Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan must have slept on Sunday night with the sights and sounds of Tyler Reddick’s Homestead-Miami victory in their dreams. After all, the No. 45 driver secured a Championship 4 spot driving one of their cars.
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For 23XI Racing to be a team contending for the championship is the goal that these two icons set for themselves back in 2020 when they kickstarted their venture together.
In just the fourth year of operation, that box has been ticked. But how did this tremendous growth come to be? Strong experience in the game paired with a relentless winning mentality is the answer to that question. Hamlin has been a star driver in the Cup Series for nearly two decades now. He knows every trick in the book for winning races.
In addition to his expertise, they also had the experience of Kurt Busch in the initial years. The 2004 Cup Series champion served as the driver of the No. 45 car before Reddick and eventually transitioned to being a mentor for him and his teammate Bubba Wallace. The final piece of the puzzle was Jordan’s mentality. The NBA legend carried his relentless attitude from court to track and it has served him well.
Both Reddick and Wallace have self-admittedly been inspired by his words and leadership over these past few years. The former told the press back in September that Jordan was extremely engaged with everyone in the race shop and kept them all motivated.
“He cares. He pays attention. Knows what’s going on,” he noted. And together with Hamlin, this attribute of his is only amplified.
The importance of Airspeed in 23XI Racing’s growth
Not many can lead a team better than Hamlin and Jordan. This is proven by the words of the team’s Director of Competition, Dave Rogers.
He said in a recent interview at Homestead, “Hats off to Michael and Denny and our ownership group for putting the tools in place to let us do this. Have a strong alliance with JGR. We have the best OEM with Toyota. We have a lot of great partners that help us.”
“Then we have a lot of smart people at Airspeed that know how to use those resources. You kind of need both: the resources and you need to know how to use them.” The creation of Airspeed is one of the team’s greatest achievements. The 114,000-square-foot facility is a highly modern race shop that allows the team’s employees to work on their craft with ultimate precision.
Hamlin, notably, put a lot of time and effort into the creation of the shop. He acknowledged back in May that he would be using the amenities available in the facility to attract better employees and keep them with the team. He called it a “recruiting facility” and expressed his profound happiness with it. It cannot be denied that he hasn’t failed in this approach.
The intricacy that he displayed in hiring the right people along with his partner and letting them work without barriers is what has led to this point in time. Rogers added, “Everyone at Airspeed and 23XI are extremely hungry. We’re just going to keep pushing and see where we can go.” Going forward, Airspeed is bound to continue being a crucial platform of resources.
What did the owner’s mentality and resourcefulness translate to on the track?
The team has seen steady growth year after year. Both Reddick and Wallace made it to the playoffs last year and set a new bar to be reached this season. Although Reddick has now surpassed himself, Wallace failed to do so by not making the playoffs this season. Reddick’s presence in the Championship 4 offsets that drawback a lot and Jordan couldn’t be more pleased with it.
He said after watching Reddick grab the checkered flag on Sunday, “Looked a little scared because we were going to run out of gas. Anything could happen. As you could see, Denny [Hamlin] was up there. Little kid [Reddick] drove his ass off. I’m proud of him.” Reddick reciprocated the feeling by mentioning that it was an honor to reward the legend with the winning performance.
23XI Racing is now one step away from the eternal glory of being a championship-winning team. The 28-year-old driver will give it his all and a bit more to win the Phoenix finale and make his team owners proud.
Going into it, he will be wary of the 2022 fate of rival team Trackhouse Racing. The Justin Marks-owned outfit began operations a year after 23XI Racing did. It did one over by making the Championship 4 in its very second year of operation, thanks to a brilliant season from Ross Chastain.
The No.1 driver, however, failed to win the finale in Phoenix and lost the title to Team Penske’s Joey Logano. Reddick and 23XI Racing have the opportunity to achieve the feat that Trackhouse failed to. All eyes will look forward to November 10 with the hope that they do.
