Denny Hamlin Rests All Hope on Bubba Wallace’s Shoulder to Avoid Petty Michael Jordan’s Wrath

To be the best, you have to beat the best. Now that’s one quote that stands tall in every sport. Be it in the NBA, where the legendary Chicago Bulls guard, Michael Jordan, dominated the court with sheer obsession and a relentless pursuit of perfection, the basketball great has retired after coming back once more in 2003, but his mindset and drive still remain intact, carrying them forward to his NASCAR team, 23 XI Racing.

Over its 75 glorious years, the elite Stock Car Racing promotion has seen a lot of changes. From being bound to traditional oval tracks to incorporating more road courses and the introduction of the current new generation of cars, the sport has certainly evolved, spreading its wings in search of newer grounds. With just 2 more races till the playoff saga takes over, things are all the more critical at 23XI Racing as MJ’s partner and Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, Denny Hamlin, details how his driver, Bubba Wallace, needs to take his team back into the game.

Despite making it into the playoff cutline, Hamlin leaves it all up to his driver, Wallace, to uphold his partner’s pride, leaving the driver in the jaws of the lion.

Denny Hamlin puts himself in Michael Jordan’s crosshairs

The drivers’ best option to make it to the 16-driver playoffs is simply to win, the owner and manufacturer point rankings are a bit more complex. Coming to the recent happenings, Indy Road Course winner Michael McDowell, who just defied all odds, spearing into the playoffs despite being outside the cutline, joined Denny Hamlin on his podcast, Action Detrimental, where the veteran shared Michael Jordan and his team’s precarious position.

While his driver, Bubba Wallace, makes it into the playoff 16, the 23XI Racing driver and his team are down on owner points, unlike Chase Elliott, who has the exact opposite situation: down on driver points and in on owner points. He said, “Michael McDowell defied the odds and put himself in the playoff picture, what people dont know is that knocked my #23 car out of the owner’s playoff (contention) now Bubba (Wallace) is in it (Playoffs) but we’re not in 23XI(Racing).” 

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin Publicly Accepts Defeat as Underdog Veteran Proves Him Wrong at Chase Elliott’s Expense

Furthermore, the JGR veteran added to his point, saying, “What people dont actually know is the #9 car is in right now on the owner’s side, I’m trying to get pulled up here…Bubba is in on drivers(playoff points) currently, out on owners, the #9 car is out on drivers, in on owners.” 

Hamlin explains the whole debacle while McDowell writes off Chase Elliott

With Bubb Wallace 14th and Michael McDowell 15th, with just 18 points separating the two, as we head to another road course next week, the odds stack up against the faster and more dominant #34 Ford that just aced one of the crown jewel venues of the sport.

While Wallace just makes it into the playoffs, his boss and Michael Jordan partner Hamlin explain the ground reality, saying, “That’s how we get paid, as ownership is by the owner’s points because it makes it to where Michael gets sick or something like that or has an injury or he’s able to, that team doesn’t get penalized monetarily because of that so, that’s the right way to do it, the drivers, of course, get all the fame, but as the owners  I’m going, Oh, NO! Ouch! So we got to get Bubba in, he needs to win or gain a bunch of points on one of those guys. I think it’s probably the #9 car that’s the next ahead of him on owners.” 

With Hamlin putting the #23 driver between him and his partner, MJ, McDowell on the other hand got real about the 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott and his dire situation. “Chase Elliott is the best road course racer there is in our sport, you can’t deny that, he’s got like 7 wins in the last 5 years, right? So statistically he is the best and I know that he can win in any given weekend, he could have won this weekend, I know that too, he could win the next one,” said the #34 driver acknowledging Elliott’s race craft. 

WATCH THIS STORY: Fans join Bubba Wallace in mocking Denny Hamlin causing Michael Jordan’s president to step in and rescue

He then got to the point, saying, “So it was not like that, it was, if he wins I’m still going to run 5th, he’s not going to get 40 points, he might 15, he might get 20 but there’s no way he’s getting 40.”