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Days After Shocking $40 Million Sale, Denny Hamlin Spills the Beans on Michael Jordan’s NASCAR Team’s Expansion

Published 09/21/2023, 5:31 PM EDT

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There are a couple of things that are constantly on the rise in today’s world: global temperature and the rate of inflation. The latter found its way into the world of sports a long time ago, and that includes NASCAR. The most recent example of this is the $40 million sale of BJ McLeod’s NASCAR Cup Series charter to Spire Motorsports. According to some reports, the value of the charter saw a drastic rise from a few million dollars to 40 million, and this has stunned a number of people involved in the sport.

On a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin, who is a team owner himself, gave his two cents on the matter. Hamlin is the owner of the 23XI Racing team alongside NBA legend Michael Jordan. Their team has been performing exceptionally well this season, with both of their drivers in the round of 12, and one of them even earning a spectacular win in the second round of 16 races at Kansas.

Denny Hamlin reveals the costly task of being a team owner

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Speaking about the $40 million sale, Denny Hamlin said that the rising prices made him feel secure about the investment he made in his own racing team not so long ago. And with a team that is performing as well as they have been this year, the re-sale value would be a lot higher than BJ McLeod’s charter.

“I feel much better about my investment if it is true, right? If it is exactly as advertised. If you combine what we paid for the two, you know, just a few years ago, then yeah, I like my investment turned out well so far. But all it really does, you know, it’s not worth anything till you sell it,” the 23XI Racing co-owner said.

The 42-year-old also pointed out the challenges team owners have to face while fielding a relatively new team in a tournament like the Cup Series. A team must have a large and stable financial backing if they want to compete at the highest level, and the best way to do that is through sponsorships.

Without sponsorships, the flow of money gets compromised, and it is impossible for smaller teams to compete with the heavyweights at the highest level, making the owners pay out just to keep the team alive. The 23XI co-owner emphasized that this is a huge factor to keep in mind when wondering why the cost of a charter is so high.

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Seeing it from a driver’s lens, Denny Hamlin also said that the team owners who have been in the sport for a long time should receive a substantial sum for their charters. The JGR driver mentioned his boss, Joe Gibbs, along with some of the heavyweights in the sport today.

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Hamlin Says Legendary Teams Should Be Worth a Lot Because Of “Commitment”

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Later on in the podcast, Denny Hamlin revealed that it was difficult to ascertain the value of teams that have been a part of the sport for quite a long time. Teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Richard Childress Racing are among the greatest teams in the history of motorsport.

“It’s good that the franchise value was something because these owners like Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske and Richard Childress that have been around for such a long time deserve getting paid for their commitment to this sport for decades and decades, right? They deserve for their franchise to be worth something, a big number,” the Joe Gibbs racing driver added.

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Watch This Story: Denny Hamlin Accuses Joe Gibbs Grandson of Invoking Dale Earnhardt’s Tragedy on Ryan Blaney No Place To Hide

So if either of the aforementioned owners decides to sell their teams, it will be quite interesting how much they sell for. How much do you think one such team would sell for in today’s day and age? Let us know your thoughts.

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Written by:

Nilavro Ghosh

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Nilavro Ghosh is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. He started his journey as a motorsports fan with Moto GP and Formula One, before gravitating towards NASCAR a few years back. The high-octane nature of stock car racing paired with the racecraft on display drew him into the sport.
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Edited by:

Nischal Kandpal