It seemed fitting that as the National Basketball Association Playoffs were underway that Michael Jordan was the story of the day.
Except Jordan didn’t get the headlines or the spotlight for the sport that made him perhaps the world’s most famous athlete.
It wasn’t at the United Center or Chicago Stadium, or Madison Square Garden in New York City or Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The spotlight’s bright glare was on Jordan at Talladega Speedway, of all places.
Jordan and NASCAR Cup Series star Denny Hamlin are co-owners of 23XI Racing and in the April 21 Geico 500 at the massive 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway one of their drivers, Tyler Reddick, won the race in a wild finish.
Jordan was sitting on top of the pit box watching the action unfold and celebrated the victory as if he had hit the game-winning shot to win the NBA Finals over the Utah Jazz in 1998.
At 61, Jordan can still shoot hoops with the best of them. When he owned the Charlotte Hornets beginning in 2010, his competitive fire was fueled by trying to put together a scrappy group in the NBA.
The Hornets never achieved success during Jordan’s tenure as an owner and he sold his majority stake in the franchise to Gabe Plotkin and Rich Schnall on August 3, 2023, for $3 billion according to ESPN.
Jordan remains with the Hornets as a minority owner.
Jordan began to diversify in 2020 after he became friends with one of his courtside season ticket holders with the Hornets, who had the “Jack Nicholson” seats.
That season-ticket holder was Hamlin and together they formed a new NASCAR team in 2020 calling it 23XI Racing.
The “23” was Jordan’s famed named in basketball and the XI was Roman numerals for Hamlin’s car number in NASCAR.
Jordan and Hamlin spent $20 million to buy the charters for the No. 23 and No. 45 cars, according to the team’s website.
Bubba Wallace is the driver of the No. 23 Toyota and Reddick is the racer for the No. 45.
Although Reddick’s win at Talladega was the sixth victory for 23XI, Jordan was in the pits for this win and generated as much attention, if not more, than the winning driver.
Reddick won the race in dramatic fashion as the leader, Michael McDowell, was coming out of Turn 4 heading to the checkered flag, but under assault from Brad Keselowski’s Ford. McDowell threw the block high, Keselowski went low, McDowell darted back to block low, the two cars made contact and chaos ensued.
Reddick kept the hammer down on the throttle and was able to get by the crashing machines and was the first to take the checkered flag while about a dozen cars crashed and scattered across the track.
Jordan’s No. 45 Toyota featured the Jordan Brand “Jumpman” logo – the silhouette of “Air Jordan” in midflight.
The FOX Sports cameras caught Jordan in wild celebration. FOX reporter Jamie Little interviewed the winning team owner, and that interview was widely used, from fellow television partner NBC to ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” to various media outlets across the country, Jordan was back in the spotlight.
It was big news back in Chicago, the city that Jordan took to six NBA Championships during his glorious basketball career.
Even Earvin “Magic” Johnson sent congratulatory wishes to his “good friend” while sharing the NASCAR post on X (formerly Twitter).
It was a huge moment for NASCAR, as it could utilize the immense popularity of Michael Jordan as the stock car racing series tries to return to the lofty status it once enjoyed.
Moments like this can never be planned, but they can certainly be marketed.
“I’m all in,” Jordan said of his interest and excitement of being a NASCAR team owner.
“(NASCAR) replaces a lot of the competitiveness that I had in basketball,” Jordan told Fox Sports’ Jamie Little on Sunday. “This is even worse because I have no control. If I was playing basketball, I have total control, but I have no control, so I live vicariously through these guys and all of the team and everybody.”
That Jordan is a NASCAR fan may surprise some, but he grew up outside of Wilmington, North Carolina and attended many races at Charlotte, Rockingham, North Carolina; Darlington, South Carolina, and Talladega as a youngster.
Jordan followed his NASCAR team from afar, rarely attending races in person. He was at Daytona last August to see Bubba Wallace make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the first time.
Jordan was also at Charlotte Motor Speedway last October for the BankofAmerica ROVAL 400, one of the elimination races in the NASCAR Playoffs.
But Sunday was the first time Jordan saw his team win a race in person.
“Everybody tells me when we win, we have a big celebration, but this is the first time I’ve been here,” Jordan said to Fox Sports. “To my wife and kids and everybody, ‘Yeah, we did it. Sorry I left you home.’”
This time, Jordan didn’t watch the win at home, he was there to celebrate in person.
“Well, Denny keeps saying I’m bad luck,” Jordan said, “And today we proved him wrong.
“The whole team did a good job. I ‘m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody always tells me when we win, we have a good celebration, but this is the first time I’ve been here [for a win].”
Winning crew chief Billy Scott, however, was seated next to Jordan on the pit box. He got to share the dramatic victory with the most famous name in sports.
“That’s just pretty cool,” Scott said. “An honor that we got the first win with him being here today. I’m glad he was able to be here for one and doesn’t think it’s a curse to come or something because there’s certainly been some ones go the other way.
“Just to see his excitement… It’s interesting. He is a study of the sport. I was talking to him before the race, and he watches every Truck race, every Xfinity race, every Cup race just trying to learn and understand what we’re going through and figure out how he can help from the owner’s side. It’s impressive.
“Just to see the excitement on his face, that’s what I enjoyed.”
Hamlin shared the victory with Jordan as a team owner, although as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin also had to deal with the disappointment of his own 37th-place finish after he was involved in a crash on Lap 154.
But from a business standpoint, Hamlin admits it was an historic moment in NASCAR history that he was able to share with one of the greatest athletes in the world.
“It definitely adds to it,” Hamlin said of Jordan’s presence. “Every little thing adds to how special it is for sure. I was very envious when I saw kind of the scheme design for this weekend, that 45, and I saw it in the shop. Very envious of that 45 car for sure.
“Those are moments that the crew guys get to talk about with their kids for many, many years as well, right? We got to celebrate with Michael here winning in his car. These are certainly important memories that these men and women are going to experience for a very long time.
“When we got the first win with the 45 with Kurt Busch at Kansas in the ‘Jumpman’ car, I mean, we have pictures of that all over because it was such a big and special moment.
“Certainly, this one will be no different.”
Sunday was filled with competitive matchups in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, but Jordan’s NASCAR victory overshadowed the league that he helped elevate to new heights.
“As you know this is NBA playoffs right now and to me, this is like an NBA playoff game,” Jordan said. “I am so ecstatic for the fans who support the sport itself. You know we’ve been working hard trying to get ourselves to compete against all the top guys in this sport. And we’ve done a heck of a job just to be where we are and for us to win and win a big race like this, it means so much to me and the effort the team has put in.
“I’m all-in.
“I’m very happy for 23XI — 110 percent.”
