Michael Jordan has been out of the NBA for over two decades, but the fire that made him the greatest basketball player of all time has not gone anywhere. If anything, it has only found a new arena.
Michael Jordan’s Competitive Drive Finds a New Home in NASCAR
“I think I’m cursed. I’m cursed with this competitive gene that anything that I do, if it’s getting dressed, I gotta get dressed before my wife gets dressed, or I gotta get dressed, you know, those types of things. I’m cursed,” Jordan told CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King in an exclusive interview that King described as 10 years in the making.
Michael Jordan takes his “competitive gene” off the court and onto the @NASCAR track as co-owner of @23XIRacing.@GayleKing sits down with the basketball legend to talk about his passion for winning, his legal fight to change the sport, and how he channels his drive into new… pic.twitter.com/BliiK2iy0m
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) March 29, 2026
Coming from the man who turned every handshake into a competition, the confession did not exactly come as a shock. But hearing Jordan put it into words that plainly, sitting down for one of the rarest interviews he has given in years, was a reminder that the six-time NBA champion’s mindset was never just about basketball. It was always about winning, full stop.
Jordan won his last championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998 and officially retired for good in 2003 after a second comeback with the Washington Wizards. In the years that followed, he stayed visible as a part-owner and eventually majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, a tenure that drew its share of criticism for the franchise’s struggles to build a consistent winner.
He sold his controlling stake in the team in 2023. For someone wired the way Jordan is, stepping away from owning an NBA franchise without a championship to show for it was not exactly closure.
What came next was NASCAR. Jordan co-founded 23XI Racing in 2020 alongside veteran driver Denny Hamlin, and from the beginning, he approached it with the same intensity he brought to everything else.
The team’s connection to Jordan runs deeper than just a business investment. His late father, James Jordan, was a diehard mechanic, and Michael has spoken about his love of the sport, tracing back to those roots.
The competitive gene did not stay in park for long. In October 2024, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, challenging the charter system the organization had operated under since 2016. Jordan said the structure was not set up to fairly compensate the teams that were actually putting on the show, and he was prepared to be removed from the sport entirely rather than back down.
The case went to trial in Charlotte in December 2025 and was settled on Dec. 11. The agreement delivered permanent, or “evergreen,” charters for all NASCAR Cup Series teams, along with improved revenue distribution and a stronger voice for team owners going forward. Jordan called it a win for everyone involved in the sport, not just his team.
Meanwhile, on the basketball side, Jordan agreed to serve as a special contributor to NBC’s NBA coverage this season, sitting down with Mike Tirico at the start of the 2025-26 campaign to discuss his legacy and what he felt he owed the game.
Fans had high hopes for a regular presence that never quite materialized, and the frustration on social media was noticeable. But Jordan, being Jordan, was already pouring himself into a different competition altogether.
Cursed or not, Michael Jordan is still out here trying to win. The sport may have changed. The drive clearly has not.
