Ep. 346 | Mike Wheeler

23XI Racing has done a lot of great things in a short amount of time, and from the beginning has been Mike Wheeler. He was one of the architects of bringing Denny Hamlin’s vision to life, and he joins the show to reflect on those days. We start off with explaining his new title and taking on new responsibilities; the pride of having his fingerprints on the creation of the race team; what it means to build a culture and the importance of that for 23XI Racing; the first days actually starting in Wheeler’s two-car garage at home; the early days of being able to lay hands on race cars; what happened to the diary he was keeping at the time; the top of mind reflections from the first five years; his previous relationship with Hamlin making things easier to be one of the guy’s building the team; still having somewhat of a small team feel; reflections on expansion and thoughts as it was happening; finding solid ground now after five years; the perspective building a race team gave him; building a competitive race team and insight into an alliance; the change from 2025 to 2026 and the early season success; meeting expectations and milestones et for the first five years; having two crown jewels under their belt; bringing Michael Jordan joy; adjusting to what success feels like when not a member of a single team; where the mind goes first after a race; the most important or meaningful part of the 23XI story.  Original music created by Tony Monge. Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall