Denny Hamlin says that the pit crew woes at 23XI Racing are not something that can be solved overnight.
“It’s frustrating from my standpoint because I’ve lived through it myself,” he said.
23XI Racing is qualified for the postseason with Tyler Reddick, who won in the spring at Circuit of The Americas. But Reddick and his No. 45 team have also had numerous opportunities for additional victories slip through their fingers, most recently at Michigan International Speedway because of a loose wheel with less than 50 laps to go.
Bubba Wallace is still fighting for a postseason spot. Wallace and No. 23 team have not been immune to mistakes, as they were plagued often in 2022.
“I know what Tyler’s going through and the emotion that you have,” Hamlin said. “And Bubba, too. It’s free spots to the competition. So, it is a process.
“It’s going to take years. I can’t emphasize how much time it takes. But our ownership has bought into the fact of investing into our pit crews into the future and what we need to do to make it better, and we’re going to do that.”
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23XI Racing brought its pit crews in-house this season. For the last two years, the organization leased pit crews for its two Cup Series cars from alliance partner Joe Gibbs Racing. Those crews were developed and trained at Gibbs, the downside for 23XI Racing being that it was not atop the pecking order for top athletes, and Gibbs would make team decisions such as when crew members were moved around.
By developing its own pit crews, 23XI Racing has control. The training center and resources are still at Joe Gibbs Racing, and so the pit crew members 23XI Racing has hired for this season still train there.
Hamlin acknowledged the difficulty in trying to make improvements with its crews in both the short term and long term with the pit crews.
“You try to make changes the best you can, put different pieces of the puzzle in different spots,” he said. “We’ve kept the teams as is for the whole year thus far, but you have to be open to options. There are development guys at JGR that we pay into a pool to have access to, and if we have to use some of them, we will.”
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The loose wheel in Michigan relegated Reddick to a 30th-place finish with one of the fastest cars in the field. Reddick didn’t hide his anger on the radio, telling the team, among other things, it was “unacceptable” what happened.
Brian Bottlemy, the right-rear tire changer, knew there was an issue on the pit stop as the jack came down as he was tightening the lug. Bottlemy initially raised his right arm, signaling there was a problem, but then went back in on the lug nut and the team continued to the left side of the car.
Making matters worse, the car needed to be packed full of fuel so there was no need for an aggressively fast pit stop. Reddick’s reaction was one of the most explosive ever heard from him over the radio during a race.
“Certainly, considering the circumstances,” Hamlin said. “You’re waiting on fuel, there is no need to even have a 10-second stop. You just had to execute a good stop there and then leave it in the driver’s hand. There is only one way to take yourself out of that race and that was to have a loose wheel and that’s what we did.”
Hamlin, however, isn’t going to curb the emotions from his drivers as the growth process continues with the pit crews. Not only does Hamlin relate, but he believes it can be a motivator.
“It’s a balance for sure but some of the best leaders are hard on their guys sometimes,” Hamlin said. “I just think that sometimes you have to face the music and you have to live and die by the result that you have. I love all 10 guys that we have but we’re always competing to keep our jobs — race car drivers are, pit crew guys are.
“Everyone is trying to do the best they can but it’s always a competition and no one can be complacent that everything is fine and dandy. Listen, I know that they felt it. The pit crew guys didn’t want that to happen; they’re trying to win for our team. But we’re making the same mistakes multiple times and that’s where we’re struggling.”