Bombshell Announcement: 23XI Racing, Toyota steal Tyler Reddick away from RCR for 2024
Toyota Racing on Tuesday held what was originally billed as a mid-season update with team principals of 23XI Racing, along with TRD, as they set their sights on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
After a few opening remarks from TRD President David Wilson, 23XI Racing team co-owner/Toyota driver Denny Hamlin and team president Steve Lauletta, what appeared to be a routine media availability turned into one of the biggest bombshells of the NASCAR season.
The topic of conversation quickly turned from the 2022 playoffs, completely skipped the 2023 season, and put the focus solely on 2024 as Tyler Reddick, the current driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, popped into the Microsoft Teams meeting hosted by Toyota.
After joking that he was on the wrong call, Hamlin took charge and announced Reddick as a future member of 23XI Racing and the Toyota family beginning in 2024.
With 586 days until Reddick is slated to climb behind the wheel of a yet-to-be-determined car number to compete in the season-opening Daytona 500 for 23XI, why did the organization decide to make this announcement now?
“Announcing a driver over a year before he will be racing with 23XI is a little unprecedented, but Tyler was the driver we wanted and we did not want to miss the opportunity to bring him to our team,” Lauletta said. “In making the announcement now the team has ample time to prepare for 2024 on the business side as we expect interest from potential partners and continue to see strong engagement from our current partners.”
At 26 years old, Reddick is a two-time Xfinity Series champion and is fresh off his first Cup Series win at Road America on Fourth of July weekend. With his contract up with RCR after next season, he surely would have been sought after by multiple organizations.
Hamlin wanted to jump on the opportunity and not even allow other teams the chance to make their pitch to Reddick.
“I watched him. I raced against him. I wanted him. And I got him,” a smiling and confident Hamlin said.
“It’s not unprecedented, but it (signing a driver more than a year before he joins the team) is rare. In my mind so is Tyler, and you act accordingly.
“Franchise drivers don’t come around that often. So, if there is ever one that you can grab, you go after it. You do whatever it takes to make it happen and then you work on the details later. There are a lot of free agents at the end of ’23. If you can strike while the iron is hot, then you strike.”
Speaking of those details, Hamlin, Lauletta and Wilson did not have any further info to share on Tuesday.
No sponsor or car number has been determined, nor has the team decided if it will expand to a three-car operation. The team’s current duo of drivers, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch, will be returning to 23XI in 2023, but the team declined to clarify if they were signed beyond next season.
“No changes on our side for ’23. The focus is squarely on ’24 and how we maximize the opportunities of the organization as a whole,” Lauletta said.
However, Hamlin reportedly said he expected Busch, who turns 44 on August 4, to still be racing at the age of 48, a potential indication that a new long-term deal may be in the offing for the NASCAR veteran and 2004 Cup champion to keep him in the 23XI camp.
There's also the possibility that 23XI may expand even further if Hamlin eventually parts ways with Joe Gibbs Racing. the 41-year-old Hamlin has previously said that he'd like to race for his own team at least for one season before retiring.
While announcing plans this early is beneficial for 23XI and Toyota, one might wonder if this will make things awkward with Reddick and his current employer for the foreseeable future.
Reddick stated that Tuesday’s announcement shouldn’t have been a total shock to Richard Childress Racing.
“As we were navigating what the future would look like a while ago, we said that after the option was up in ’23 and ’24 and on, we were not sure … if we were going to return and we were going to figure out what lied ahead,” Reddick said. “So this shouldn’t have been a true shock to them. But it’s out there and everyone has the information now and now we all collectively figure out what do we do going from here.”
What RCR was going to do from here was issue a very blunt statement via its social media channels.
“We’re proud of the success Tyler Reddick has found at Richard Childress Racing. We’re focused on winning a championship in 2022 and 2023, although timing of this announcement could not be any worse,” tweeted RCR.