February 11, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Kurt Busch's contribution to 23XI will extend well beyond the race track

It didn’t take Denny Hamlin long to realize he had underestimated Kurt Busch.

The co-owner of 23XI Racing vetted the 2004 NASCAR Cup champion before recruiting Busch for the second-seat of the one-year-old team. But even then, and even after having raced against Busch full time since 2006--not to mention teaming and with younger sibling Kyle at Joe Gibbs Racing for the last 14--Hamlin didn’t understand the depth of the 43-year-old racer's knowledge and ability.

He does now. 

“I underrated his talent,” Hamlin said. “I worked with him at the Charlotte test, and he’s good. He’s great. He’s not good, he’s great. He was faster than all of us during the whole test—the JGR cars. He’s good. His feedback is good. He’s everything his previous teammates said he was going to be, so far. So I’m very happy.

“We’re working really well together right now and he has some ideas that we’re pondering.”

Hamlin kept his mind open to Busch’s input, particularly when it comes to hires for the newly assembled No. 45 team. Topping the list of the recruits is crew chief Billy Scott. The driver/crew chief relationship was forged in 2018 during Busch’s final season at Stewart-Haas Racing. Together, they won a race and advanced to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Playoffs.

For the past two seasons, Scott has been behind the scenes developing the Next Gen car. The 44-year-old from Land ‘O Lakes, Florida was named Head of Race Engineering for Richard Childress Racing in December 2019. Scott served as the liaison to NASCAR from the genesis of the Next Gen project until parting ways with RCR in November. 

To lose both Busch and Scott after their extensive testing of the car over the last two years is a blow to Chevrolet and a boon for Toyota. If Busch’s potential blew Hamlin away, then Scott is 23XI’s secret weapon. Hamlin says signing Scott was “huge.”

“We wanted to jump ahead of the Next Gen curve,” Hamlin said. “We knew that Billy did most of the work for NASCAR on the Next Gen, so this was an opportunity (chuckles), to put Kurt with someone that he knew, had a great relationship with. Both of them said that when they worked with each other, it was the best years of their career. The best time that they had. And on top of that, I thought, ‘Hmm, I can also get a guy who has a lot of knowledge of the Next Gen.’

“Listen, my Next Gen car at the Charlotte test, I couldn’t even drive it for the first four hours because it had all kinds of issues. Billy said, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got to fix, this, this, and the other and it will fix it—and it fixes it. He’s got a ton of knowledge that he can bring really to the whole Toyota organization, but to 23XI, he’s going to be very, very valuable.”

To be fair, Hamlin admits he could have never contemplated expanding 23XI to a two-team operation without Busch. As a veteran driver who has spent his 17 years in the NASCAR Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin understands what it takes to compete at a high level. He wasn’t naive in his expectations for entering the team’s rookie season with a young driver such as Bubba Wallace. Hamlin knew there would be growing pains. And that’s precisely why a driver with Busch’s depth of knowledge was essential to the game plan.

Hamlin isn’t the only principal in the Toyota camp that appreciates what Busch and Scott bring to the table. From Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson to 23XI’s Director of Competition Mike Wheeler, there’’s a sense of excitement having Busch enter the Toyota stable.

“I talked about Kurt for a long time and how I thought he was going to be as impactful outside of the seat as he will be behind the wheel,” Wilson said. “He really has the team picture and understanding of what’s going to allow him to perform at his highest.”

Wilson has been particularly impressed by the genuine interest Busch has shown in TRD’s driver development program and how he can mentor the next generation. With Wilson interested in expanding Toyota’s footprint at the Cup level, Busch’s ability to help the younger drivers acclimate to the rigors of Cup could prove to be even more beneficial than his early contributions to 23XI.

At age 43, Busch appreciates the warm welcome into the Toyota camp. He’s spent nearly half of his life racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. And Busch has made a seismic shift in his level of maturity during the second half of his career after Jack Roush and Roger Penske couldn’t wait to boot his butt out of the door. Kurt Busch 2.0 is a welcomed addition to the Toyota camp—and an opportunity he’ll embrace as long as they’ll have him.

“It’s humbling,” Busch said. “Denny’s a three-time Daytona 500 champion. He has plenty of opportunities for more championships in this sport. To be racing with MJ (Michael Jordan), Bubba (Wallace), the whole group at Toyota. Let’s face it, I was a different person when I came into this sport as a blue-collar kid from Vegas that had to scrap and throw fits and to run up front to keep my ride. Then my years at Penske, I was trying to learn professionalism and that wasn't going as smooth as I was hoping for. 

“I raced for James Finch, who was one of the biggest partiers. That was the first time I've ever seen a bar inside the lounge of a hauler. Racing with Barney Visser, racing with him was a whole different life lesson with Barney and how much Christianity he had within him and his family. Gene Haas, everywhere I've been, there's so many good growth stories.

“I'm in the right spot now with being able to give back to young crew members and different people that have helped me over the years. So, racing with Denny, it's been fun already just telling stories of how Tony Stewart was a team owner and a driver. I’m like, 'I got you buddy.' I've raced with Kyle (Busch) as well at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) as an owner/driver. So, this is the right spot for me to be and I'm happy to be here.”

In the long run, 23XI and Toyota might be the happiest of all.