One of NASCAR’s newest facilities built by a relatively new team on the block is 23XI Racing’s Airspeed in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two-car operation that fields Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick during the 2024 Cup Series season is on a mission to expand as one of the frontrunners in the highest echelon of the sport.
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Co-owned by current Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan, 23XI Racing is one of the few teams bringing a fresh breath of air to NASCAR. These teams are focusing their resources on appealing to a younger, more diverse fan base in the sport while attracting newer fans as well.
The concept of a radical shop back at the base also came through this new approach, with the team’s new headquarters named ‘Airspeed’. It is a play on Jordan’s line of sneakers and Hamlin’s pace on the track, honoring both their respective careers. The #11 Toyota Camry driver recently gave fans a virtual tour of the shop on Instagram showing the many unique features of the facility.
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Along with the mandatory shop floor, the facility boasts a cafeteria, gym, pool table, and racing simulator along with a dedicated fan area. The color scheme of the whole space is based around red and blue, with the special Carolina blue shade signifying Jordan starting his career in the state.
The red and black colors are reminiscent of the Chicago Bulls, the NBA team Jordan won six titles with. The structure of the whole facility also involves cues taken from the worlds of IndyCar, Formula 1, and NASCAR. The facility cost somewhere in the ballpark of low to mid-eight figures to build, which was incidentally more than Hamlin was prepared to spend initially.
Fans of the sport can take a tour of Airspeed and see the impressive space for themselves, getting close to race-winning cars from Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick as well as seeing the cars being built on the shop floor. Hamlin also looks at Airspeed as not only 23XI Racing’s headquarters but also revels in the design of the same as a means to attract future employees as the team grows in the coming years.
With both cars having made the playoffs last season, Tyler Reddick sits in P3 on the regular season points table in 2024. Things at the moment seem to be working in the right direction for Hamlin and Jordan’s brainchild in the sport.
