“I think he’s got a good eye at picking talent.” Steve Lauletta, president of 23XI Racing, said these words about Denny Hamlin back in 2023. Indeed, when the Cup Series veteran founded his team alongside Michael Jordan, he knew only the finest would need to join the team’s crew. The results are enlightening: ahead of the 2025 All-Star Race weekend, Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 team ranks the best by average four-tire pit stop time. The back story for this success, however, may boggle your mind.
Denny Hamlin belongs to that category of Cup Series drivers who had to fight and claw their way to the top. So his perspective on growth and success is bound to be unique. That is why 23XI Racing sought to form its own pit crew members rather than rely on Joe Gibbs Racing, even if it means taking a big risk.
Denny Hamlin’s gamble paid off
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is well aware of how a pit crew’s work can be crucial. For the final pit stop of the 2025 Goodyear 400 race, Denny Hamlin rolled down pit road in third place. But due to the sheer speed of his No. 11 crew, Hamlin exited the pits first and charged to fetch his 5th Darlington Raceway victory. Similarly, Hamlin leaves no stone unturned in choosing his 23XI Racing pit crew. That is how Tyler Reddick edged out Kyle Larson during the 2024 regular season championships, and that is also how Bubba Wallace has fetched four top-ten finishes this season. Behind their pit crews’ success lies a well-known yet jaw-dropping secret – Josh Shipplett.
As a tire carrier, Josh Shipplett helped Denny Hamlin win the 2019 and ’20 Daytona 500s, and then worked with Kurt Busch in 23XI Racing. Despite having experience as a tire carrier, Shipplett jumped to being 23XI’s pit coach. In a recent interview ahead of the All-Star Race, Hamlin stuck to the decision he made back in 2023: “I just think that hiring him was the first key, and since then, we’ve all done really well with our strength and conditioning, our guys, making sure they are peaking at the right time. It just takes a lot of work. I knew it was going to take a while. But we’re starting to see the fruit side of it.”
Among his efforts, Josh Shipplett introduced a new style of making a pit stop. Shipplett emphasized having consistent stops instead of losing time on any of them. Recently, he led the charge for 23XI Racing’s very own training program. So Denny Hamlin further justified why taking that ‘risk’ was totally worth it: “I think it’s because there’s something to be said about coaches that have lived in the moment, and understand, maybe, their physical attributes doesn’t allow them to do it anymore, but they know what the fast guys are doing. There’s things in other drivers that I see are a little faster. But I’m not being able to replicate that. But if you can train the guys to start from the ground up to optimize their skill, I think it shows that you can really have a good top end.”
Clearly, the 23XI Racing team’s racing strategy has a different edge to it. Another key role also contributes to this uniqueness, and it ensures drivers’ well-being.
Stocking up on drivers’ fluids
Racing at 170-180 miles per hour consistently for 4-5 hours can take a toll on the inexperienced. Cup Series drivers do this on a weekly basis – yet even they need expert supervision. That is why 23XI Racing has ensured that its racers and other team members stay at peak levels of health. For that purpose, Denny Hamlin hired CJ Walker, the team’s athletic training coordinator, back in 2024. As per Walker’s work at Airspeed, he focuses more on the prehab aspect of athletic training- limiting issues before they happen. The 2024 Southern 500 dilemma, however, came unexpectedly when Tyler Reddick caught a stomach bug. Tyler Reddick thanked Walker for his help: “Losing fluids, whether it’s out the front or out the back, is not a fun experience. I was very thankful to have the help I did from CJ and everyone on the team to guide me through that.”
It is also a role that the Gastonia native embraces, as CJ Walker grew up watching NASCAR after stints at major schools like LSU and Georgia. He said in an interview recently, “I’ve been blessed everywhere I’ve been. The energy around those programs brought my game up that much more, just being around that energy. Fast forward 10 years later, I never really saw a job anywhere posted. I saw it pop up and said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go for this. ‘ It’s a chance to come home, work in a sport I’ve loved since I was a kid, and I couldn’t have been happier with the move so far.”
Evidently, Denny Hamlin’s crew has a variety of eclectic yet determined people. That is what keeps 23XI Racing at the top of their game – and we expect more success from the team this season.
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