LOUDON, N.H. — With more championship rings than can fit on a single hand, Michael Jordan knows a thing or two about elevating one’s performance when the postseason lights shine bright.
As NASCAR readies for a return to The Chase early next month at Darlington Raceway, the NBA Hall of Famer’s 23XI Racing finds itself on a bit of uneven ground in the Granite State ahead of Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
So the G.O.A.T. decided to drop by Airspeed recently to check in with the team and also offer some (perhaps somewhat direct) words of encouragement.
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“I think it’s a little bit of both (just dropping by the shop, but also picking up the team),” team co-owner Denny Hamlin said Saturday morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I think that he always makes surprise pop-ins to the team and we know ahead of time, but I think this was a good time. Just, you know, they were in a little bit of a rut and kind of lost some momentum.”
… But was the message more of a pat on the back or a kick in the rear?
“I think it was a little bit of both, truthfully,” Hamlin said. “And, again, he’s always a big self-reflection guy. You know, what can you do better? Stop worrying about everybody else.”
The pep talks appear to be paying dividends for one team already well-clinched into The Chase field, while the other one in postseason contention is still grasping at straws with the minimal but all-too-real risk of potentially missing it.
Bubba Wallace looked fast in practice, turning in the third-fastest overall speed among a three-team Toyota contingent atop the leaderboard, sporting long-run speed as well, before chunking it in qualifying to set up a P23 spot on the grid for Sunday’s starting spot.
Compounding the frustration?
His teammate will start from the pole — after landing 31st on the charts in practice.
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“Just gets old starting from behind. (We’re) way better than 14th (in the standings), that’s for sure. It’s just unfortunate we’re having to think about (points),” said Wallace, who was top three in points from EchoPark to Darlington earlier this season, before cooling off through the late spring and summer. “Start losing focus on what you need to do, and things happen. So yeah, we just have to have a good day tomorrow. We should be fine.”
Even before Sunday, Wallace has started outside the top 20 in six of the past nine races. Only three of those races, understandably, resulted in top 10s, but there’s perhaps some reason for optimism, as he was able to claw through the field a bit at a somewhat comparable Iowa a few weeks ago, going from 26th to finish 12th, leading 35 laps in the process.
Loudon is also notoriously hard to pass at, but will he be able to replicate that forward momentum?
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“Potentially. I don’t know, man. We revamped our weekend plans since Iowa to do mock Q and practice, and felt like we learned a little bit, but it still didn’t translate to much speed. So we just … this place (has) got our number right now, and I’m looking forward to the test tomorrow. Not throwing in the gloves, just frustrating. … I may sound worse than what we are, but it just feels like we haven’t made any progress, which is unfortunate because (Loudon) was the one that we worked so hard on. We threw all of our resources and efforts into this one, and the weekend’s just getting started, so before y’all create headlines where Bubba’s giving up and all this (expletive), that’s not the case. I can unmute and be frustrated at how we’re qualifying. So yeah, it’s just one of these things that we haven’t figured out yet.”
And that was part of the message from MJ.
They know they can do it. All the pieces are there. It just needs to click.
“We’re all capable of putting together solid weekends, going out and winning, and it just starts with self-belief and trusting each other and surrounding the people that you have and loving on each other and pushing each other to be better. So it was good. No finger pointing. He was just excited to be back at his race shop and see all these people, and it was good. It was fun.”
And as frustrated as Wallace was with his qualifying effort, Reddick was equally mystified that he’d even been able to win the pole, given how off the No. 45 car was in practice. The funny thing, though?
He couldn’t wait to debrief with his teammates and figure out what they were doing better than him.
“Yeah, that’s what having teammates is all about: working together, helping each other out,” said Reddick after securing his fifth pole of the season. “It’s probably gonna sound crazy, but the guy starting first is gonna be really leaning on these teammates to figure out what to do. We got plenty of things to discuss and figure out. You know, yeah, it’s a confidence boost, right? It’s like, OK, well, we know we can at least get it right.”
Massive shot in the arm for a No. 45 team searching for late-summer answers after beginning the season on an unprecedented scorcher. The No. 23 team, however, could still use a boost, with little time remaining to find one.
More than likely, Wallace will still be part of The Chase field after the checkered flag falls at Daytona, and, silver lining, there aren’t too many in the sport (or elsewhere) who can lean on pep talks from an NBA legend to recenter and refocus when the going gets tough. Still, for the many-layered Wallace, he’s thankful that other outlets exist to release some of that frustration, too.