Since the advent of 23XI Racing, NASCAR fans have been awaiting the team building their own facility, and it looks like they’ve done so in grand fashion with their Airspeed team building.
From the name to the design, Airspeed is unlike any other team facility we’ve seen in NASCAR. It may have costed twice what was originally projected, according to team co-owner Denny Hamlin, but Airspeed looks to have been worth every penny.
Check out the footage and photographs below, shared to X (formerly known as Twitter) by Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, featuring Airspeed in all it’s glory, the new home for 23XI Racing.
As you can tell, it’s a glorious facility for Hamlin and co-owner Michael Jordan’s team to continue their chase for NASCAR success. 23XI Racing is one of the more exciting teams to join NASCAR in recent memory, and they’ve performed above many’s expectations during their first couple of seasons in the sport.
Bubba Wallace was the original flag bearer in the No. 23, and Kurt Busch drove the No. 45 until he was injured and forced to retire, which left the seat open for budding star Tyler Reddick. In the future, there’s speculation a third charter could be added to the team, and their new building would certainly support that hope.
Time will tell if Denny Hamlin indeed does leave Joe Gibbs Racing to drive for his own team in the future, but it’s evident his responsibilities to JGR aren’t getting in the way of his duties with 23XI Racing. Now that the team has their own facilities, 23XI Racing could catapult to a new level over the next couple of seasons.
Denny Hamlin picks a side in Kyle Busch-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fight
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin broke down what led to the fight between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. following the All-Star Race over the weekend.
While Hamlin admitted it’s a difficult position he found himself in, as he doesn’t like to have to pick sides, the No. 11 wheelman elaborated on how it all went down during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast.
“This is difficult. This is one of those difficult positions that I find myself in. Because I try not to pick sides, but I’ll call it how I see it,” Hamlin started. “Let’s go back to the on-track stuff. I see both sides, however, my driving style supports a little more of Kyle’s side, because I believe that there are times where Ricky finds himself in these situations, because he puts himself in these situations. It is Lap 1. Did he shove through the middle of us? Yes. Did I have a problem with it? I did not. It is the All-Star Race. We just talked about it earlier. The drivers, you kind of understand that there’s a little bit more aggressiveness going on in this type of race. So I see Kyle’s side of it, ‘Dude, you shoved middle on a short-track on Lap 1. Like, where are you going?’ I see that part. I understand.
“However, the counter to that is that I see Ricky’s side saying, ‘Dude, I never touched you until you hit the wall.’ Now, I think contact was inevitable, because there wasn’t enough room for Kyle, no matter what. Ricky did put him in a position where Kyle was going to have to lift, and if he did not lift, the contact was going to happen. Kyle didn’t lift, or he tried to lift, but it was too late. The No. 47 was already coming up. I knew we were three-wide. I left plenty of room on the bottom. I am no part of this drama whatsoever, I’ve got no part in it. … The contact was inevitable, because there was not enough room left for Kyle on the high-side of the race track. … “I just think it was a little bit overboard, considering all the variables that have happened, but I do think there’s a little bit of pent-up frustration on Kyle’s part.”
While Hamlin relented that Stenhouse Jr.’s decision on Lap 1 was a little dense, he doesn’t believe it warranted the reaction from Busch that it received. Regardless, it’s likely not the last we’ve seen of Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s beef, as the anger between these two drivers is unlike anything we’ve seen in the last couple of seasons.
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