Jarrett Karnibad

Yes, this is the same Michael Jordan that won six NBA Championships. What many may not know is that Michael Jordan co-owns the NASCAR team, 23XI (Twenty Three Eleven) with Denny Hamlin, a fantastic current racer for another team. Hamlin is a longtime veteran winning 60 races, although he has never won a championship. The two founded the team in 2020 signing Bubba Wallace to be its only driver starting in 2021. Wallace drives the #23 car, an homage to Jordan’s jersey number. In 2022, 23XI Racing added their second car to the Cup Series: the #45 car, another homage to Jordan’s other, less popular, jersey number that he wore with the Wizards at the end of his career. Kurt Busch and Ty Gibbs both drove the #45 car, before finally bringing in Tyler Reddick for the 2023 season and beyond. And that, is where this story begins.

Arguably, there is no bigger race in motorsport than the Daytona 500, with respect to the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is certainly NASCAR’s biggest race of the season, and it is the first race on the calendar. Reddick began the race in 26th position, and finished Stage 1 in 20th place. The end of this race was chaos, but Reddick somehow found his way into the lead and converted for his, and Michael Jordan’s, first Daytona 500 victory. Reddick lead only 1 lap… the last lap.

The following week at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, GA, Reddick was looking to join a small list of only 5 other drivers that have won the first two races of the season. Reddick started far better than he did at Daytona, starting on pole position. He finished in the top 6 in both stages. This race was a trainwreck. Over half of the field was involved in a wreck at some point throughout this race. But in the first overtime, it was Bubba Wallace in 1st, Carson “Hurricane” Hocevar in 2nd, and Tyler Reddick behind Bubba in 3rd. Reddick was pushing Bubba and the two looked to be working well together when all of the sudden Bubba goes high to block Hocevar. Not only did this not work, as Hocevar slid under him to the middle, but it gave Reddick free air on the bottom to gain the lead of the race. A lead that Reddick would not relinquish, as he won back-to-back races to start the season.

Next up, Circuit of the Americas. Typically a Formula 1 track, Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a road course. And in today’s NASCAR, that means that Shane Van Gisbergen is the favorite. Going into this race, SVG had won the last 5 road courses, and was looking to tie Jeff Gordon for longest road course win streak in NASCAR history. But there was also another driver looking to make history at COTA: Tyler Reddick. No driver had ever won the first three races of the season in NASCAR history. It appeared unlikely, although Reddick does have a previous victory at this track. Going into qualifying, Van Gisbergen was +120 to win the race, while Reddick was +1600. Even after qualifying, and Reddick took a second straight pole, SVG was still +120 despite qualifying in 13th, though Reddick was up to +400. It was looking more and more likely that one of the two drivers would make history. It was a fun race, filled with lots of Green Flag pit stops and passes, but a caution came out with 19 laps to go. Reddick was in the lead, but SVG was not far behind. It felt like SVG was just taking his time before picking the right spot to make the pass for the lead. About 10 laps after the restart and 10 laps before the finish, SVG had closed in significantly, and was less than a half second behind Reddick, but that proved to be as close as he would get. Reddick just flipped a switch and started to pull away. When the White Flag came out, Reddick was four seconds ahead of Van Gisbergen. Michael Jordan had made his way down to pit lane, and was ready to celebrate with his team. When Reddick crossed the finish line, he became the first driver to win the first three races of the season in NASCAR history, and Michael Jordan was the owner of the first car to win the first three races of the season in NASCAR history.

Even two and half decades removed from his dominance on the court, Jordan has now brought his dominance to the track. Jordan’s first three-peat took place from 1992-1994, and his second took place from 1996-1998. This three race run by Tyler Reddick has brought Jordan one more three-peat, albeit as a team owner. Reddick now has a commanding 70 point lead in the standings after only three races. It is very possible that he can bring Jordan and 23XI Racing their first Championship. Well, I guess it would be Jordan’s 7th total Championship.