While so much attention was focused on his co-owner, Denny Hamlin, winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Raceway, Michael Jordan also focused on one of their two 23XI drivers, Bubba Wallace, before the race.
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Interviewed by FOX Sports before the green flag, Jordan was asked about Bubba Wallace’s success of late, having finished third in his previous two Cup events.
Wallace — who started fifth Sunday — admittedly had an off day, finishing 21st, the fifth time he’s finished 20th or worse in the first eight races of the 2025 season. Wallace likely would have finished higher had it not been for a late wreck with Kyle Larson with just a few laps remaining.
But Jordan still sees improvement in Wallace this year, as well as teammate Tyler Reddick (who finished fourth Sunday).
“I’m so happy,” Jordan said of Wallace’s third-place finishes two weeks ago at Homestead and last week at Martinsville. “The only thing you can ever ask for as an owner and even as a team is to just have a chance.
“Each week, we unload the cars, we have a chance, and it’s up to the drivers to go out and do the necessary things to win. Our pit crews are on fire, so it’s putting the race back in (the driver’s) hands.
“I’m happy with our progress. I just hope we can continue to move up the ladder.”
The Cup Series moves on now to Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday, where, ironically, Wallace finished a season-best third in that race during last year’s playoffs.
Speaking of third, Hamlin will be going for a third consecutive win in as many weeks (having won last week at Martinsville and Sunday at Darlington) and is bidding for a fifth career triumph at Bristol (including two wins and a fourth-place finish in his last three starts at the .533-mile high-banked oval).
Hamlin Still Chasing A First Cup Championship — Could This Finally Be The Year?
At 44 years old, Hamlin is the oldest full-time driver on the Cup circuit this season. And likely to have maybe just another two or three more seasons left racing, Hamlin’s dream of winning a first-ever Cup championship may be in overdrive this season.
“It’s Hamlin against the world,” Jordan said with a laugh to FOX Sports. “He is a clown, but that’s him, that’s Denny.”
But while Jordan likes to razz his business partner, there’s one key reason why they get along so well: they’re cut from the same competitive cloth:
- Jordan loved to talk trash to opponents during his NBA Hall of Fame career, and Hamlin is the same way when it comes to dishing on his rivals.
- Likewise, Jordan believed in giving nothing less than 100 percent every time he took to an NBA court, and Hamlin is the same way from green flag to checkered flag in every race he takes part in.
- Oh yes, and both Jordan and Hamlin are poor losers.
“He’s a very confident driver, a very confident person, his competitive juice is no different than mine,” Jordan said of Hamlin. “I love that he’s gotten back to winning, and I want him to win a championship so badly because I think he’s earned that because of what he’s done for the sport for so long.
“He’s going to grind it out, that’s just the way Denny is. If you boo him, that makes him better. If you boo me, that makes me better. That’s just the nature of a good competitor.”
While Hamlin drives for the rival Joe Gibbs Racing, losing or being booed wasn’t something he didn’t have to worry about Sunday as he made it two wins in a row and the 56th triumph of his Cup career.
Jordan kind of had a feeling about Hamlin on Sunday, offering up an almost psychic-like prediction to FOX in the pre-race interview, “I’m very happy for his win last week, and don’t be surprised if he don’t win today.”
And that’s exactly what Hamlin did!
