What began as a casual moment on a golf course ultimately reshaped Denny Hamlin’s career beyond the driver’s seat. During a rare round of golf, Hamlin decided to text Michael Jordan after coming across a speculative news article suggesting that the two might be interested in buying into a NASCAR team. At the time, the idea felt exploratory rather than inevitable. Ironically, golf, once central to those early conversations, now barely fits into Hamlin’s schedule.
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Hamlin confirmed the details during an appearance on Sean Kelly’s Digital Social Hour podcast. He explained that golf once anchored his weekly routine, especially during the early days of the pandemic when NASCAR sat idle. He spent countless hours on the course then, using the time to reset. As the ownership project gained traction, those free days disappeared.
Hamlin said, “I like to (play golf). I certainly don’t have as much time to play golf as I used to. Um, I used to, you know, before I started the race team with Michael, um, you know, my weeks, you know, in in between the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I could do whatever I wanted. Now those days are designated to… I’m the owner of the team.”
Hamlin explained how ownership reshaped his weekly responsibilities. He said, “So I do all the meetings you know whether it be from sponsorship from the social digital side of things everything competition. I have my hand in everything there.
“So, I have to do that Tuesday through Thursday, and then kind of the Monday and the weekend is all designated to being a driver itself.”
When Hamlin traveled to Florida to meet Jordan in person, the conversation again happened on a golf course. That setting became the backdrop where Hamlin formally pitched the concept of forcing open a new door in NASCAR ownership. Backed by Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin laid out the vision.
Jordan, a six-time NBA champion, listened, engaged, and ultimately bought in. It soon turned into a partnership that would alter the Cup Series landscape.
Hamlin’s motivation extended beyond the downtime created by the COVID-19 shutdown, though that pause did play a role. The sport’s eight-week break removed racing from the calendar and left him with long, unstructured days. Still, the opportunity only truly crystallized when Germain Racing stepped away.
Their exit created an opening that rarely presents itself, and Hamlin recognized the moment. Owning a team had never been part of his post-retirement blueprint, but the timing aligned too perfectly to ignore. That opening gave birth to what would become 23XI Racing.
Germain Racing shut its doors in September 2020, and 23XI Racing acquired its guaranteed starting position, known as a charter, clearing the path for the new organization to enter the Cup Series in 2021. With that move, Hamlin transitioned into one of the sport’s most unique roles.
Hamlin now competes weekly for Joe Gibbs Racing while simultaneously owning a team that lines up across the garage. The last comparable situation of the #11 JGR driver’s dates back three decades, when Dale Earnhardt raced for Richard Childress while owning Dale Earnhardt Inc.
