Denny Hamlin sees spark in 23XI Racing, exploring pit future

LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin is in the midst of a couple good weeks. Hamlin wheeled the No. 11 FedEx Toyota to the pole Saturday at Pocono Raceway ahead of Sunday's M&M Fan Appreciation 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). MORE: Pocono schedule | Sunday's starting lineup The pole run comes on the heels of an excellent run a week ago for the team he co-owns, 23XI Racing, which saw drivers Bubba Wallace (third) and Kurt Busch (10th) escape with two top-10 finishes at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And oh by the way, that run came days after the team announced the surprise signing of Tyler Reddick for the 2024 season. "That was a good sign for us," Hamlin said of the team's Loudon performance. "Those mile tracks, when I think about Phoenix and the nightmare that that was for all the Toyotas and our team in particular, it's a good sign to go back to Loudon that is similar, not exactly the same but similar to tracks that you're gonna need to be good at in the playoffs. Short tracks and road courses have been big challenges for all the Toyotas. And to see those starting to change and be good, that's a good sign for us." That optimism continued Saturday at Pocono, where both Wallace and Busch advanced to the final round of qualifying. Busch crashed on his final run, but Wallace posted the seventh-fastest lap. Wallace has especially shown speed in recent weeks, but the results had suffered until New Hampshire. "I mean seeing him put a whole race together last week to be able to start up front, stay up front, get mixed to the middle and then drive back to the front is all a good sign," Hamlin said. "It's what we wanna see out of him going into the future as well. So I think that certainly, he does kind of go with the emotions of his results, but we've seen some positive change overall with him in the last month or so." That change stemmed from a verbal blow-up over the radio, when pit crew issues at Nashville Superspeedway turned an apparent top-10 run on its lid. Wallace still rallied to a 12th-place finish, but a change to the pit crew was made two weeks later. Hamlin utilizes pit crews from Joe Gibbs Racing, for which Hamlin competes in his No. 11 Toyota. But he admitted Saturday that he is considering a change to that plan in the near future. "I think we're on our path to trying to get our own pit crews," Hamlin said. "I think we're on a good path to start that next year so we're in the recruiting process so if anybody wants to come on over, give me a call."