Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski have made auto racing their business

LOUDON, N.H. — Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski serve as an inspiration to young drivers for reasons beyond their exploits on the ovals and road courses on the NASCAR Cup Series tour.

What’s not to admire about these two?

Since being named the Sunoco Rookie of the Year for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006, Hamlin has made 674 Cup Series starts with 54 wins, 50 pole positions, 228 top-5 finishes and 347 in the top-10. Hamlin has three wins in 19 starts in 2024. Hamlin tops all active drivers with three wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Keselowski has made 538 starts on the senior circuit with 36 wins, 153 top-5 finishes, 257 in the top 10 and was the 2010 Cup Series champion. Keselowski has visited victory lane twice on the Magic Mile.

What separates Hamlin and Keselowski from the other operators on the tour was their foresightful planning within the auto racing industry. Hamlin and Keselowski have their future career paths secured even though they are still competing at the highest level for their respective race teams.

Hamlin got seriously thinking about his second act when NASCAR went dark in the spring of 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. A fortunate sequence of circumstances fell into place for Hamlin when he entered into a partnership with NBA Hall of Fame legend Michael Jordan.

Hamlin was at the top of his game when racing resumed in 2020 and the post career business venture he coveted came together in the autumn of that year. Hamlin joined forces with Jordan under the Jordan Brand and on Oct. 22 they announced the formation of 23XI Racing.

The numbers in the name are significant in that Jordan wore the number 23 during his NBA basketball career and Hamlin drives the No. 11 race car.

“It certainly evolved over time and I now know more about the sport and my interest in being something beyond a race car driver,” said Hamlin. “It is always evolving and changing. I won’t be driving forever so you want to open up additional doors.”

Hamlin is the “boots on the ground” partner while Jordan uses his star power and charisma to attract sponsors, most notably Toyota which manufactures the stock cars for 23XI Racing. Despite having the opportunity to be the flag bearer for his own team, Hamlin signed an extension with Joe Gibbs Racing and the two organizations have collaborated with each other in the past.

Hamlin is meeting the challenges of upper management with the same tenacity he shows on the track.

“There are always problems and that’s the short of it,” said Hamlin. “You create a really sound business, you mange it the right way, and you still have problems that occur which is normal.

“There are issues that arise everyday and you are always putting out fires. That’s the biggest thing. But it has certainly allowed for a lot of networking and this business for sure is about relationships and partnerships and networking.

“It certainly opened up those doors over time and we’ve been very fortunate to have the partners and the sponsors we have over there. It has also opened up other personal deals for me as well.”

Keselowski was the flag bearer for Team Penske and he and two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano comprised the most formidable duo on the tour.

Like Hamlin, Keselowski was thinking about his second act when he bought an equity stake in Roush Fenway Racing, which in under the umbrella of majority owner John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group. The new name on the masthead at the start of the 2022 season was Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

“I had chance to go see him (Henry) the other day and he is in good spirits and he is excited about all the success we’ve been having,” said Keselowski. “He likes the paint scheme on the car, the Red Sox paint scheme on the car and he is really pumped about that.”

Keselowski has dealt with many of the same issues that Hamlin encountered owning and managing race teams.

“You learn something every day and you have the good days and the bad days,” said Keselowski. “It sounds so cliché but all businesses are really about people and putting them in the right places and the right systems and processes around which they can be successful.

“You learn more about that over time. The challenges are making sure you have the right people and have them motivated and incentivized the right ways and then finding the money to pay them with the sponsors. When you achieve that, the rest kind of takes care of itself.”

Neither Hamlin or Keselowski fared well in Sunday’s running of the USA Today 301 at NHMS. Hamlin was in third place on lap 219 when the race went under red flag for 2:14:49 due to inclement weather.

NASCAR had all the cars refitted with wet weather tires before the race resumed. Hamlin’s car didn’t take well to the new tires and he dropped to 24th. Keselowski lost track position when he collided with defending champion Martin Truex Jr. earlier in the race and finished 28th.

On the positive side, Keselowski’s RFK teammate Chris Buescher placed fifth, his best finish on the Magic Mile by 10 places. Hamlin’s 23XI driver Tyler Reddick finished sixth.

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