TALLADEGA, Ala. — Michael Jordan finally celebrated a NASCAR Cup Series victory in person for the first time as a team owner, watching driver Tyler Reddick race to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.
As Reddick, driving a No. 45 Jordan Brand car for 23XI Racing, scaled the barrier in front of cheering fans at Talladega, Jordan took Reddick’s 4-year-old son Beau into his arms and celebrated on the road. stands.
“He did a great job,” Jordan told Beau in a clip posted to NASCAR’s X account. “Are you going to celebrate?”
“Yeah!” Beau said as Jordan let out a hearty laugh and gave him a high five.
“Are you going to party?”
“Yeah!”
😊😊😊 pic.twitter.com/1UCsrWOeGI
-NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 21, 2024
Jordan then went on victory lane to meet with Reddick, where he said Athleticism to finally be able to see one of his cars win in person: “I love it. »
How did Michael Jordan feel being able to celebrate a 23XI Racing victory while attending a race?
“I love it,” he told The Athletic. pic.twitter.com/eCJlCfWb2g
– Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) April 21, 2024
This is Jordan’s fourth year owning the 23XI team, a joint venture with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. Reddick and the team’s other driver, Bubba Wallace, have won races before, as has Kurt Busch, a former 23XI pilot. However, Jordan had never been on hand for any of the victories (although he frequently attended the races).
Hamlin often told Jordan he was unlucky, but Jordan told Fox Sports“Today proved him wrong.”
“As you know, it’s the NBA playoffs right now. To me, it’s like an NBA playoff game,” Jordan said. “…For us to win a big race like this, it means so much to me.
“Look, I’m all in. I love that. It replaces a lot of the competitiveness I had in basketball. But it’s even worse, because I have no control. If I played basketball, I would have total control. So I live vicariously through the drivers.
Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, said that after the race, Jordan watched not only every Cup Series race, but also lower series NASCAR races (Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series) to build his knowledge of what the team is going through.
“It’s impressive,” Scott said. “Just seeing the excitement on his face, that’s what I enjoyed.”
That said, Jordan is a lifelong NASCAR fan and attended races growing up in North Carolina. He became friends with Hamlin when the driver had season tickets at the Charlotte Hornets’ home field and they decided to jointly start a NASCAR team in 2020 (and debuted Wallace at the 2021 Daytona 500).
“It’s good for anything you can imagine,” Hamlin said. “You talk about sponsorship, your manufacturers, the morale of your team. It’s so good in so many different ways.
Hamlin said Jordan’s presence on the track Sunday added to the victory.
“We were able to celebrate with Michael here winning in his car,” Hamlin said. “These are certainly important memories that these men and women (of the team) will live with for a very long time.
“So it’s great to see. When we got the first win with the 45 with Kurt at Kansas in the Jumpman car, I mean, we have pictures of that everywhere because it was such a big, special moment. This one will definitely be no different.
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(Photo: Peter Casey / USA Today)