NASCAR: 23XI Racing announce changes ahead of 2022

23XI Racing have made some personnel changes ahead of their expansion for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, changes which go into effect immediately.

23XI Racing recently confirmed the rumor that they will expand to become a two-car effort in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, naming Kurt Busch the driver of the #45 Toyota alongside Bubba Wallace, who already drives the #23 Toyota.

To prepare for that expansion next year, the team have made changes that will go into effect before the conclusion of their first season of operation.

Veteran crew chief Mike Wheeler is set to be replaced by Robert “Bootie” Barker atop the pit box as the crew chief for Wallace and the #23 team.

Wheeler is now set to become the full-time Director of Competition for the team.

Barker himself is a veteran crew chief with 481 races of Cup Series experience atop the pit box, and he had already been an employee of the first-year team owned by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. He most recently served as a Cup Series crew chief in 2017 for Ty Dillon at Germain Racing.

Wallace and the #23 team did not qualify for the playoffs and sit in 22nd place in the championship standings with eight of 36 races remaining on the 2021 schedule.

The 27-year-old Mobile, Alabama native has recorded two top 10 finishes, both top five results, through 28 races this year. His average finish is a career-high 19.7, and he has led a career-high 57 laps, nearly tripling his career laps led total from 34 to 91.

He finished in fifth place at Pocono Raceway and saw a third place result become a career-best second place result at Daytona International Speedway as a result of a post-race disqualification for original second place finisher Chris Buescher.