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It was not a great day as a driver for Denny Hamlin at Talladega after being collected in a crash with 33 laps left. But as a co-owner of 23XI Racing, it became special after Tyler Reddick capitalized on the last lap wreck to claim the first victory for 23XI Racing in 2024.
23XI Racing co-owners Denny Hamlin and six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan were present in the victory lane together for the first time, celebrating the team's sixth victory at 2.66-mile-long Talladega. The win must be more special for the entire 23XI Racing team, as it came in one of the biggest races in NASCAR.
Speaking with FOX Sports’ Jamie Little, Denny Hamlin said that watching every win for the team is like watching his kids win as he admitted that it's always even more fulfilling than experiencing his own.
Despite experiencing a tough day in the GEICO 500, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver expressed his excitement for 23XI Racing’s win:
“Every 23XI win is like watching your kid win. It always means a little bit more when they do it than when you do it. Certainly, the day was disastrous for us. Man, just so excited for this race team and Tyler, Billy, all the guys that really help make this happen. So, it’s great Michael [Jordan] gets to enjoy it.”
“He’s been wanting to be in Victory Lane for quite some time now, and it’s really about how this team’s progressing over time. Yeah, it’s a superspeedway win, but these guys are contending week in and week out and they deserve to win.”
“There was a bad push towards the front” – Denny Hamlin on his crash
Speaking with NASCAR on TSN, the three-time Daytona 500 winner reflected on his crash, which ended his day early. He wasn’t sure of what happened towards the end but noted that Erik Jones got turned before he himself was involved.
Elaborating on what went wrong, Hamlin said:
“I am not sure. I didn’t. I just saw the 43 get turned and I got turned. So I’m really not sure which one happened first, but… Yeah, I’m not really sure. Obviously, there was a bad push towards the front. And it wiped us all out, so it’s just poetic.”
Denny Hamlin stands sixth in the Cup Series points table with 308 points.
