Two NASCAR insiders shared how much they loved seeing Michael Jordan celebrate his team, 23XI Racing, winning the Daytona 500 on Sunday. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic weighed in on Jordan’s presence and on NASCAR’s embrace of him following the antitrust lawsuit.

“I think that’s great,” Gluck said. “It’s a sign that NASCAR can now embrace his presence more, and it seems like he’s going to do more. The fact that he’s doing these interviews and all this stuff, I think it’s big. I think it’s really big.”

Bianchi also thinks that having Jordan part of NASCAR and officials embracing him will make the sport bigger. “I think it’s huge,” he said. “You and I have talked about this a lot of what did this race need (Sunday)? …It needed a good winner. It needed a good storyline. And this was it. …This would be a good storyline of 23XI winning because of everything you just mentioned, Jeff, of what this means for the sport. You have this guy who is super passionate and is the biggest cheerleader.”

Michael Jordan says the Daytona 500 win was ‘gratifying’

Tyler Reddick of 23XI won the Daytona 500 after surviving two wrecks on the final lap. The win was big for the team as it was involved in a lawsuit with NASCAR, which ended with the sides agreeing to a settlement. Front Row Motorsports was also part of the lawsuit with 23XI.

After the race, Michael Jordan reacted to being a Daytona 500 champion.” I can’t even believe it. It was so gratifying. We had four guys that were really fighting, helping each other out. You never know how these races are going to end. You just try to survive,” Jordan said.

“I thought Riley [Herbst] did an unbelievable job pushing at the end. That shows you what teamwork can really, really do. He doesn’t get enough credit. He won’t get enough credit. But we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did. We hung in there all day. Great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end.”

Jordan founded 23XI Racing with three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin in 2020. The team has won 10 Cup Series races and a regular-season championship (Reddick) in 2024.