Here’s great news for all 23XI Racing fans. There are some new fellas onboard! After a great 2022 Cup Season, the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team has now decided to make a few strategic and operational changes to the team. And hiring a new set of pit-crew members is the perfect start to that.

In their latest post on Twitter, 23XI Racing introduced their new crew members with a fun short video. Excited to see the fresh additions to the team, 23XI fans jumped right in to welcome the new fellas onboard.

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Prior to this, 23XI Racing was relying on Joe Gibbs Racing to lease out pit-crew members. However, due to this technical alliance, the 23XI owners could not enjoy complete decision autonomy during the races. Since Joe Gibbs Racing trained the pit officials, the JGR team made all pit crew decisions.

Denny Hamlin on why it was the best decision for 23XI Racing and JGR

Back in July 2022, Denny Hamlin announced that 23XI Racing was in the recruitment process to hire new pit members. Moreover, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said that the decision would help both 23XI and JGR to have better control over their teams.

Explaining how this was the logical next step for 23XI, Hamlin said, “I think, if anything, this should help everyone’s programs, especially Joe Gibbs Racing. For them to try to have to field six really good pit crews, it’s tough. Can they do four? Yes. But then where does that leave our team? That means we’re always going to be fifth or sixth. It’s hard for us to win races that way, [especially with how competition relies on track position] like we have today.”

Apart from that, Denny Hamlin feels that this will help him get off of JGR’s back. He said, “I think our relationship will always stay strong with Joe Gibbs Racing, but some things we just feel like we would be better off if we did it ourselves. That way Joe doesn’t have to listen to me coming into his office each and every week saying, ‘How can we fix this or that?’ If we stink, it’s on us.”

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It’s true. With its own set of pit-crew members, things will definitely get better for 23XI Racing. With improved personnel training control and decision autonomy, the team can now function a lot better during the extremely competitive Cup races.