{"id":572543,"date":"2026-03-31T08:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572543\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:56:13","slug":"michael-jordan-explains-why-he-retreated-from-the-nba-limelight-and-embraced-nascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572543\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan explains why he retreated from the NBA limelight and embraced NASCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ALEX RASKIN, US SPORTS NEWS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 22:17 EDT, 30 March 2026 | Updated: 22:40 EDT, 30 March 2026 <\/p>\n

It wasn’t just Michael Jordan<\/a>‘s struggles as owner of the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> that led him to turn away from basketball.<\/p>\n

As the 63-year-old told CBS’ Gayle King<\/a>, Jordan wanted to get away from the sport he’d come to define because he was tired of living up to the lofty expectations.<\/p>\n

‘I wanted to get away from basketball in terms of what I represented in that arena\u2026 and how big I’ve gotten,’ he said. ‘And it was such a huge burden for me in that sport.’<\/p>\n

Now a co-owner of NASCAR’s Cup Series leader Tyler Reddick’s team, Jordan said the rigors of stock car racing aren’t nearly as taxing as NBA<\/a> ownership.<\/p>\n

‘Here, the burden’s not quite the same,’ he said. ‘But it’s something that I think keeps me alive.<\/p>\n

‘It’s a quieter life where I’m not really the show, even though as of late, you know, I’ve been in the forefront a lot more than I probably anticipated,’ Jordan said, giving a nod to his team’s success this season.<\/p>\n

‘Here, the burden’s not quite the same,’ he added. ‘But it’s something that I think keeps me alive.’<\/p>\n

\"Michael <\/p>\n

Michael Jordan, NBA Hall of Famer and co-owner of 23XI Racing looks on during the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In a rare interview, Jordan discussed NASCAR, basketball, and his famed competitive fire\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jordan's <\/p>\n

Jordan’s 23XI team has won four of six races so far this season, including the Daytona 500<\/p>\n

The burden of basketball, the billionaire admitted, was becoming too much.<\/p>\n

‘The burden of living a certain way,’ he told King. ‘Living up to trying to maintain whatever everybody’s perspectives is for you or was for you. That is a burden, you know? And it’s a lot of people that have to endure it. And there’s a certain period of time that you can go through that, and then at some point in time you say, “I’m tired of [it]. I’m tired of doin’ that.”‘<\/p>\n

King asked if he had anything left to prove.<\/p>\n

‘Nothing,’ Jordan said. ‘Nothing at all.’<\/p>\n

Jordan was the majority owner of Charlotte’s NBA franchise for the better part of 13 years, and although he retained a minority share of the middling team, he’s more like a silent partner these days.<\/p>\n

Asked if there is a ‘teeny tiny part’ of him that misses basketball, Jordan admitted it’s actually something he thinks about often.<\/p>\n

‘Oh, a hundred percent,’ he said. ‘It’s not just a teeny. It’s a huge piece.’<\/p>\n

\"Jordan <\/p>\n

Jordan was the majority owner of Charlotte’s NBA franchise for the better part of 13 years<\/p>\n

\"Jordan <\/p>\n

Jordan celebrates winning an NBA Championship alongside his father James in 1993<\/p>\n

And as far as picking up a ball himself, Jordan admitted he ‘would definitely love to do that.’<\/p>\n

Thankfully for Jordan, he’s scratching that competitive itch in NASCAR \u2014 something that has helped to reconnect him with the memory of his late father.<\/p>\n

‘My father actually, he was a diehard mechanic,’ Jordan said. ‘He used to work on all the neighborhood cars. We would never send our car to the service. He would figure out a way to fix it. So I think it gravitated into his love for cars. And he likes driving fast. My mom likes driving fast.’ Jordan, himself, has never enjoyed driving fast.<\/p>\n

‘No,’ he said. ‘I never drive fast.’<\/p>\n

The six-time NBA champion’s interview with King is expected to air in full on CBS Sunday.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Michael Jordan explains why he retreated from the NBA limelight and embraced NASCAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ALEX RASKIN, US SPORTS NEWS EDITOR Published: 22:17 EDT, 30 March 2026 | Updated: 22:40 EDT, 30…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,11002,2093,60764,3004,634,459,457,82],"class_list":["post-572543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-dailymail","tag-gayle-king","tag-michael-jordan","tag-nascar","tag-nba","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572543","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=572543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}