After Being Confronted By Danica Patrick & Joe Gibbs, “Drunk” Denny Hamlin Reveals Wish to Own Surprise NASCAR Team Before Michael Jordan Came Along

Before starting his own racing team, Denny Hamlin apparently just wanted to get hold of a minority stake in another team. But soon realized the reason why he wanted his very own team. Recently during a podcast with Danica Patrick, he revealed what when down in his head while coming up with the idea.

Hamlin said, “I asked David Wilson, is there any interest in me owning a race team. You know JGR was losing LFR, Covid had took its toll on a race team that was a Toyota team. I’m like can I pick up the pieces of that team and kind of bring it in and start a new team…”

Danica Patrick interjected and said, “Were you drunk when you thought of this idea?” To which Hamlin said, “That’s what Joe asked me, are you crazy? You’re making all the money now why do you want to go spend it? I just thought that I just wanted to have my say.”

Read More: Denny Hamlin Sides With Under-Fire Bubba Wallace as Challenge to Compete Against Kyle Larson in His Territory Is Thrown Toward the Veteran

“Honestly, I got down to Richard Petty Motorsports, and that was a team I was looking to buy a minority stake in. But ultimately I found that I wasn’t gonna get the control I needed, the autonomy that I needed to run it the way I thought it needed to be run. So I am like yeah this isn’t the right fit for me either.”

Denny Hamlin created his team after a speculative article came to light

Later during the same podcast, Hamlin spoke about how he was planning on moving forward with the idea of his own team. He also mentioned how Bubba Wallace, who was a part of the Toyota Racing family, happened to be a free agent at that point in time.

However, what really motivated him further was when he came across a speculative article that suggested that Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan were trying to secure a minority stake in Richard Petty Motorsports. Hamlin shredded the news piece by calling it “absolutely not true.” But he sent the headline to his friend, the legendary former NBA player, who called it fake news but also told Hamlin to let him know if he wanted to make it a reality.

And that is where the story of 23XI Racing began, soon the two started working towards a business plan and today we all know the team and where it is.