NASCAR: Did 23XI Racing make a crucial mistake?

23XI Racing have yet to confirm anything about the potential purchase of a second charter for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season despite confirming both a second car and a second driver.

Even before making their NASCAR Cup Series debut at Daytona International Speedway this past February, 23XI Racing had been looking to expand from one car to two for next year.

Team co-owner Denny Hamlin stated that he wanted expansion to happen as soon as possible, in the form of bringing in either a veteran or a young Toyota driver to pair with Bubba Wallace behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota for the 2022 season.

Throughout much of the 2021 season, the major question had not been whether or not expansion would happen, but from where the Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team would be able to purchase a second charter and if that would be doable before next season.

Even a potential second driver didn’t seem to be much in question after it was rumored quite early on that Kurt Busch was the team’s primary target.

As expected, the team confirmed expansion in August, announcing that Busch is set to join Wallace next year behind the wheel of the #45 Toyota.

But what wasn’t announced? Anything having to do with a charter.

What still hasn’t been announced? Anything having to do with a charter.

So that leads to a bigger question: given the major incentives to run two chartered entries as opposed to a single chartered entry and a non-chartered entry, have 23XI Racing made an error by what could be seen as rushing the announcement of their second car and driver?

To put things in perspective, JTG Daugherty Racing run a single chartered entry and a non-chartered entry full-time this year — and there’s a reason (a few million, actually) that it’s only for this year. They have already announced the an unsurprising move that they will only be running the chartered entry next year.

We know that StarCom Racing have sold their charter for the 2022 season, and it has not been confirmed which team purchased it.

But the rumored buyer is Spire Motorsports. They run two cars full-time this year but sold two of their three current charters to Kaulig Racing. So it would make sense for them, already operating as a two-car team, to secure what would be a second charter.

There is still the possibility that Rick Ware Racing will lease out one of the their four charters for 2022, and depending on where the #51 Petty Ware Racing team finishes in the 2021 owner standings, that charter could potentially be repossessed by NASCAR, since charter teams are held to a minimum performance standard.

While there is no guarantee that this would happen, this charter is actually owned by Richard Petty Motorsports but fielded as a fourth Rick Ware Racing car, so Richard Petty Motorsports could make a move to lease it out or sell it to avoid that repossession if repossession becomes a possibility.

Additionally, the Front Row Motorsports rumor is still out there, and they remain one of the very few teams without anything confirmed for next year, which will only continue to fuel that speculation.

But it goes without saying that none of this is anything that 23XI Racing should be banking on, and it is clear, given how early they started talks of expansion, that they aren’t. However, while it is beginning to look as though time is not exactly on their side, it’s hard to see a team with the name Michael Jordan attached to it not getting things under control when it matters most.