{"id":619922,"date":"2026-04-22T00:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619922\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:22:14","slug":"nascar-insiders-reality-check-confirms-23xi-racings-place-in-the-big-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619922\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Insider\u2019s Reality Check Confirms 23XI Racing\u2019s Place in the Big Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

23XI Racing<\/a>, which was struggling for consistency last season, has set new records this season, with Tyler Reddick<\/a>leading the pack. Frankly, no one expected this kind of performance from the team, especially Jeff Gluck, who finally had to agree with people.<\/p>\n

NASCAR insider admits 23XI Racing\u2019s dominance<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, this [23XI Racing] is one of the big three teams,\u201d Jeff Gluck recently said to Jordan Bianchi. Understandably, Reddick\u2019s initial victory at Daytona seemed to have come from a massive chance as the \u2018Big One\u2019 toward the end gave him the advantage. However, when he continued his winning streak at Atlanta and COTA, setting a new NASCAR record, he was officially in the books as one of the strongest contenders this season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re a quarter way through the entire season, and we\u2019re much more than that, obviously, through the regular season. And he\u2019s got a 105-point lead,\u201d Gluck added.<\/p>\n

Considering the Playoff format this season, this 105-point lead is a massive advantage for Reddick and the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin<\/a>-led operation. The team has been competing since the 2021 season, and this seems to be its breakthrough season.<\/p>\n

Further, we need to address Toyota\u2019s dominance. While Hendrick Motorsports<\/a>usually dominates with its #5 and #9 teams on the grid, Chevrolet modified its body, which apparently led to a downfall in performance this season. Meanwhile, Toyota capitalized on this and became the dominant force on the grid.<\/p>\n

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While this success fulfills a purpose Denny Hamlin has long chased for his team, the timing might be a bit too early for his own championship ambitions.<\/p>\n

Is 23XI\u2019s success hampering Hamlin\u2019s 2026 run?<\/p>\n

Hamlin commits to putting 23XI Racing at the front of the grid. Shortly after Reddick\u2019s Daytona victory, he revealed his aim of taking down the current \u2018Big 3\u2019 on the grid in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just felt like we were the next team. Like the next, we\u2019re the next elite team. We\u2019re done with that,\u201d he said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to infiltrate that, the old guard that is taking over the sport over the last few decades from their commitment, obviously, their heritage of knowing their winning pedigree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AUSTIN,<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, TX \u2013 MARCH 01: Michael Jordon celebrates with Tyler Reddick 45 23XI Racing Chumba Casino Toyota after Reddick won the the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix on March 1, 2026 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. Photo by Karl Anderson\/Icon Sportswire AUTO: MAR 01 NASCAR Cup Series DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon272260301058<\/p>\n

This sounds like an impossible task, but 23XI is doing just that. Reddick has outperformed Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports in most races. In fact, at the Kansas Speedway, he overtook Hamlin and Kyle Larson<\/a>in the race\u2019s last moments. But is that hurting Hamlin\u2019s championship contention? Possibly.<\/p>\n

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Hamlin missed the title on the last lap at Phoenix last year and wanted to redeem himself this season. He has a decent pace, too, with the victory at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway proving to be a massive advantage. However, his own driver in the #45 Toyota is proving to be a hurdle in his championship run.<\/p>\n

As Gluck pointed out, Reddick is leading the standings with a massive gap on Hamlin in second place. So even though the team is delivering a breathtaking performance, it is quite possible that the JGR driver would have wanted it to happen a bit later\u2014perhaps after he had hung up his helmet with a title to his name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"23XI Racing, which was struggling for consistency last season, has set new records this season, with Tyler Reddickleading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[2074,49,48,3932,21164,12101,21623,232749,3004,634,232748,82,9272],"class_list":{"0":"post-619922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-23xi-racing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-denny-hamlin","12":"tag-jeff-gluck","13":"tag-joe-gibbs-racing","14":"tag-jordan-bianchi","15":"tag-massive-advantage","16":"tag-michael-jordan","17":"tag-nascar","18":"tag-nba-hall-of-famer","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-tyler-reddick"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}