
So with the driver who has become the perennial free agent of the Cup Series out of the Team Penske mix for 2022, unless he has an insane end to the 2021 season and they do the unexpected and expand to four cars, 23XI Racing would be the perfect landing spot.
Denny Hamlin was responsible for helping to fund DiBenedetto and keep him on the race track in 2018 when he was in his final season competing for Go Fas Racing, and it pained him to have to pass him for the lead/win at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2019.
They clearly have a great relationship, and DiBenedetto certainly fits the bill of an “established veteran” who could help push the team to a higher level.
Candidates for 23XI Racing expansion: No. 3 – John Hunter Nemechek
If 23XI Racing opt to expand and go the younger driver route, it would be hard to pass up John Hunter Nemechek, given what he has been able to do this season with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series.
Nemechek was a Cup Series rookie last season with Front Row Motorsports and had a solid year, but seeing that the trajectory of his career wasn’t what he wanted it to be, he opted to take a gamble and drop down two levels to the Truck Series.
Nemechek landed a competitive ride behind the wheel of the #4 Toyota with Kyle Busch Motorsports, and he has been phenomenal thus far, winning five of the season’s first 14 races and recording three other top five finishes. He leads the point standings with one race remaining in the regular season, and he is the clear favorite to win the championship.
He has now won 12 races in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series, despite the fact that this is only his fourth season as a full-time driver in either one.
Kyle Busch has said that he wanted to hire a Matt Crafton-type guy to compete for his Truck Series team and win races year after year, and Nemechek could certainly fulfill that role. But at just 24 years old, he is still capable of making a jump up to a competitive Cup Series ride, and an opportunity to do so would be hard to pass up.
Back with Toyota after spending several years away, he just might have the opportunity to do that if a second seat at 23XI Racing opens up — even if that means waiting until 2023.
Candidates for 23XI Racing expansion: No. 4 – Ty Dillon
The 2021 season is 23XI Racing’s first season, and Bubba Wallace is their lone driver. But with all factors considered, Ty Dillon will always be the team’s first ever driver.
With Wallace not eligible to compete in the Busch Clash exhibition race at the Daytona International Speedway road course back in early February before the season began, the team made Dillon, who had just signed a part-time deal with the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series team, the driver of the #23 Toyota for this race, given the fact that he was actually eligible to compete in it but did not yet have a ride to do so.
Dillon wasn’t particularly impressive with Joe Gibbs Racing in his limited number of starts in the Xfinity Series earlier this season, utilizing equipment with which others have thrived, but he was impressive in his next two starts with Our Motorsports. He has also done a respectable job in his part-time role at Gaunt Brothers Racing in the Cup Series so far this year.
He has plenty of experience in the Cup Series, and a full-time move to a growing organization could be give his career the resurgence it needs at this stage after he lost his full-time ride with Germain Racing after four years last year. Additionally, he already has a great relationship with Wallace.
Interestingly, it was Germain Racing’s charter that 23XI Racing bought for the #23 Toyota, which made the fact that Dillon was technically the team’s first driver a bit ironic given the fact that the sale of that charter was basically how he lost his ride.
By no means is he the top candidate to take over a second car, but how ironic would it be if he ends up being next man to become a full-time driver for the team?
Candidates for 23XI Racing expansion: No. 5 – Ty Gibbs (2023)
Harrison Burton may be the farthest driver up the Toyota ladder when it comes to getting to the NASCAR Cup Series, but he is set to move to Wood Brothers Racing in the Cup Series next year, leaving Toyota for Ford.
More from NASCAR Cup Series
- NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
- NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
- NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
- NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
- NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500
But either way, it’s hard to argue against Ty Gibbs being the top prospect in the Toyota camp anyway, given what he has demonstrated in his limited time behind the wheel of one of his grandfather’s Xfinity Series cars this year.
Gibbs, who finished in second place in the 2020 ARCA Menards Series East standings competing for Joe Gibbs Racing, finished in fifth in the 2020 ARCA Menards Series standings despite the fact that he only ran 16 of the 20 races on the schedule. He won six of those 16 races.
This season, he competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series, and he has won seven of the season’s first 12 races. As touched upon above, he has also gotten the opportunity to compete part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series this season, and he has been arguably the best driver in the field over the nine races he has done so far.
He won in his series debut at the Daytona International Speedway road course, and he added a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has finished in the top five in five of his other seven starts thus far.
Anything less than a full-time Xfinity Series ride for Gibbs next year would be seen as restricting him, and that option seems likely, especially with Burton slated to vacate the #20 Toyota. But it’s highly unlikely that Gibbs is going to be in a Cup Series car, at least not as a full-time driver, next year.
However, if a 23XI Racing expansion ends up being delayed until 2023 due to the lack of a second charter or if a veteran they sign ends up only running a single season in 2022, he could and probably should be the young driver to whom they turn.
This move would put him on a path to potentially jump into one of his grandfather’s Cup Series cars at some point in the near future as well.
Who will be behind the wheel of a second Toyota for 23XI Racing in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season if and when the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team make the decision to expand their operation? Will it be a veteran or a young guy?