Legacy NASCAR teams are not built in a day. They take years of resilience, dedication, and a roadmap that guides owners even when the ship does not sail smoothly. Take Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) as an example. At the beginning of 1984, the team lacked a full-season sponsor and nearly shut down its operations. But then came the savior.
HMS received sponsorship from Northwestern Security Life early in the season, which kept them afloat. The 1990 movie ‘Days of Thunder’ was based on this early story of Rick Hendrick trying to secure funding and Tim Richmond coming to drive for the team. A recent revelation brings the inception of the 23XI Racing team, and one man’s diary details it.
Mike Wheeler Outlines 23XI Racing’s Initial Struggles
Mike Wheeler, the team’s director of competition, revealed a diary at 23XI Racing during its five-year anniversary celebration. Recently, Wheeler explained the situation on the “Racing Writer’s Podcast” that led him to join forces with Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan to give the team his best shot. But doesn’t documenting the roadmap in a diary seem over-the-top?
At least for Wheeler, it seemed sensible when the idea was pitched to him. Credit for the idea goes to veteran crew chief Bootie Barker.
Speaking of why he entered 23XI Racing in the first place, Wheeler said, “Basically, I was at (Leavine Family Racing) with Toyota, they were shutting down with COVID, the main sponsor was leaving, so I needed a job and I knew we had a race team that needed a job.”
The director was in luck, as Toyota did not want to step away from racing. Hamlin became involved, and Jordan joined the manufacturer, so the transition was fairly easy. At this phase of transition, Barker gave Wheeler the advice:
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“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.”
The team was officially announced in September 2020. But the problems were just beginning.
As RACER’s Kelly Crandall puts it, “The initial race shop was in Mooresville, N.C., at the shuttered Germain Racing team, but the move-in date was delayed. It didn’t happen until December.”
Wheeler then detailed the initial financial trouble the team went through:
“I actually wrote down when we ran the credit cards dry. They got shut down, and we actually couldn’t buy anything for about 24 hours until we paid some bills. 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.”
But did that stop the team from thriving? Of course not! The delay of getting into the building did not stop Wheeler, who welcomed the team at his two-car home garage, hitting the road running.
Outlining the first day, Wheeler said, “I remember three to four engineers showed up, as well as the car chief, and we did opening day as far as getting software on the computers and getting email addresses.”
The 23XI Racing Opening Day Picture That Wheeler Kept Secret
What came next was 23XI Racing’s first-ever race. Wheeler revealed there was a secret picture that never made it to the media, let alone social media.
“I had a picture of opening day, and I sent it to Denny, and he said, ‘Make sure you save that for when you’re on the front row at Daytona.’ We ended up qualifying fourth, so it never really got sent out, but we still have that picture, and it’s kind of a small memory of what this place started as.”
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The team is now a three-car operation. It has two jewels on its crown: The 2026 Daytona 500 and the 2025 Brickyard 400. The 2026 season is going exceptionally well, as 23XI Racing has won four of the first seven races. And there is more to come.
If they make a movie on 23XI Racing, who should be cast as Tyler Reddick and Hamlin? Christian Slater as Hamlin and Rupert Grint as Reddick will give the audience a run for their money.
