Even if his team was down by 20 or more points in a game while he was a player, NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan never felt they couldn’t rally back for the win.
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It’s the same principle that Jordan is using in his current battle with NASCAR over team charters. NASCAR is preparing to take away the charters that Jordan’s 23XI Racing currently has and sell them to other teams.
Although 23XI Racing and the other team locked in this fight, Front Row Motorsports, will get their day in court on December 1, Jordan is in the battle for the long haul and believes both his team and FRM will ultimately emerge victorious against NASCAR.
Jordan, team co-owner Denny Hamlin and attorney Jeffrey Kessler were all in attendance for a court hearing regarding evidentiary discovery from both sides on Thursday.
“Look, I’ve been a fan of the game for a long period of time,” Jordan said afterward. “When we first started this whole process, I’ve always said that I want to fight for the betterment of the sport, even though they try to point out that we made some money, we had a successful business (but) that’s not the point.
“The point is that the sport itself needs to continually change for the better, for the fans as well as for the teams, as well as for NASCAR, too. They understand that.
“So, I feel like we made a good statement today about that. I look forward to going down in fire. If I have to fight this to the end, for the betterment of the sport, I will do that.”
This has become personal for Jordan
Jordan, who is reportedly worth around $3.6 billion, sold the majority stake of the NBA’s Charlotte franchise in 2023 and threw a significant part of the proceeds into making 23XI a better team. While the team has had some success, it is still not in the class of teams like Hendrick, Gibbs, Penske, and others.
Jordan is without question one of the highest profile team owners in the sport. And the fact that he is a minority has helped attract fans of color to the sport.
But even though Jordan says he’s willing to fight to the end, if NASCAR wins the case and 23XI and FRM both permanently lose all their charters, requiring them to qualify to compete in every race going forward, one must wonder if Jordan may eventually throw up his hands and cash out ownership of 23XI.
At 62 years old, Jordan doesn’t need the battle with NASCAR and if he decides to call it quits, NASCAR will ultimately wind up losing if it loses Jordan in the process.
“Even before getting into a lot of the legalese and the technical stuff involving this case, is that it is downright personal,” Motorsport.com writer Matt Weaver said in a video. “The two sides do not like each other at all. And even at the end, Judge (Kenneth) Bell said, ‘There appears to be disputed material facts.’”
Indeed, Weaver went on to talk about how personal this case is for both sides and some of the personal attacks that have been uncovered in discovery, including one instance where one major team executive allegedly claimed that the only way NASCAR will move forward in this case is after the death of current CEO Jim France, younger brother of the late Bill France Jr.
Texts and emails reveal profanity on both sides
Texts and emails on both sides also included numerous instances of profanity against the other side. NASCAR has said it will go forward with transferring ownership of as many as six charters, three for 23XI and three for Front Row, even before the December trial.
Judge Bell is reportedly hoping that a settlement can be reached between all parties long before that. Both teams have said that they run the risk of going out of business if NASCAR prevails in the lawsuit.
To that end, the judge will go through the evidence that came to light in Thursday’s hearing and will hold a status hearing next week on some of the merits of the case.
Both sides have said they will be “irreparably harmed” if either NASCAR moves ahead with selling the six charters to new owners, or in the team’s case, or NASCAR is not allowed to sell the charters.
