In the high-stakes world of NASCAR, power has long been concentrated in a tight circle. For nearly two decades, the “Big 3″—Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske—have operated as the sport’s undisputed hegemony. Since 2005, these three organizations have captured 18 of the 21 Cup Series championships, leveraging massive financial reserves and a deep well of institutional knowledge to keep the podium firmly within their grasp.
When Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin launched 23XI Racing in 2020, the venture was viewed by many as a high-profile celebrity project. Starting with a single car and a lean staff of fewer than 25 employees, the expectation was that the team would spend years as students of the game, slowly climbing the ladder to compete with the establishment. Instead, 23XI Racing has spent the last few seasons attempting to rewrite the blueprint of how a modern racing team is built.
The disruption has not gone unnoticed. The organization’s rapid ascent has earned it significant industry recognition, including nominations from the Sports Business Journal, which has highlighted Michael Jordan’s role as a sports executive and the team’s overall trajectory. On the track, the results are becoming impossible to ignore, with driver Tyler Reddick emerging as a legitimate championship contender and a symbol of the team’s maturing operational strength.
The Global Puzzle: Hiring Beyond the Bubble
For Denny Hamlin, the path to defeating the Big 3 does not involve following their lead. He believes that the “old guard” is often limited by a singular, localized way of thinking—a byproduct of a sport that historically hired from within the same tight-knit racing communities. To break this cycle, Hamlin has implemented a hiring strategy that looks far beyond the borders of NASCAR.
Hamlin describes his role as assembling a puzzle, where he places the primary pieces and empowers his staff to fill in the details. A key part of that puzzle is the integration of global talent. By recruiting experts from outside the sport—including professionals from Germany and other international hubs—23XI Racing introduces diverse perspectives on engineering and logistics that challenge the status quo.
“What’s different about us is that I think that we—lots of times—hire from out of the sport,” Hamlin has noted, explaining that new arrivals often question established norms by pointing out how things are handled in other countries or industries. This willingness to ask “why” has allowed the team to identify efficiencies that legacy teams, bound by decades of “this is how we’ve always done it,” often overlook.
From Technical Alliance to Total Independence
The transition from a startup to an elite contender has been a calculated march toward independence. In its infancy, 23XI Racing relied heavily on a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and leased its pit crews to remain competitive. While these partnerships provided a necessary safety net, they also created a ceiling for the team’s growth.
By 2022, Hamlin shifted the strategy, moving to train and field the team’s own pit crews entirely. This move was more than just a logistical change. it was a declaration of self-sufficiency. The investment paid off in 2024 when Tyler Reddick secured the regular season championship and advanced to the Championship 4, proving that 23XI could out-execute the most established teams in the garage on its own terms.
This evolution is outlined in the team’s growth trajectory below:
| Phase | Operational Status | Key Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Launch (2020) | Technical Alliance / Leased Crews | Entry into Cup Series |
| Growth (2022) | In-house Pit Crew Training | Operational Independence |
| Elite Status (2024) | Full Technical Maturity | Regular Season Championship |
The High-Stakes Gamble Over Charters
While the team has found success on the track, its most significant challenge has shifted to the courtroom. 23XI Racing, alongside Front Row Motorsports, has entered a high-stakes legal battle with NASCAR over the revised charter agreement. The charter system, which governs the guaranteed entry of teams into races and the distribution of revenue, has become a flashpoint for the team’s desire to change the sport’s business model.
By refusing to sign the revised agreement, 23XI has risked its guaranteed spot in the field. However, Jordan and Hamlin have viewed this as a necessary fight for the long-term health of the sport, seeking more equitable terms that would prevent the “Big 3” from maintaining an insurmountable financial advantage. To steady the nerves of their employees during this legal volatility, the owners took the extraordinary step of promising to pay all staff through 2026, regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome.
This commitment allowed the organization to remain focused on racing while fighting for structural changes that could potentially benefit every team in the garage. The goal is to move toward a model of “evergreen” charters that provide permanent stability, reducing the leverage NASCAR holds over individual team owners.
Infiltrating the Old Guard
Despite the accolades and the wins, Hamlin remains cautious about labeling 23XI as a “Big 4” team just yet, citing the continued difficulty of mastering short tracks. However, his ambition is clear: he doesn’t just want to compete with the elite; he wants to replace the existing hierarchy.
Speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin expressed a desire to “infiltrate” the old guard, challenging the winning pedigree and heritage that have defined the sport for decades. By combining Michael Jordan’s executive precision with a global approach to talent and a willingness to fight the governing body, 23XI is positioning itself as the new standard for the next generation of NASCAR.
The industry now watches to see if this disruptive model can translate into a Cup Series championship, the final piece of the puzzle that would officially elevate 23XI Racing from a challenger to a member of the sport’s elite.
The next critical checkpoint for the organization will be the resolution of the ongoing antitrust litigation regarding the NASCAR charter system, which will determine the financial and operational landscape for the team heading into the next season.
Do you think 23XI’s approach to hiring outside the sport is the key to breaking the Big 3’s dominance? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
