The Toyota factor behind Denny and MJ’s 23XI Racing
Mike Wheeler, the Director of Competition at 23XI Racing, recently revealed he has documented the beginnings of 23XI Racing. Wheeler kept a diary that has entries even before the team was formally announced in September 2020.
He revealed the idea came from Bootie Barker during the time he was at Leavine Family Racing, which was shutting down due to COVID. Because of that, Toyota had a race team without a job and an intent to keep them in racing. From that point on, Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan came into the picture.
“It was kind of an easy transition. But during that process, Bootie goes, ‘If this comes true, you should write this down in a diary,’ and at that point, I went back to old text messages and email chains of certain dates to watch it come true,” Wheeler described. He recalled writing down the day they ran the credit cards dry and not being able to buy anything for a day until bills were paid.
“It was amazing; you couldn’t get credit because you were a new company with no past history, and all those things about being a young person were true for a young company,” he added.
Denny Hamlin also revealed in a 2024 interview how 23XI came into existence. His story also began during COVID when he was interested in buying a minority stake in a team with control over the competition and the business side. But then a rumor article came out, which suggested he and Jordan were looking to buy a stake in Richard Petty Racing. Hamlin sent it to Michael Jordan, who laughed at the ‘fake news’ but offered to turn it into real news.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, what do I do now? What’s my next move?’ I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ He says, ‘Well, are you going to be a team owner or not?’ I said, ‘Given the right situation, yes.’ He says, ‘Well, if you want a partner, let me know,’” Hamlin described.
Over the next few months, he, his team, and Jordan and his team worked day and night to do the paperwork, and eventually, 23XI Racing was born.
23XI Racing has grown exponentially in the last few years
A team that didn’t exist before 2020 is now making NASCAR history in 2026. The story of 23XI Racing has been one of remarkable growth, with results and achievements on the back of the best minds with high ambitions working behind the scenes.
23XI initially started as a one-car organization and won at Talladega in their first season in 2021. From 2024, they added a second car and signed Tyler Reddick.
In their first five years, from 2021 to 2025, the team won eight races. Reddick notably won the regular season championship in 2024.
But while those numbers and milestones may be impressive for a 5-year-old team, this season, they have surpassed all expectations. This is because Tyler Reddick has already won 4 races, 3 of which were in a row in the first 3 races of the year, which no driver in NASCAR had done before. As of this moment, Reddick is in the pole position to win the Cup championship under the Chase format this season.
With that said, it’ll be interesting to see how many more wins 23XI Racing gathers this season.
