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As it has been covered extensively by Stock Car Media, following the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, StarCom Racing has closed their doors, and now we know that they have begun to complete the sale of their assets.
It would be hard to argue that anybody in the Cup Series garage was searching for a charter harder than Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, the co-owners of 23XI Racing. When a clause in Kurt Busch's contract with Chip Ganassi Racing expired earlier this Spring, the the two famed athletes worked diligently to accommodate for a second race team, and room for a Champion driver. Though it took several months to finalize a deal with Busch, a charter for the No. 45 team was not something that had a foreseeable solution.
With charters flying off the shelves left and right, and for upwards of $10 million dollars (Kaulig Racing's charter purchase from Spire Motorsports), 23XI Racing had a problem on their hands. In order to ensure that Kurt Busch and the No. 45 team would be able to participate in the entirety of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season (without relying on qualifying), the organization needed to secure a second charter. Though the team was reluctant due to the high price point, 23XI Racing began negotiations with Front Row Motorsports in search of atleast one of their charters. With a less than perfect resume in the NASCAR Cup Series, Front Row Motorsports was a prime candidate to be bought out, and surprisingly the team was willing to consider that fate.
Unfortunately though, after multiple months of negotiations with Front Row Motorsports, the two organizations were unable to formulate a deal, and 23XI Racing was left emptied handed. By this point, time had become a most significant factor.
This is where StarCom Racing came into the picture. Like Front Row Motorsports, StarCom Racing's resume in the NASCAR Cup Series was less than perfect, in fact it was heavily flaunted and scared. Per a NASCAR rule that states; a chartered team must not be one of the three worst performing charters for three consecutive seasons, if StarCom Racing wanted to keep a hold of their charter past the 2022 season, there performance was going to have to improve significantly. The team had to ensure that they would not be one of the three worst performing chartered teams in 2022. With that being said, StarCom Racing likely would have not reached that goal, and instead of finding out and risking the repossession of a $10 million asset, the team chose to close their doors and pocket the charter money.
Now that we know 23XI Racing has acquired a charter for the No. 45 team, and did so by purchasing StarCom Racing's No. 00 charter, we know that Michael Jordan and Kurt Busch were simply at the right place at the right time, but interestingly enough somebody else was too.
Spire Motorsports, the team who sold two of their three charters to Kaulig Racing for more than $10 million each in June of 2021, was in on the sale of StarCom Racing. Back in August (2021) it had been rumored that Spire Motorsports would buy StarCom Racing's charter. That turned out to be untrue, but it was reasonably formulated. According 23XI Racing's Team President Steve Lauletta, Spire Motorsports managed to buy much of StarCom Racing's equipment and their "other pieces".
To the demise of StarCom Racing, now 23XI Racing and Spire Motorsports have likely improved their efforts for the 2022 season of the NASCAR Cup Series season. Kurt Busch will not have to rely on qualifying to make the main event. This could be an important detail for the No. 45 team, especially races like the "Daytona" 500 where many teams field open cars, all competing for a few starting positions in the main even, and also taking into consideration 23XI Racing's young age.
It's safe to say that Kurt Busch, Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin (and maybe even Bubba Wallace) all have one less thing to worry about as they prepare for a brand new style of competition in just a few months.
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