Clash Provides Strong Start For 23XI Drivers & Co-Owner

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin leads team driver Bubba Wallace (23) at Bowman Gray Stadium during Sunday's Cook Out Clash. (John Harrelson/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Even amidst an ongoing legal battle with NASCAR, 23XI Racing and its two NASCAR Cup Series teams got the season off to a strong start Sunday.

The Cup Series returned to Bowman Gray Stadium for the non-points Cook Out Clash exhibition race, and while several teams and drivers had misfortune and torn-up race cars, both Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick kept their cars clean all weekend and finished in the top 10 in the 200-lap main event.

The story goes back to the middle of last year, however, as NASCAR and 23XI – along with Front Row Motorsports – have been locked in an antitrust lawsuit. While the team is battling in the courtroom, it has continued to battle on track, including making the Championship 4 last fall with Tyler Reddick.

Both sides hoped to have the lawsuit resolved before the new season began, but it will continue throughout the year, before the judge makes a final decision in December.

The teams won an appeal ahead of the season beginning to retain their charter benefits, as well as completing their purchase of a charter from the now-defunct Stewart Haas Racing. With all the added drama and tension of the case, many fans worried that it could be a distraction for the team, but that wasn’t the case during the Clash.

The weekend started with practice, qualifying and heat races on Saturday night. Both 23XI cars showed speed in practice and qualifying, before Wallace finished fourth in his heat race and locked into the main event on Sunday. Reddick started led every lap of his heat from the pole to make the 200 lapper as well.

After a chaotic Last Chance Qualifier race, which both drivers were thankful they did not have to participate in, the green flag flew for the main event. Reddick took the lead for a brief moment after the halfway break, but was passed by 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin and later fell back, finishing in eighth.

Wallace started in 14th, but climbed forward methodically to earn a top five finish. The only incident for either driver during the weekend was when Wallace made incidental contact with the No. 6 of Brad Keselowski, causing Keselowski to spin and drawing the final caution of the main on lap 120.

Afterward, Wallace chalked the contact up to a product of the racing at ‘The Madhouse’, with neither driver overly upset at the other.

“I hate that I got into the 6 (Brad Keselowski),” said Wallace post-race. “I didn’t want to get a top-five finish that way. He was doing everything he could to get down – and I got greedy and wanted to fill the hole. I really didn’t think I hit him that hard, but obviously I did, so apologize for that. All-in-all, a good day for our Leidos Toyota Camry. We start off the season with a top five. We will count it.”

Still, however, Wallace wasn’t fully content with his effort, despite the strong finish on paper.

23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace (23) leads teammate Tyler Reddick at Bowman Gray Stadium Sunday night. (John Harrelson/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

“We were still missing it on something. This tire was also from Martinsville in the fall. I didn’t like the car then. I don’t like the car now, but you have to fight for [every position],” Wallace noted. “I need to look back on what I need to do better with this tire. I think it is more me than the car – just getting the potential, but all in all, it was a fun night. [The] crowd was loud and proud, and it was a good time.”

The Clash was also Wallace’s first race with his new crew chief for this year. Charles Denike, who worked with Christian Eckes last year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has hopped on top of the pit box for Wallace this year.

Denike replaced Bootie Barker, the crew chief Wallace had since he started with 23XI in 2021, but the opening result seemed to show positivity for the 31-year-old from Mobile, Ala.

“I think it's a great way to start off the year and our relationship. Since the first day I met Charles, he's been super just on it and willing to just bust his ass to figure out where we need to be better,” said Wallace of Denike. “He's not afraid of telling you, ‘I need to do this.’ I'm not afraid to tell him the same thing. We have a lot to dissect after tonight's race. I think we agree we were just an average car. That's not okay with either of us. We got to regroup and refocus. Luckily the next short track is a little bit out.

“We were texting last night at midnight after we shut down here, and I just asked him, ‘How did your first day go?’ He said, ‘I thought everything went status quo.’ I agreed,” he continued. “There are some things that could be better as always, but I think the first start to our [relationship] is really good. I asked him before the race sitting over here in the pits, ‘Are you nervous?’ and he told me, ‘No, not yet. Ask me when we go to Daytona.’

“He probably will be then, but we’ll be ready.”

In the even bigger picture for 23XI, team co-owner Hamlin led 28 laps on the night, falling just short at the end of the Clash with a third-place result.

“It's really a good warm-up because you don't have the pit crews, we have more practice than we have a normal weekend, but it still feels like an abbreviated-type weekend,” Hamlin said of the Clash. “There's not a whole lot you can do to the cars, right? Once you get here, you're pretty locked in. Overall, it's always been a way to build into our season, and this one was pretty positive for us.

“Now we get the next couple weeks, next few days debriefing on this, the tir[es], [and see] what we can learn from this race that can apply when we run this tire again,” he added. “We’ll put our brains together and see if we can't get a little better.”

Was it a win for 23XI at Bowman Gray? Not on paper, but the overall momentum the team found there should bode well for them heading to Daytona Speedweeks presented by AdventHealth, where Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 champion and Wallace has finished second twice, most recently in 2022.

On-track activities for the 67th Daytona 500 at Daytona Int’l Speedway begin Wednesday, Feb. 12 with Busch Light Pole Qualifying and culminate Sunday, Feb. 16 with 500 miles at the World Center of Racing.

Broadcast coverage of the Great American Race airs at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.