From Bulls Banners to Daytona Glory

“Size 13,” Michael Jordan answered immediately of the DAYTONA 500 champion’s ring he will receive – and forever cherish – as team co-owner of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota that Californian Tyler Reddick drove to a dramatic victory Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.

A six-time NBA Champion and five-time league Most Valuable Player, Jordan, 62, was absolutely thrilled to add a win in NASCAR’s most celebrated race to his collection of legendary sports hardware. The Victory vibe was absolutely unmistakable.

Reddick’s amazing final lap push to claim his – and the 23XI Racing team’s – first DAYTONA 500 championship Sunday evening was a high-stakes move resulting in the high-wattage victory. Something Reddick’s team co-owner Jordan knows a lot about.

“We hung in there all day,” Jordan said Sunday night amid the high-fives, loud call-outs and celebratory toasts he was enjoying. “Great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end. Look, I’m ecstatic. I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship.”

The 6-foot-6 former NBA all-star celebrated in Daytona Victory Lane – at one point lifting the 5-foot-5 Reddick off the ground in a huge bear hug and then ultimately helping Reddick raise the iconic Harley J. Earl DAYTONA 500 winners’ trophy above their heads, grinning ear-to-ear amongst the confetti-filled celebration.

There now exists a “new” iconic photograph of Jordan cradling the DAYTONA 500 trophy in much the same way he was photographed hugging the NBA championship trophies so many times over so many seasons.

Jordan and three-time DAYTONA 500 champion Denny Hamlin are both superstars in their respective sports, and on Sunday Reddick gave the 23XI Racing team co-owners an opportunity to raise the bar again.

“It’s big for the sport,” Hamlin said of Jordan’s presence at tracks all season and his friend’s genuine jubilation following Sunday’s victory. “He’s the most popular athlete in the world. I don’t think there’s any disputing that.

“He loves the sport, and certainly he goes to a lot of races. Sometimes you don’t even see him and he’s there. He makes more races than people know. But he loves this race team.”

During a recent company-wide meeting with the 23XI team – which fields Toyotas fulltime for Reddick, Bubba Wallace (who finished eighth at Daytona) and Riley Herbst (who finished 10th), Hamlin reminded the organization that Jordan is “all-in” and a passionate supporter of the six-year-old team he helped build from the ground up.

“I was like, ‘do you guys understand the responsibilities that you have, that you have the power to bring joy to Michael Jordan?'” Hamlin recalled. “I told them, ‘You have that power. Nobody else can do it.’ There’s nothing else that can bring him the joy that seeing his team win can do.

“They took it to heart today.”

And it is a unique opportunity to diversify success for such a great athlete.

“I’ve met very few people that love the sport of NASCAR more than Michael Jordan, which is so cool,” said 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta. “And we get to be around it.

“We have to take so much pride and pleasure that this is his [Jordan’s] competitive outlet and what we can deliver for him, experiences like he had yesterday and the joy that comes on him, how he literally jumps up and down and just loves it. It’s so much fun for all of us.”

At the traditional DAYTONA 500 winner’s breakfast Monday morning, the room was filled with not only Reddick’s team but crew and staff from all four of the teams (also No. 67 Corey Heim) 23XI entered in the race. They watched as Reddick put his handprints, shoe print and autograph into plaster and into DAYTONA 500 immortality.

It was such a milestone victory for everyone and completes a personal Daytona International Speedway trifecta for Reddick, 30, who now has wins at the track in all three of NASCAR’s major series.

As with those before him Reddick was prepared to leave Daytona Beach and embark on a national media tour to celebrate the victory heading into Sunday’s Autotrader 400 at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Other races have winners, but as Reddick is keen to remind, “We are DAYTONA 500 champions.”