When 23XI Racing announced it was expanding to three full-time entries

with the addition of rookie Riley Herbst, it showed the entire sport that this

team has its eyes set on the future.

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The expansion raised eyebrows as 23XI expanding its existing relationship

with Monster Energy, and it also gave Toyota another entry.

But 23XI operates differently compared to every other team in the Nascar

Cup Series. Even the company’s social media appears different, having the

look of an epic sports dynasty.

“We have a younger, more diverse fan base at 23XI that are interested in

music, fashion, sneakers, food, art and all of those things,” 23XI Racing

President Steve Lauletta said. “We want to show up at all of those places.”

Team co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan are in the midst of a

complicated antitrust lawsuit with Front Row Motorsports against Nascar. As

of now, 23XI Racing has three charters and their status is in flux. But they are

operating as business as usual at the moment.

In its first year as a three-car team, 23XI’s performance has been up and

down. All three drivers are winless. Bubba Wallace has shown more raw

speed, but poor luck has resulted in an average finish of 18.7, while Tyler

Reddick is still winless. Rookie Herbst is 34th in the standings, the third

lowest of all full-time drivers.

For the first time, 23XI fielded four cars with full-time Craftsman Truck Series

driver Corey Heim driving the No. 67 car at Kansas and Nashville. In doing

so, the team welcomed yet another duo of new sponsors, Robinhood and

Chief's.

“We took on a lot by going to a third full-time car this year,” Lauletta said.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t distract or take away our focus from

what we were doing for our first four years with Tyler and Bubba.

"Having the ability to sign a development talent like Corey Heim had us know

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we’d have a fourth car and get him some seat time in the Cup Series. It gave

a lot of our folks at Airspeed a chance to go to the racetrack. Yes, it’s extra

work for all of us, but it’s important for us to continue the development of

what 23XI is on and off the track.”

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23XI Racing has made a name for itself for welcoming new partners to

Nascar since its inception in 2021. The team inked major partnerships with

companies like Door Dash and Columbia Sportswear, amongst others as the

years have gone on.

“We try to be innovative and different in everything we do,” Lauletta said. “It’s

how we think and deliver to our partners and how we build our brand. I’ve

said since the beginning that our goal is to build a brand in 23XI that

happens to be a race team, not a race team brand. It’s proven that our fan

base is different from the core Nascar fan.”

Last year, Reddick captured the regular season points title and qualified for

the Championship 4 for the first time in team history. While he didn’t win it

all, it showed the team is plenty capable of competing for championships.

“We’re capable of winning a lot of races,” Lauletta said. “Denny laid out a

five-year plan when we started building this team in late 2020, and that was

by 2025 to be a consistent race-winning team and championship-

contending team. We got there in four years, and we need to continue that

growth.”

Even with the tough luck through 15 races, Reddick and Wallace are sixth

and 10th in the standings, respectively.

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