NASCAR: The key detail we still don’t know about 23XI Racing

23XI Racing are set to run two cars in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, but despite confirmation of their driver lineup, there is still one missing detail.

Even before they made their debut in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing team made clear that they wanted to expand from one car to two cars as soon as possible.

They entered their first season with Bubba Wallace behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota, and this season has seen some significant growing pains within the team.

Wallace, who made it a goal to win multiple races this year, failed to qualify for the playoffs and recorded just two top 10 finishes in the 26-race regular season. But on a positive note, both were top five finishes, including a career-best second place result, and he is still on pace for a career-best average finish, currently sitting at 19.6.

Hamlin stated that he wanted to add either a veteran or a young Toyota driver to the team’s lineup in a second car for 2022, and they ended up pursuing the former.

It was announced toward the end of August that Kurt Busch is set to join 23XI Racing for the 2022 season behind the wheel of the #45 Toyota.

Busch currently competes for Chip Ganassi Racing, which will be acquired by Trackhouse Racing Team after the 2021 season. His current teammate, Ross Chastain, is set to compete in the second Trackhouse Racing Team car alongside Daniel Suarez.

However, missing from that announcement is a key detail that remains absent from the team’s 2022 plans: information about a second charter.

Eyeing expansion, the team have naturally been pursuing a second charter for next year. But even without any news to report on that front, their expansion was confirmed.

There had been rumors about a potential deal involving Front Row Motorsports and one of their two charters, but nothing has been announced. It is still unknown how many cars Front Row Motorsports will run in 2022.

There have been quite a few charter transactions for the 2022 season already, but not one of them involves 23XI Racing. A recent one involving StarCom Racing was reported, but this supposedly involves the one-car team selling their charter to Spire Motorsports.

Spire Motorsports parted ways with two of their current three charters, selling them to Kaulig Racing so Kaulig Racing can compete full-time with two entries next year. One of those two charters is the one that was leased to Trackhouse Racing Team for this year, but the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned team were able to find two of their own by acquiring Chip Ganassi Racing.

Meanwhile, the wait continues for 23XI Racing. Will they operate with two chartered entries in 2022, and if so, where will the second charter come from? Could they operate like JTG Daugherty Racing currently operate with one chartered car and another non-chartered car that still runs full-time?