Michael Jordan is a man who needs no introduction. A mythical figure who dominated the NBA for two decades, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.
Despite his dominance and greatness on the floor, the one knock against Jordan has been his career as an executive. As owner of the Charlotte Hornets, he never really saw his team enjoy any kind of success. Instead, the Hornets were mostly a laughing stock under his tutelage, so much so that there was this sense that the team was ruining his legacy. Every bad draft pick, every bad signing, and every bad coaching hire was seen as an indictment of Jordan's passion for the sport. It was also great ammunition for pundits looking to make GOAT cases for LeBron James.
Eventually, in 2023, Michael Jordan sold his stake in the Hornets for close to $3 billion, according to CBS Sports. At the time, it was seen as the right decision. His passion for the Hornets was waning, and another passion was reaching critical mass. Of course, we are talking about 23XI Racing, his NASCAR team, which is a joint venture between Jordan and NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin. For some, Jordan's involvement in NASCAR seems completely random. However, it is the culmination of a decades-long passion that is finally starting to pay off in a big way.
Michael Jordan's Origins In NASCAR
Growing up in Wilmington, North Carolina, Michael Jordan was in the middle of NASCAR country. While NASCAR itself may have been founded in Daytona Beach, Florida, there is no denying that North Carolina is the sport's de facto home state. It houses tracks like Charlotte, Rockingham, Bowman Gray Stadium, and even North Wilkesboro.
As a kid, Jordan's father would take the family to races at Talladega, Darlington, and the numerous aforementioned tracks around North Carolina. Fox Sports notes that this is how Jordan fell in love with the sport, watching legends like Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough. Jordan even got to watch the rise of Dale Earnhardt in the late 70s and early 80s.
Over the decades, Jordan would continue to watch NASCAR from a distance, all while dipping his toes into the world of motorsports. For instance, in 2004, he created Michael Jordan Motorsports. This was a team competing in the AMA Superbike Championship. For those unfamiliar, this is motorcycle road racing. A far cry from the NASCAR stock cars he would fund decades later. The team eventually folded in 2013, although Jordan's passion for motorsport had been established.
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The Creation Of 23XI Racing
In 2020, Denny Hamlin was looking to form a new team in the NASCAR Cup Series. Interestingly enough, Hamlin is the first driver in NASCAR history to be sponsored by Jordan Brand. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Hamlin established a relationship with Jordan by sitting courtside at Hornets games. This would subsequently lead to the opportunity of a lifetime for both men. With Hamlin looking to get a race team off the ground, he went to Jordan, and the two decided it was finally time to get into business with each other.
This subsequently culminated in the creation of 23XI Racing. The name stems from Jordan's iconic 23 and Hamlin's number 11. It was the perfect name for a team hoping to be a powerhouse in the sport. Bubba Wallace was eventually announced as the team's first driver. Quite frankly, this was the perfect choice. To this day, Wallace remains the only black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. At the time, he had just come off the most consequential season of his NASCAR career.
While he still hadn't won at the Cup level, he was becoming a household name—a scrappy driver who could make the most of bad equipment. The unfortunate noose incident at Talladega had also made him a target of President Donald Trump. Hamlin recognized him as a fierce competitor and was eager to give him a chance in some good equipment. While 23XI would experience growing pains, there was a belief that Wallace could be the guy.
However, Jordan's entry into NASCAR came at a very difficult time for the sport. Little did MJ know that his passion project would become a recovery mission.
The Decline Of NASCAR
In 2001, Fox got the broadcasting rights to NASCAR. Unfortunately, their very first race was the 2001 Daytona 500, in which Earnhardt was tragically killed during a last-lap crash. Following the tragedy, NASCAR's profile continued to rise. According to AutoRacing1, in 2007, NASCAR was averaging close to 7.85 million viewers per race. The sport was quietly becoming just as popular as the NFL, with stars like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the Busch brothers leading the way.
During the 1990s, the rivalry between Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon turned NASCAR from a niche sport located in the American Southeast into a National powerhouse. Movies like Days Of Thunder brought the sport into the mainstream. Meanwhile, more and more races were being broadcast on national TV.
However, in the 2010s, things took a turn for the worse. Some of the sport's biggest stars retired, and there were hardly any interesting newcomers to replace the voids that were left. In 2025, the average Cup series race averaged 2.5 million viewers, a 58 percent decline since 2010. Sure, streaming is a thing now, but this is still a worrisome decline. Not to mention, empty stands have plagued a plethora of tracks, leading to renovations to reduce the number of seats.
It was also during this time that NASCAR had an all-out identity crisis. They lowered the cars from 900 horsepower to 550 horsepower in an effort to make the racing tighter. Instead, the cars became too easy to drive, and aeroblocking led to some truly awful racing that made NASCAR races look like Formula 1 races. Not to mention, the one-race winner-takes-all playoff format turned the Cup Series championship into a complete joke. Thankfully, after 11 years, NASCAR went back to a 10-race Chase For The Cup format for 2026.
Needless to say, the sport has been in dire straits for some time. The decline in ratings, questions about the sport's legitimacy, and a lack of marketable drivers have left NASCAR looking to pick up the pieces. Typically, you would expect a driver to come save the day. As it turns out, an owner would be the one to bail everyone out.
Michael Jordan vs. NASCAR
By 2024, 23XI was becoming one of the best teams in the NASCAR garage. While Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports were still the big three of the sport, 23XI was right on the cusp of greatness. In 2021 and 2022, Bubba Wallace managed to win a couple of races. Meanwhile, the signing of Tyler Reddick led to a plethora of wins throughout 2023 and 2024. Reddick even made the Championship Four in 2024, despite a dark cloud hanging over the sport's head. Of course, we are talking about the lawsuit Michael Jordan launched against NASCAR.
In October of that year, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports launched a federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR. Within this lawsuit, both teams accused NASCAR and its CEO Jim France of running NASCAR as a monopoly. They had a solid case, as NASCAR owns a plethora of tracks around the United States, and with the new Next Gen car, they also had a say in the manufacturing. Their attempts to shut down smaller racing series around the country also fortified the allegations within the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, due to NASCAR's status as the only viable stock car racing association in North America, they knew they could get away with giving teams a raw deal. Race purses had been on a steady decline, while charters weren't permanent. At any time, NASCAR could get rid of the multi-million-dollar investments teams had made to ensure their participation in every single race. When it was time to sign a new charter agreement in 2024, every single team knew they were getting a raw deal. When given just hours to sign the deal, only two teams stood firm: 23XI and Front Row Motorsports.
It was a bold move by Jordan, one that jeopardized his investments in the sport. It was also a move that could have completely dissolved NASCAR as we know it. Thankfully, in December 2025, the lawsuit was settled before things could reach a true breaking point. In the end, teams got a slice of the international TV deal, better race payouts, and most importantly, permanent charters. The rest of the NASCAR garage has MJ to thank for that one.
If it weren't for Jordan and Front Row Motorsports' Bob Jenkins, none of this would have been possible. NASCAR would have never been held accountable, and it would have continued making the same bad decisions that have left the sport decimated. Instead, the France family has had to confront the error of its ways and embrace positive change. Change that celebrates the sport's history, while also acknowledging that sometimes, a little bit of deviance from the status quo goes a long way in bringing in new fans and attracting new sponsors.
How Jordan Is Helping Save NASCAR
Between NASCAR's monopolistic tendencies and its steep decline in viewership, it is safe to say that even die-hard fans have been turning away from the sport. Denny Hamlin's heartbreaking loss at Phoenix during the 2025 Championship Race was, in many respects, the straw that broke the camel's back. Thankfully, that format is gone. While MJ didn't influence that decision, there are a few other ways in which he is making NASCAR cool again.
Perhaps the most obvious way is through the Jordan Brand paint schemes. Tyler Reddick's Jumpman schemes have been a treat to watch over the last few seasons. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace has had his fair share of iconic paint schemes thanks to sponsorships from McDonald's, DoorDash, Columbia, and even Robinhood. Paint schemes are ultimately what connect you to a driver. As a kid, I became a Jeff Gordon fan because of his rainbow warrior DuPont Chevrolet.
One can only imagine how many basketball fans and sneakerheads have watched a NASCAR race just to see a Jumpman paint scheme on the track. A first-time fan can very easily become a lifetime fan–a conversion that NASCAR has been struggling to make for years.
While Jordan has been running his team since 2021, he hasn't always been promoted by NASCAR. While he has made his way to many races, NASCAR has always been hesitant to stick cameras in his face and let the world know that Jordan is a part of the sport. It almost felt as though the sport was hesitant to embrace its most famous owner. Why? Well, in the eyes of NASCAR, no one is bigger than the sport. There isn't a single driver, sponsor, crew chief, or owner who should be placed on a pedestal. At least that was the mentality for decades. It's a shortsighted way of looking at things, and it is ultimately why NASCAR was stuck in a marketing crisis up until this year.
In 2026, we are finally seeing the tides start to turn, and Jordan is at the forefront of that. No longer is NASCAR shying away from Jordan's celebrity. At the Daytona 500, Jordan's driver, Tyler Reddick, won with a last-lap pass on the sport's most popular driver, Chase Elliott. The following weekend in Atlanta, Reddick won again, this time due to a final restart mistake from teammate Bubba Wallace, who ended up finishing in the Top 10. A week later, he won again at the Circuit of the Americas.
During this three-peat, Jordan was all over the airwaves. Fox's Jamie Little was interviewing him after every win, and Jordan couldn't look any happier. In fact, in Victory Lane at the 500, he was personally congratulated by Jim France, the man he was suing just months prior. It was a rare sign of unity. After a bitter court battle, NASCAR is finally ready to embrace change and acknowledge the impact people like Jordan can have on the growth of the sport.
While the TV ratings are still relatively stagnant to start the year, NASCAR has been all over social media. They've also been getting more attention in SportsCenter highlight packages. Throughout Reddick's winning streak, NASCAR was dominating the conversation. Something that hadn't been true in a very long time. Not to mention, with Reddick going for four wins in a row at Phoenix, there was lots of celebrity attention. Fat Joe and Jadakiss were at the race, showing that NASCAR was bringing in new race fans who otherwise wouldn't be paying attention.
What's Next For 23XI Racing
2026 promises to be the best year in 23XI Racing's short history. Tyler Reddick is currently first in the championship standings after five races. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace is in second place. This 1-2 punch is the result of years of hard work, and it is challenging NASCAR's status quo. For decades now, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Penske have been dominating the championship fight. The Big Three are starting to become the Big Four. The Next Gen car allows for more parity, and Jordan's team is taking full advantage.
While a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing certainly helps, it is clear that 23XI Racing is becoming the team everyone thought it could be. Bubba Wallace is coming into his own and even has a Crown Jewel win at the Brickyard 400. Meanwhile, Reddick is proving that he is a perennial championship contender.
Going into next year, there are also rumblings that the team will replace driver Riley Herbst with Corey Heim, one of the premier prospects in the sport. The future is clearly bright for Jordan and his team, and if they win a championship, then it's hard to argue against MJ's impact.
Jordan's success is good for NASCAR, and it's good to see the sport finally acknowledge that. NASCAR has been desperate for something new and exciting, and 23XI Racing is providing the superstar cache that has been missing all along.
