Michael Jordan is the first name that comes to the minds of people when talking about NBA stars in the world of motorsports. But an important other who ought to be included in the discussion is Brad Daugherty, former basketball star for the Cleveland Cavaliers and a co-owner in NASCAR since the late 1990s.
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Daugherty retired from his professional basketball career in 1994. In 1997, he became the co-owner of Liberty Racing, a Craftsman Truck Series team. The team ran a single Ford between 1997 and 1999 with drivers including Kevin Harvick and Kenny Irwin Jr. In 2008, he joined the ownership group of JTG Racing and re-branded the team as JTG Daugherty Racing.
It currently operates under the name of Hyak Motorsports, with Daugherty, Mark Hughes, and Ernie Cope comprising the ownership group. That brings us to understanding why Daugherty has been so steadfast in his association with NASCAR. Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, his father and uncles were drag racers.
The father of his best friend, Robert Presley, was a big-time short-track racer as well. These connections led to him working on cars and racing on local tracks occasionally as a teen. Although he went down a different path towards basketball, the love for racing in him never died. Which is why he served it when he retired from the NBA.
He said in a recent interview, “Every red blood American male loves cars. Loves, you know, race cars. The NASCAR space, I’ve been around it for about 30 years. Owned a team for about 20-25 years. So, it’s a lot of fun. I love hot rides and I dragged Michael [Jordan] into the space now. So, he’s racing with us. So, yeah, love it.”
Hyak Motorsports came to its current form following the Geschickter couple’s decision to remove themselves from the ownership group at the end of 2023. Primary sponsor Kroger Racing parted ways with the team as well. The new structure demanded a rebranding, and Daugherty went with the name ‘Hyak,’ which means fast in Chinook jargon.
What has made this team notable over the last decade is its penchant for diversity. Daugherty became the first Black team owner to win the Daytona 500 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brought home the Harley J. Earl trophy in 2023. It also made former co-owner Jodi Geschickter the second female owner to win the Daytona 500.
Going forward, it is no less than a certainty that Daugherty will continue taking his team to fresh heights. Stenhouse Jr. will continue being the driver for the team’s No. 47 entry in the NASCAR Cup Series.
