Denny Hamlin reveals how 23XI came to reality, how it helps Joe Gibbs Racing

Denny Hamlin got a glimpse of what his post-racing future would like during the COVID-19 pandemic when NASCAR went on a two-month hiatus.

He didn’t like it.

Hamlin sat around his house and knew he needed to figure out something else for his future. Eventually, Hamlin settled on the idea of race team ownership, specifically with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he’s spent the entirety of his career with. Speaking with Kenny Wallace this week, Hamlin recalled his initial conversation with Joe Gibbs, in which he asked about owning a piece of JGR.

Unfortunately for Hamlin, the answer was no.

“It started during COVID, right,” Hamlin said. “When I had that eight weeks off in the middle of spring/summer and I was like, ‘Man, this is usually when we’re going to the racetrack and now, I’m just sitting around at home on a Saturday and Sunday like, is this what retirement’s gonna be like?’ At that time, I was 40 years old in 2020. And I’m like, ‘If this is what retirement’s like, I’m gonna have to come up with something.’ I can’t golf every day, so I need to come up with something.

“And so, at the time we knew that COVID was taking its toll on the Leavine Racing team. That had an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. I’m like, ‘OK, so somehow, I can buy that team, preserve the alliance that it has with Joe Gibbs Racing. It not only will help create a future for myself beyond driving. But I also can help create more resources and money into JGR that’s going to make my car faster.’ So, I’m like, ‘I need to call Toyota and see if I can make this happen.’ I did first of all. And then I said, ‘Wait a minute, let me sit down with Joe [Gibbs] first.’

“And I said, ‘Guys, I’m gonna ask y’all a very serious question: Is there any opportunity for me to own a piece of Joe Gibbs Racing? I’m very interested.’ And at the time, Joe’s getting up there in age and he’s like, ‘I don’t think so.'”

23XI Racing thriving under Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan’s leadership

Faced with rejection, Hamlin sought a new plan: creating his own race team. And thus, 23XI Racing was born. Hamlin partnered with Michael Jordan in the summer of 2020 and signed Bubba Wallace as the team’s first driver.

“I was like, ‘I just wanna know for sure because I think I’m gonna make a move if there’s no place for me to have ownership here at JGR. Which, I’d love to carry on the legacy that Joe Gibbs has shown me and how he runs his team, I want to make sure you guys are OK if I do this on my own then,'” Hamlin said. “And I said, ‘But I’m gonna need your help.’

“That’s basically how this works. We pay them a fee and a hefty fee every single year to gather all this information that those 400 employees put together. We have roughly 100 at 23XI. In order to have the infrastructure that JGR has, I would have to hire 200-300 more people. Toyota would have to give us a whole lot more money. And so instead of that, they’re happy with their agreement with Joe Gibbs Racing. So, I said, ‘OK, make me a top tier, but then help me with my alliance with JGR. And so, they do that to a great amount. We’re forever grateful for that but it’s double fold. It helps my team be better, but also creates resources to make my 11 car faster.”

Fast forward to 2024 and things couldn’t be going any better for Hamlin. His No. 11 Toyota is among the fastest cars in the field each week, and 23XI has become a competitive team led by Wallace and Tyler Reddick. Earlier this year, 23XI opened “Airspeed,” a 114,000-square-foot facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We could call it ‘Bob’s Garage’ but we’re doing a little more than building Bob’s garage,” Hamlin said in March. “Airspeed is just a combination [of words] very similar to 23XI. 23 is him, XI [11] is me; Airspeed is air [for] him, speed [for] me. We just feel like that is a good identity for that building. We’re building fast cars. Anybody can call their building a shop, but we are pretty confident that this is ‘Airspeed’ worthy.”