{"id":326895,"date":"2025-12-05T11:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/326895\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:12:15","slug":"michael-jordans-nascar-life-how-he-got-into-the-league-and-ended-up-suing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/326895\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan\u2019s NASCAR life: How he got into the league and ended up suing it"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Michael Jordan will soon take the witness stand in an uptown Charlotte federal courthouse, slated to testify as the race team he owns sues NASCAR over alleged illegal antitrust practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jordan co-owns one of NASCAR\u2019s top teams, 23XI Racing, with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. Their team, along with co-plaintiff Front Row Motorsports, claims NASCAR has abused its monopoly power over premier stock car racing and harmed their organizations in the process.<\/p>\n

It is a highly contentious trial that has threatened to tear NASCAR apart<\/a> in more ways than one, with the teams\u2019 attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, seeking the kind of sea change he brought to college athletics when he successfully fought against the NCAA and won a legal victory resulting in the creation of NIL deals.<\/p>\n

But at the heart of it all is Jordan, who is perhaps the only team owner with the combination of willingness and deep pockets to fight NASCAR all the way to federal court without blinking.<\/p>\n

After all, Jordan is not a man who likes to lose.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at how the NBA legend found his way into NASCAR \u2014 and now, into the courtroom.<\/p>\n

How did Jordan get into NASCAR?\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n Jordan shares a laugh with NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2007 in Concord, N.C. The NBA legend grew up in the heart of NASCAR territory, attending races with his dad. (Grant Halverson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Though it might not be widely known outside NASCAR, Jordan is a lifelong fan who attended races with his parents and siblings as a kid growing up in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in NASCAR,\u201d Jordan told Fox Sports in 2021<\/a>. \u201cMy father used to pack the whole family in. We\u2019d go to Darlington, we\u2019d go to Rockingham, we\u2019d go to Charlotte, we came down to Daytona, Talladega. And we would just go, and we\u2019d spend the whole day. And from that point on, I\u2019ve been hooked on NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before becoming a team owner, he would set his clock every Sunday to watch NASCAR Cup Series races and struck up a friendship with co-owner Hamlin while owning the Charlotte Hornets NBA team.<\/p>\n

In 2020, while golfing with friends, Hamlin spotted a false news article claiming he was pairing with Jordan to form a new NASCAR team. Hamlin jokingly sent it to Jordan, who responded that, while it was fake, \u201cIf you want to make it real, let me know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin put together a pitch deck, and the two formed 23XI Racing with Bubba Wallace, and have now expanded to three NASCAR Cup Series cars (their other drivers are Tyler Reddick and Riley Herbst).<\/p>\n

What is 23XI?<\/p>\n

Jordan is the majority owner of 23XI (pronounced like the numbers 23 and 11), a NASCAR Cup Series team whose ownership group also consists of Hamlin and Curtis Polk, Jordan\u2019s longtime business partner. The team selected its name because 23 is Jordan\u2019s iconic number he wore during his legendary NBA career, and the 11 is Hamlin\u2019s car number. (Hamlin drives for a different NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, which is a close technical partner of 23XI\u2019s.)<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s first two cars sport Jordan\u2019s NBA uniform numbers \u2014 No. 23 and No. 45 \u2014 and the third car is No. 35. Founded in 2021, 23XI has won nine NASCAR Cup Series races \u2014 including this season\u2019s Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis<\/a> with Wallace. It also advanced to NASCAR\u2019s championship race in 2024 with Reddick.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n Jordan watches from the pit wall during a race in Darlington, South Carolina, in August. Frequently attending races, Jordan is an active presence around his 23XI Racing team. (Logan Riely \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What is Jordan like as a team owner?<\/p>\n

Many other famous athletes or celebrities have owned race teams over the years. In most instances, though, their actual involvement is minimal, at best. But owning a NASCAR team is no vanity project for Jordan.<\/p>\n

Hamlin said during his testimony this week that when a prospective sponsor is weighing whether to sign on with 23XI, Hamlin will have Jordan call the company to close the deal. Jordan also paid the majority share of the costs associated with starting the team, as well as a significant sum to build \u201cAirspeed,\u201d 23XI\u2019s extravagant, $35 million headquarters.<\/p>\n

And Jordan\u2019s involvement goes beyond just leveraging his fame. He is also an active participant in weekly competition meetings, where his leadership has been lauded. He frequently attends races, where he\u2019ll often sit either on the pit box alongside the crew chief and engineers or on the pit wall so he can be among the pit crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s there, everybody has another pep in their step, more confidence. Like, \u2018Yeah, this is our guy and he\u2019s on our side,’\u201d said Billy Scott<\/a>, Reddick\u2019s crew chief. \u201cBecause he really is integrated into it, he understands it. He studies the sport. I think he knows what\u2019s going on with strategy and tires and aero packages. He understands that stuff as well as a lot of us do at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is Jordan suing NASCAR?<\/p>\n

Jordan and business partner Polk brought a big-league NBA mentality to NASCAR and believe NASCAR is illegally using its position as a monopoly \u2014 which the judge in the case has ruled it is<\/a> \u2014 to suppress team values and earnings.<\/p>\n

Unlike other major sports, NASCAR is privately owned and operated by the France family, which founded NASCAR in 1948 and has held onto it ever since. The race teams own \u201ccharters,\u201d which guarantee certain financial and other benefits. They are similar to franchises in other sports, except they have an expiration date.<\/p>\n

Jordan gave up his team\u2019s three charters, worth in excess of $120 million, and chose to sue instead after NASCAR tried to pressure teams into signing a charter agreement extension that Jordan deemed unfavorable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans,\u201d Jordan said in a statement<\/a> after filing the lawsuit, \u201cbut the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors and fans. Today\u2019s action shows I\u2019m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Jordan is on a mission with a lawsuit that seemingly has two very different endings: Either force change in NASCAR by convincing a six-member jury of NASCAR\u2019s antitrust violations, or lose the case and go out of business, leaving stock car racing behind.<\/p>\n

His testimony, expected to begin as early as Friday afternoon, will be a big part of the outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Michael Jordan will soon take the witness stand in an uptown Charlotte federal courthouse, slated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82,575],"class_list":["post-326895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}