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| Visiting the 23XI NASCAR team. The other day I drove right past the 23XI (twenty-three eleven) team HQ, and figured I needed to visit when they were open. On their website they mention that they are usually working on the cars on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so that's when I dropped by. No charge, just walk in and look around, with a helpful gentleman at the front desk. Guess what? They were working on racecars!
This team is owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Maybe you've heard of them. I didn't see them around. Anyway, the cars were back from racing at Dover Delaware on Sunday, and now they're being prepped for this weekend at the Brickyard race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You might want to keep up with NASCAR news because there is some legal controversy about the 23XI charter, which is way into the legal side of who races in NASCAR and other insider stuff.
After visiting 23XI, I drove just a few miles to the other team in Huntersville NC, which is Joe Gibbs Racing. Guess what? They were working on cars in there too! Also worth noting, the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 driven by Denny Hamlin just won the race at Dover last Sunday, and his Joe Gibbs teammate Chase Briscoe finished in 2nd. Not bad!
I guess they had plenty of technicians since neither place asked me to pick up a wrench or anything. Maybe next time. Here's the team websites: |
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| Let's go inside 23XI and look around. Here's the Toyota Engine room. The next photo gives more background. I did not hear any engines being fired up! |
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| Dang! NMS needs an engine room! |
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| One of the team's winning cars from a past race. It is still dirty and covered in confetti. Shoot, now NMS needs some winning race cars on display too! |
The Mobil 1 Driveline Room. Man, NMS needs a Driveline Room! More info in the next photo.
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| Another 23XI team race winning car. The team has only been racing since 2020. OK, NMS may not be in NASCAR, but we've been competing since 2013. |
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| From the ground floor lobby, I walked up one flight for this overview of the main shop. Whoa! All around are other offices with people in meetings, mechanics walking around and working on the cars, and through that double door in the back is another big indoor space where I assume the haulers are parked. |
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| These two cars are mostly in black, so my guess is that they are backup cars? Maybe new bodies being prepped for later in the season? Looks like NMS could use a gym-sized operating-room-clean garage! |
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| The bottom floor of the car. I'll also assume this is like Formula 1 and the aerodynamics from the floor are critical to car performance. |
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| Unlike your local Toyota dealer, this workshop doesn't have any lifts. The cars get jacked up and put on these high speed jack stands. One of the techs is laying under the car, another is kneeling right by him, and a third is working on the front right corner. |
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| Looking through the window at Bubba Wallace's car. |
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| Front lobby. Man, NMS doesn't even have a front lobby either! |
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| Joe Gibbs lobby, complete with a friendly greeter at the front desk! |
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| Inside Joe Gibbs Racing: The sign explains that for a few years Indian motorcycles used to present the NASCAR champion driver with a motorcycle in their racing colors! This one is from 1990 for Bobby Labonte. |
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| Driver Denny Hamlin (co-owner of 23XI) won the Daytona 500 in this car. |
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| Daytona 500 winners trophy. |
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| Hey, the Joe Gibbs team is working on cars too! NMS now needs a full squad of mechanics. |
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| Those banners look add up to FIVE NASCAR championships to me. |
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| The workshop is HUGE! The #19 is Chase Briscoe's ride, he finished in 2nd at Dover. |
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| Chase Briscoe's #19. |
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| There is a gift shop at Joe Gibbs Racing, how about some gently used body panels? NMS has I think one extra quarter panel from a Miata at NMS-South! |
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| Sure, they also have a ton of t-shirts, hats, decals, hoodies, etc. |
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