Michael Jordan has never been one to mince words, and when the conversation turned to NASCAR’s long-standing stigma problem, the basketball legend and co-owner of 23XI Racing made his feelings crystal clear. Progress shouldn’t require a lawsuit.
Michael Jordan Believes NASCAR Shouldn’t Have Waited for 23XI Lawsuit
Speaking candidly, Jordan acknowledged what most people already know but rarely say out loud in motorsport circles. NASCAR’s image problem didn’t emerge from nowhere. The sport carried the Confederate flag for decades, a symbol that alienated millions of Americans and sent an unmistakable message about who the sport was and was not for.
“It used to have the Confederate flag,” Jordan said plainly. “You had a lot of racism tied into NASCAR as a whole.”
He did not deny that things have shifted. But his tone made clear that the pace of that shift has often felt relatively slow, out of step with how dramatically the broader world has moved on questions of race, inclusion, and belonging.
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What makes Jordan’s comments particularly pointed is the context behind them. 23XI Racing, the team he co-founded with Denny Hamlin, was at the center of a high-profile legal dispute with NASCAR over competition and business access. In Jordan’s view, it seems to have taken exactly that kind of pressure (public, legal, and uncomfortable) to shake the sanctioning body into a more urgent reckoning with its identity.
“I didn’t think you need 23XI to sue you to do that,” he said, and the frustration in those words is hard to miss. Jordan’s vision for what NASCAR could be is genuinely ambitious. He talks about a global sport that draws people of all backgrounds, colors, and walks of life.
He envisions not a niche product with a loyal but narrow base, but something with the kind of universal appeal that transcends geography and culture. For that to happen, he argues, the change cannot be incremental. It has to be rapid, real, and driven by genuine conviction rather than legal pressure or PR strategy.
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To his credit, Jordan acknowledged that NASCAR does now seem to understand what is at stake. He credited the organization with showing more energy and intent around inclusion than it has in the past. But the acknowledgment came wrapped in a challenge: Doing the right thing should not require someone to drag you there.
