Denny Hamlin confirms NASCAR star part of 23XI long-term plans

Denny Hamlin has spoken once again about Tyler Reddick's future with his 23XI Racing team.

The No. 45 car driver, who got off to a historically good start to the 2026 season, is set to become a free agent in the winter – but neither Hamlin or his co-owner Michael Jordan seem likely to let that happen.

Reddick became the first driver in the long history of the NASCAR Cup Series to win the first three races of the year this spring, taking the chequered flag at Daytona, Atlanta and COTA.

He wasn't done winning there though, taking a couple more decent points finishes at Phoenix and Vegas before notching win number four at Darlington in just the sixth race of the year.

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Hamlin: Reddick not even the biggest diva at 23XI

With all that winning, it's no wonder that Hamlin was asked this week whether Reddick will be locked up as a core piece of 23XI's future – to that he said: “He will be. Tyler's (Reddick) one of those guys that was very important for us to, to get our hands on him very early as you talked about.

"I think he's lived up to the expectations for us. Certainly, last year was not great, but like when his not great years are still in the top 10, those are the elite drivers. We're seeing it this year.

"He's putting it all together and our race cars are really fast too. They really are, and what I like about it is, they're winning races that they're overcoming something. They're not just flat out dominating them, so that shows his maturity.”

Asked if he worried about Reddick's ego, he laughed: “No. I've been around lots of divas before and Tyler's...he's not there yet. (laughter) His teammate's definitely more of a diva than what Tyler is (laughter).

"That is 100% accurate. Riley (Herbst) is the most humble of them all, and it's not even remotely close. He's someone that just is still willing to learn on race winning weekends.

"Even after this hot start and I’m like 100s of points behind him. He's still asking me questions like he's behind me. He's like, well, what about this, and what about that, and what about this? So, he's still very much the student who is going to continue to just keep getting better and better.”