Michael Jordan’s $150 Million Worth Team Headlines Embarrassing Failure That Could Tarnish NASCAR’s Brand

One word that can probably describe the race of Enjoy Illinois 300 at the World Wide Technology Raceway is ‘chaos’. From the internet outage and brake rotor failures to fellow drivers making contact with each other before demanding suspension, the Gateway race had all the intrigues that a NASCAR fan could ask for to keep them at the edge of their seats.

But with three red flags and numerous cautions, it was the Richard Childress’ driver Kyle Busch who held the lead of the race, until he took the chequered flag, the third of this season and the 63rd of his Cup Series season, after outlasting Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. 

While it was a happy affair at the Richard Childress Racing’s camp after the No.8 Chevrolet team seized a gratifying win in a race that continued till overtime, Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team, on the contrary, had the worst race of the season, and the NASCAR community is utterly displeased with the fact and seems to question their strategies.

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick Faces the Worst Race at the Gateway

The 2022 season was the inaugural race at the World Wide Technology Raceway, and it was the second time that NASCAR made its trip to St. Louis, which turned out to be a nightmare for a majority of the drivers. The raceway had posed a challenge to Kevin Harvick last year who had crashed out of the race at the Gateway. Following the same fate as Harvick, there was more than one driver who had to retire early from the race.

And among the names of retired drivers, it was 23XI Racing that had the worst fate, as both of its drivers failed to finish the race due to brake rotor failure. The first one to retire from the race was the No. 45 Toyota Camry and its driver, Tyler Reddick. The inception of tragedy began when he collided with the outside wall at Lap 174. 

Although the driver jumped back into the race and was running seventh in the race when things started to go haywire for him. The brake rotor of the Toyota Camry exploded and shoved him again to the wall. Before his car gave up, Reddick’s spotter was heard on the team radio, “Just do your deal, you know the two tires can hang on here. Just keep fighting hard here. This will work out for us.”

And no sooner was that said, the broadcasters exclaimed, “Somebody took the wall, it’s Tyler Reddick.”

After crashing into the barriers, Tyler Reddick expressed on his team radio, “Literally just getting ready to say, felt like the brakes are getting ready to go. I wish I would have, sorry.”

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Bubba Wallace Becomes the Second Driver of 23XI Racing to Crash Out of the Race

But comparatively, Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace held onto the very end of the race and was on the brink of giving his team another top-5 finish, before he met the same fate as Reddick. Even with the internet outage, they managed to latch onto the race, after the No.23 crew chief was heard on the radio saying to spotter Freddie Kraft, “Freddie, we don’t have internet down here, so I might be asking more s*** if a caution comes out”

The spotter retorted, “Yeah 10-4, yeah I think the whole racetrack is out, even the TV screens aren’t working.”

With just a few laps to go, Kraft encouraged Bubba Wallace on the radio by saying, “15 laps to go. Got us back in it here, no mistakes.”

And with the last 5 laps to go, the broadcaster announced, “Oh Bubba Wallace to the wall.” While Bubba Wallace vented out his frustration on the radio, “Dammit, F***.”

His crew chief asked the driver, “I assume that’s Brakes, Bubba?” and the obvious answer was, “Yeah.” And this is how the team became the headline for something that could damage NASCAR’s Brand, i.e. the faulty rotors and other parts in general.

Bootie Barker, the crew chief of Wallace, tried to encourage the driver by saying, “Good job Bubba, we are done.”

Before calling it a day, Bubba Wallace was running p11. The No. 23 Toyota driver is yet to win a race this season and has only got a few races of the regular season to do so and secure his playoff berth.

Although brake rotor failure was a common mechanical failure among the drivers, owing to the low banking corners and long straightaways, that does not suffice the fact that Michael Jordan’s $150 Million team is yet to prove their worth in the ongoing season. If a podium finish does not come soon for the team, they might have to face the wrath of the fans questioning the quality of the team. 

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