Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk launched 23XI Racing in 2021, with Bubba Wallace as the lone car representing the team in the Cup Series. As it now rises to prominence in the Cup Series, Hamlin shared on his latest podcast that the team was originally called something different.
On Monday’s episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared that the team he helped co-found with one of the best NBA players of all time was originally supposed to be called 6XI Racing.
“Truth be known, the original name of 23XI Racing was supposed to be 6XI…6 champions.611. They were doing renderings and all this stuff. You know, on all the gear, it was 6XI. 6XI was our team name for a while.”
Denny Hamlin on the original name for 23XI Racing
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- Denny Hamlin stats 2025 (NASCAR.com): 494 points, 3 wins, 8 top 10s, 7 top 5s, 2 DNFs, 455 laps led, 11.733 average starting position, 13.467 average finishing position
The six was going to be a reference to Jordan’s six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. A mutual decision was then made to change it to Jordan’s jersey number during his iconic career with Chicago.
The topic of the team name came up because of the looming birth of Hamlin’s son, who is now more than a week overdue. Hamlin had previously joked that he hoped his son wouldn’t be born on specific days that would tie into a few specific drivers’ car numbers. Now, there’s a chance his son will be born on Wednesday, June 11. It would be a fitting date, given the original name for 23XI Racing.
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- 23XI Racing stats: 1,028 points (4th in owner standings)
As for the ongoing antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, Hamlin made it clear that 23XI Racing will continue to run all three cars for the remainder of the season, despite the recent appeals court ruling that they and Front Row Motorsports couldn’t run as chartered cars for the rest of the season. Both teams can file an appeal within a 14-day window of the ruling, with a seven-day window for the appeal to be ruled on.