Denny Hamlin delivers a ‘painful’ reality check to 23XI Racing after Pocono fallout

Denny Hamlin had no idea how all three 23XI Racing cars suffered from brake issues during last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. Notably, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver addressed the matter recently on his Actions Detrimental podcast.

23XI Racing has a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, which began in 2021. It involves JGR providing chassis and other services, while Toyota Racing Development (TRD) looks after engine building for the Huntersville-based outfit.

TRD serves JGR as well, so Denny Hamlin was surprised that how all three 23XI cars malfunctioned, while none of the JGR cars even budged during Sunday’s event. Reflecting on it during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, the seven-time Pocono winner said (45:20),

“I don't know what's going on over there but they've had..you know, typically when JGR doesn't have brake issues, 23XI does and I don't know why. I wish I could give you more insight on it. Obviously all three had brake issues and we got to figure that out. They had things going really well but man, it's painful right now.”

All three 23XI Racing drivers finished the race in P32 or worse. Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst were slammed with DNFs, while Tyler Reddick was the only one from the 23XI camp who completed all 160 laps. However, his P32 finish was the lowest he has placed in a points-paying race this season.

Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, finished second behind his teammate and race winner Chase Briscoe. Christopher Bell finished 17th while Ty Gibbs finished 14th. As things stand, all JGR drivers except Gibbs are in the playoffs. However, none of the 23XI Racing drivers have qualified thus far.

Next up for the drivers is the Quaker State 400 at Echopark Speedway, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Scheduled for this coming Saturday, June 28, the race will be televised on TNT Sports, 7 pm ET onwards, with live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Denny Hamlin enters NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament as the No. 1 seed

For the first time in its history, NASCAR will host an In-Season Tournament starting next weekend in the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway. Denny Hamlin was crowned the top seed, thanks to his win at Michigan, in addition to his runner-up finish at Pocono.

The seeding will be based on how well the drivers (32 of them) finish over the three races leading to this coming weekend’s race. Chase Briscoe won at Pocono, tying with Hamlin for the best finish ahead of Echopark Speedway.

But Hamlin emerged victorious in the tiebreaker as his P2 finish at the Tricky Triangle was better than Briscoe’s second-best finish of P7 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. Denny Hamlin missed that race due to the birth of his son.

The winner of the tournament will take home a whopping $1 million cash prize. All five races will be covered by TNT Sports, ending with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.