Joe Gibbs Racing has always been more than just four Cup cars and a trophy case. For years, it ran its own manufacturing shop in Huntersville, building everything from suspension pieces to engine parts the way only a race team knows how.

That shop was part of the JGR DNA. Now it’s gone. Coach Gibbs just sold the entire manufacturing arm to Torque Capital Group in a deal that’s already shaking things up in Charlotte.

Joe Gibbs Racing sells its manufacturing soul

The old Joe Gibbs Manufacturing Solutions is no more. Torque Capital bought its lock, stock, and CNC machine, then immediately rebranded it JGA Space & Defense. The same machines that used to cut race-car parts are about to start making rocket-motor insulators, nozzles, and high-tech composites for aerospace and defense companies.

Torque is investing more than $25 million in the location, adding 60,000 square feet of brand-new floor space in Huntersville with room to expand later. The plan is to create about 40 new jobs paying on average around $55,000, ranging from engineers to machinists to quality control personnel. That’s real money and real stability.

On the racing side, nothing changes day to day. The four Cup cars, the Xfinity program, the drivers, the haulers, all of it stays exactly where it is. Joe Gibbs Racing continues to build and prepare its own race cars in the main shop. They will no longer own the separate manufacturing company.

Coach Joe Gibbs examined the books, assessed the sport, and decided it was smarter to exit heavy manufacturing and pour every dollar and every minute back into winning races.

It’s a big symbolic moment, though.

JGR used to be one of the last truly vertical teams, built everything in-house, and controlled every bolt. Selling the shop feels like the end of an era, even if it’s the right business call. The good news for Charlotte is that the building isn’t turning into condos. It’s evolving into space and defense work, keeping high-skill jobs right in the same zip code where they started with camshafts and chassis jigs.

While Coach Gibbs was quietly closing one chapter, Denny Hamlin was on the stand in the same city, spilling numbers that made everyone’s eyebrows jump.

Exactly how much 23XI pays JGR every year?

Day one of the 23XI and Front Row Racing antitrust trial, and Hamlin got emotional talking about his dad’s health and the family sacrifices that brought him to Cup. Then he got to the money part.

He laid it out plain.

23XI pays Joe Gibbs Racing approximately $2.66 million per car for the technical alliance. With three cars on the grid right now, that’s almost $8 million a year flowing from Michael Jordan and Hamlin’s team straight to JGR. That’s engines, engineering support, data sharing, the whole package.

The same week JGR sells off its manufacturing to focus every penny on racing, Hamlin is in court explaining exactly how expensive that racing has become, even for a team co-owned by the biggest name in sports.

Eight million to JGR alone, on top of charters, Airspeed headquarters costs, and everything else. Suddenly, the $25 million manufacturing sale appears to be sound financial management.

Coach Gibbs cashed in one business to double down on winning races. Hamlin showed the world how much it actually costs to rent a seat at that table. Two moves, same family, same town, two very different looks at where NASCAR money really goes these days.