Michael Jordan Celebrates His NASCAR Team's Daytona 500 Win Months After Lawsuit Drama

NEED TO KNOW

Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing won the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15
The victory came two months after Jordan and team co-owner Denny Hamlin settled their lawsuit with NASCAR
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports both accused NASCAR of being “monopolistic bullies” in the suit, which was settled in December 2025 after an eight-day trial

Michael Jordan emerged victorious after the Daytona 500, just two months after he settled a lawsuit against NASCAR.

The basketball legend, 62, co-owns the racing team 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin. Their team won the event in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 15, when Tyler Reddick surged into the lead during his final lap.

Speaking to Good Morning America after the win on Monday, Feb. 16, Reddick, 30, said Jordan “was just really proud of how we were able to deliver at the end of that race.”

“We did a really good job of, every time things looked like things were getting away from us, we just stayed in the game, putting ourselves in position to get back up to the front,” he said.

Reddick continued, “People have told me that that final lap was very chaotic and so much going on but what was so nice about the whole thing was that in that final lap, in those moments of being there, it was all very calm. Everything happened slow from my seat…. I was able to get the job done.”

Jordan celebrated the win by giving Reddick a bear hug, CNN reported, and his birthday on Tuesday, Feb. 17, will be even more joyous when he receives his Daytona 500 ring as he turns 63. According to CNN, the NBA icon “made it known in victory lane he wears a size 13.”

“It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know,” Jordan said, the outlet reported.

Michael Jordan and Tyler Reddick celebrate their Daytona 500 win on Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty

Jordan and Hamlin settled their antitrust lawsuit on Dec. 11, 2025, after first filing a suit with Front Row Motorsports in October 2024 accusing NASCAR of “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices.”

“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” the teams claimed in their suit, referring to the longtime owners of the racing organization. “And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims. That moment has now arrived.”

In a statement to PEOPLE at the time, 23XI’s attorney Jeffrey Kessler said, “Every major sport goes through a moment when it needs to be transformed — when the people who are being treated unfairly stand up and say it’s time for change. This is NASCAR’s moment, and that change is what we want from this case.”

23XI and Front Row argued that NASCAR pressured teams to “go along with NASCAR’s revenue sharing model because it’s the only major league option available to them.”

NASCAR countersued in March 2025, claiming that 23XI Racing and Jordan’s business manager and 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk, plus Front Row Motorsports, “willfully” violated antitrust laws. They accused the defendants of “interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast agreement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR events and engaging in a group boycott of a NASCAR Team Owner Council Meeting,” according to The Athletic.

The lawsuit was settled in December 2025 on what would have been the ninth day of the trial, The Athletic reported at the time. According to Fox Sports, the settlement resulted in charters for both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports after the teams relinquished them.

The lawsuit also resulted in permanent charters for all teams, and reinstated the “Three-Strike Rule.” Under the settlement, teams will now be entitled to revenue from NASCAR’s international media rights deal, Fox Sports reported.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Before his team’s Sunday victory, Jordan told the outlet that he thought the lawsuit had created a positive path forward for both his team and the broader NASCAR organization.

“Communication — the thing is, both sides have been somewhat at a stalemate and we both needed to have conversations about change, how we can grow this sport,” he said. “Unfortunately, we had to go through what we had to go through last summer. But I think coming out of that, you have a much better appreciation for each other and I think it opens up conversations amongst each other to continue to grow the game.”

He added, “Don’t forget about the fans. The fans make this game so much enjoyable to watch. As much as we can listen, change, please the fans, please the teams and continue to grow the sport, I think everybody’s going to be okay.”

Read the original article on People

Read the full article here