Tyler Reddick’s consecutive victory at the EchoPark Speedway after Daytona marked the first time in nearly two decades that a driver won the first two races of the NASCAR Cup Series season. And it’s not just him, but his 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace is right at the top with him in the standings. With the way 23XI Racing is performing, is the Big Three now a Big Four in NASCAR? Denny Hamlin has an answer.

A humble message from Denny Hamlin

For years, NASCAR has revolved around three big titans: Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports. As a co-owner of 23XI, Denny Hamlin was asked if his team had joined the club.

“It’s very early, but it’s not by circumstance they’re running up front. They’re fast and again, just doing a lot of the right things,” said Hamlin humbly, appreciating their efforts but realizing it’s early to have that conversation.

Hamlin discussed that the team is making up for a lot of lost time from being lower in the standings the past couple of years. It feels good as a team owner for him to know that they “have a couple of bullets in the gun.”

If one driver isn’t doing the best, they know they can rely on the other one to help make up for anything needed.

“I mean, there’s no question that we’re building fast cars and cars that are capable of winning week in and week out. We don’t always hit the setup or things like that, but we’re working hard, and for this team to be non-existent six years ago, it’s just amazing that we’re able to do what we did. With building this thing from scratch and now having the results from week-in and week-out, that’s what’s contending with the big guys,” said Hamlin.

Hamlin is proud of his team and the hard work they’re putting in. With the fast cars they’ve built, there’s no question of whether they can contend with the usual top runners.

And there’s one more team with 23XI that’s on everybody’s radar.

23XI and Spire shake up NASCAR competition

Throughout the two races of the season so far, Spire Motorsports and 23XI have owned the narrative over the usual title holders of Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, and Team Penske. To put things into perspective, this trio accounts for 18 of the past Cup championships.

“We show up to the racetrack every weekend with the effort of breaking up the three big teams,” said Reddick after his second consecutive win.

He said as a team, they want to jump in and be part of the conversation of the big three.

“We want to take the competition to them,” said Reddick.

Spire Motorsports has the fourth-ranked driver, Carson Hocevar, who finished fourth Sunday at the 1.54-mile oval in Hampton, Georgia. This is his third consecutive top 10 at Atlanta, which came a week after he led entering the final lap of the Daytona 500 before crashing just past the white flag.

Teammate Daniel Suarez finished fifth with a measured approach and improved to seventh in the standings for Spire Motorsports.

“I couldn’t be prouder of Spire Motorsports. These guys continue to fight and get better. Just super happy to be here. We have a great thing going,” said Suarez.

The new 10-race Chase championship gives Reddick the chance to become the first champion from outside Hendrick, Penske, and Gibbs since Martin Truex Jr. in 2017. However, there is still a long way to go in becoming the next powerhouse for these teams.