Kurt Busch has signed a multi-year contract with 23XI Racing and is considering a charter

Kurt Busch has signed a multi-year contract with 23XI Racing, the NASCAR team founded by Michael Jordan and fellow driver Denny Hamlin.

More information about the new relationship was provided by Hamlin on Saturday, and he stated he is close to getting a charter for Busch’s No. 45 Toyota in 2022. Teams with charters are guaranteed 36 positions in each week’s 40-car field. Busch would have to qualify for every race if he didn’t have one.

“Nothing to announce yet, but we feel very confident,” Hamlin said.

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This year, Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, teamed up with Jordan to form a team around NASCAR’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace. Wallace pulls in millions in sponsorship, so it was a simple start-up. Monster Energy, the team that sponsors Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet at Chip Ganassi Racing, will follow him to 23XI next season.

When Jordan returned to the NBA after his initial retirement in 1995, he wore No. 45. Wallace is still behind the wheel of the No. 23, which is the most closely associated with Jordan’s career.

“It was number that meant something to (Jordan),” Hamlin said. “With it being 23, then 45, that kind of made sense.”

The No. 45 has been linked to the Petty family in NASCAR for a long time. Kyle Petty and his son Adam, who died in a 2000 plane crash when he was 19 years old, piloted it. To get the car number back on track, 23XI reached out to Kyle Petty for his consent.

“Kyle was excited to see it used,” Hamlin said.

23XI Racing made it clear all year that it wanted to expand to two cars and eventually more. The next step, though, is making both cars competitive.

“It’s always been a vision of ours to expand,” Hamlin said. “This is the first step in that. However, for us, it’s going to be how can we get our two cars running up front before we think about doing anything further. Our focus is going to be solely on these two guys and how can we get them up front, in the top five, every single week contending for race wins.

“That’s our goal. You can’t just expand just to expand. You’ve got to figure out what it takes to win first. I think Kurt instantly jumps us up to that level.”

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Busch welcomed the move and said it allowed him to put off thinking about retirement.

“For me, I’ve completed quite a bit of my checklist in NASCAR,” Busch said. “But this is another box that I didn’t know to exist and that is building a new team from scratch, working with Toyota and having a strong relationship with Monster Energy to go to a new program. So all that kind of leapfrogged up ahead of walking away from full-time NASCAR driving.”

NUMBERS RELOCATED

The video for 23XI’s second car, which was unveiled on Friday, raised concerns since the No. 45 on the side of the car had been pushed forward. Rather than being in the middle of the door, it was much closer to the front wheels. It was evident that NASCAR intends to change the numbers on the Next Generation car in order to provide sponsors more prominent marketing space on racecars.

For the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR permitted teams to change their numbers for the first time. Many traditionalists objected, desiring to see the numerals remain in their usual spot.

RARE COMPANY

Busch will be only the second driver in NASCAR history to drive for each of the last four manufacturers: Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota. Kasey Kahne completed the journeyman feat as well.

For Ganassi and Phoenix Racing, Busch drove Chevrolets. For Team Penske, he drove Dodges. At Stewart-Haas Racing, he raced Fords. And now, for 23XI, he’ll get behind the wheel of a Toyota. He’s driven a Toyota previously, but not on a regular basis. In the Xfinity Series, he won at Darlington Raceway in 2012 while racing for his brother’s team, Kyle Busch Racing.

“For Toyota, this family, this is almost serendipitous,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development. “We’ve been in the winner’s circle together before and I have no doubt we will be back.”

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