Throughout his career as a Cup Series driver, veteran Denny Hamlin has been associated with only Joe Gibbs Racing. However, ownership aspirations made him start 23 XI Racing in partnership with the NBA legend Michael Jordan. Consequently, there has been a strong link between the two teams, which goes beyond sharing a common OEM.

Both 23XI Racing and JGR have Toyota as their original equipment manufacturer and the partnership has been mostly successful for both teams. However, over the past month, rumors have been afloat that 23XI Racing has plans to move away from Toyota and shake hands with Ford, which might have affected the team’s relationship with JGR and put Denny Hamlin in a tough situation. Thankfully for him, that did not happen and his team will persist with Toyota going into the future.

Bubba Wallace’s spotter reveals his views on 23XI Racing not moving away from Joe Gibbs Racing

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series entered its playoff stages last Sunday and 23XI Racing had a fantastic result from both drivers in Darlington. Bubba Wallace, who found himself at the back of the pack after an incident at the end of stage 1, made a fantastic recovery drive to finish in 7th place. Tyler Reddick was absolutely incredible throughout the day as he finished in second place behind race winner Kyle Larson.

A lot of their success of late may be credited to Joe Gibbs’s team. The fact that 23XI Racing’s owner is a driver for JGR certainly plays a big part in building that relationship but it could have all gone south had 23XI Racing left Toyota for Ford.

Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft believes that the team made the right decision by sticking with Toyota and his reasoning has a lot to do with JGR’s relationship with the team. According to Kraft, if 23XI had gone to Ford, they would have been behind the likes of Team Penske and RFK Racing and that would have hampered the team’s development.

“Like right now, we’re essentially, you know, JGR and 23XI are essentially the same. I guess we could be second tier but we run the same cars, same stuff, you know,” Kraft said on a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast.

“So if we go to Ford, like Penske’s always going to be the top dog at Ford. Then RFK is probably the No. 2 team right now. So you go over there and you find yourself in a mix of, you’d be the third or fourth Ford team versus being the top Toyota team basically,” the Bubba Wallace spotter added.

Freddie Kraft had his hands full at the Darlington race as Bubba Wallace went through a host of emotions over the 367-lap race. Wallace found himself in a tough situation at the end of the first stage and it was up to Freddie to guide him through the pack back into a commendable finishing position.

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Despite Kraft’s help in pulling off a Darlington masterclass, Bubba Wallace stays disappointed

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Bubba Wallace entered the playoffs for the first time in his career and at the end of stage one, his #23 car spun and he was shuffled to the back of the pack. Passing others consistently in Darlington is not easy, considering how quickly the tires wear off there.

Typically, tires last for 35–40 laps on the 1.37-mile-long track. It gets easier to block than pass in the long run, as the drivers at the back need to give that extra push to tires, speeding the rate at which the tires degrade.

But the #23 driver did a fantastic job of driving from the back of the pack into the top 10 in two stages. Bubba was apologetic at the end of the race but thanked his team for carrying him to the finish line in a good position.

“I did not do the things I needed to do. Put us really behind starting out in qualifying, bonehead move on lap 1 with AJ (Allmendinger) and then the #22 (Joey Logano), I figured we were racing into the corner, so I surrendered and I guess when I surrendered, I just lost it. But we rebounded. Appreciate the team for carrying me today, it’s what it takes, team effort,” he said in a post-race interview with Frontstretch.

The NASCAR Cup Series will move to Kansas this coming Sunday for the second race of the 2023 playoffs. This time around, Bubba Wallace will be hoping that he does not make the same mistakes and finish in a position like his teammate did at Darlington. Where do you think the #23 will finish in Kansas?

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