CHARLOTTE, N.C.– When NASCAR first introduced the latest version of the current Playoff system in 2014, five of the six car owners fielding 15 of the 16 championship-contending teams were eligible for social security.
Tad Geschickter, co-owner of JTG-Daugherty Racing, crashed the good ol’ boys party after AJ Allmendinger picked up his first Cup win at Watkins Glen with four races to determine the Playoff grid. Geschickter was 51 years old at the time.
Still, many wondered where and when the next generation of leadership might emerge.
To compete against blue chip proprietors of NASCAR, it takes a unique breed to play in a sandbox occupied by Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, Joe Gibbs and Jack Roush. Until the introduction of the Next Gen car, no one under 50 was able to break the code. Last year, Justin Marks was NASCAR’s new darling. In his first foray into the Cup Series as a multi-car owner of Trackhouse Racing, both of his drivers advanced to the postseason.
In 2023, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin have not only upset the establishment, but the veteran drivers-turned-owners have placed both their cars in the Round of 16. Other than JTGD, which placed its sole car with driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., only Keselowski and Hamlin secured Playoff spots for their entire roster.
“It’s a big deal for the team,” Hamlin said of 23XI Racing. “It’s a big morale booster. It’s another goal for the year checked. The rest is just icing on the cake from this point forward.
“There’s no other expectations that we set out than to have two cars in the Playoffs.”
It’s a monumental task, considering that both Hamlin and Keselowski qualified for the Playoffs as well. In addition to their daily responsibilities in the front office, Keselowski and Hamlin are vying for the title.
Keselowski, 39, had a head start by resurrecting an established team–Roush Fenway Racing—into Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing over the last two years. He’s proved to be a brilliant innovator and selfless teammate. His support of Chris Buescher has led to a breakout season for the driver of the No. 17 Ford.
After scoring two wins in his first 250 Cup starts, the 30-year-old racer from Prosper, Texas has won three of the last five races. Keselowski pushed Buescher to his third win of 2023 last Saturday night at Daytona. The 1-2 finish was the first for the Roush organization since 2014. That was also the last year two Roush drivers qualified for the Playoffs.
“Tremendous to get up front and to be able to control races, just execute at a very high level while also having the pace and just earn it,” Keselowski said after the victory. “We’re not winning races that we don’t deserve to win.
“You certainly have races that you lose that you probably deserve to win. Probably goes both ways. I think you look at the wins that RFK has had this year, they’re not fluke wins, they’re earned wins. We’re proud of that. But come (Darlington), all this kind of washes away and we’re focused on the 10 weeks to come.
“We got to soak it up, celebrate the wins, but keep moving forward.”
Hamlin, 41, started from scratch in 2021 with one driver—Bubba Wallace—and support from NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. The following year, he added a second team for Kurt Busch. However, Busch was forced to the sidelines midway through the year following a career-ending crash at Pocono Raceway.
Tyler Reddick joined the club this year. He won in his sixth start in the No. 45 Toyota—not surprisingly at Circuit of the Americas. Wallace pointed his way into the Playoffs last Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Later this season, 23XI Racing will move into its new headquarters in north Charlotte—less than 10 minutes away from Keselowski’s office at RFK. Hamlin has said repeatedly that his new building will have ample space for expansion.
“I think that it was a little bit easier probably from my standpoint being partners with Michael,” Hamlin said. “He hadn’t already established a team and had been running it a certain way. He relied on me to run this team and hire the people that we needed to competition-wise to run it a certain way that I deemed would be successful.
“Keselowski needed a buy-in from his partners that let him have a little more of the reins on the decision making and let’s see if it bears fruit, which it has.
“I think we were very fortunate to come in this sport when we both did. During Next Gen, I started a team from scratch, and I was able to form the organization different, like the way our teams work is dramatically different than the four-car or three-car teams. It’s just way different in how we run our organization, but that was because we didn’t have a legacy that we had been doing things for decades and decades. That was the advantage of coming in late like we have.”
Just as 23XI is trending in the right direction, the future of NASCAR shines brighter with the next crop of team owners taking charge.
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
