Michael Jordan’s NASCAR Team’s Bubba Wallace Switch From Last Year Could Inspire Chase Elliott to Prevail, Despite Hendrick Motorsports Misery

In the world of NASCAR, teams are always looking for ways to advance their brand, whether it’s through their drivers, their cars, or even their logos. And one team that has done an exceptional job of this is 23XI Racing, founded by basketball legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin.

In a recent episode of the Dale Jr Download podcast, Steve Lauletta, the president of 23XI Racing, discussed the team’s approach to branding and how they’ve managed to work together as a unified organization.

23XI Racing is fostering team unity and a strong brand identity

“At 23XI, you know, starting as a small one car team, now we’re two cars, is how can we work as one, truly as one,” said Lauletta. “I think so far, again, two years into it, we’ve done a really nice job of everybody’s focus on this 23XI logo and organization, advancing at, whether that means the #23 or the #45, gives a little bit, communicates a little bit.”

Lauletta went on to highlight one specific example of the team’s focus on the organization as a whole: “I think the perfect example of that was last year, right? We put, we took Bubba outta the #23 and put him in the #45 to give us the best chance of going for an owner’s title, which was earned by Billy Scott and Kurt Busch.”

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This move by 23XI Racing is particularly relevant in light of recent events at Hendrick Motorsports, where an L-2 penalty resulted in a $400,000 fine and 100 team and driver points deducted for each of its cars. However, because Chase Elliott was injured and replaced by Josh Berry, the #9 car will not lose any driver points, leading to potential confusion for fans and broadcasters.

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Drawing parallels to 23XI Racing’s move last season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. predicted that Hendrick Motorsports may use this example to their advantage. “We had the same situation last year with the owner’s points where Kurt Busch and the 23XI and the owner’s points and driver’s points and everything was different,” said Earnhardt Jr earlier in his podcast. “There were drivers that weren’t in the playoffs but owners that were. Cars that were without the drivers.”

But what can other teams and organizations learn from 23XI Racing’s approach to branding? According to Lauletta, it’s all about putting the organization first. “Examples of everybody kind of looking at it a little bit differently and saying, you know, ‘I want the best for the organization, not necessarily me and my, you know, bow-ness or what my team does or any of those things that goes with it.”

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In the competitive world of NASCAR, it can be easy for teams to focus solely on their individual drivers and cars. But 23XI Racing has shown that by putting the organization first and working together as a unified team, they can achieve great things. And perhaps, as Dale Earnhardt Jr suggests, other teams will take note and follow suit.