Six races into the 2026 NASCAR season and with four victories under his belt as 23XI owner, it's easy to forget that just a few months ago, Michael Jordan's existence in the sport was under major threat.
After a bitter 14-month legal battle with NASCAR, 23XI and FRM went to court in Charlotte on December 9 having already been stripped of their charters, and if the case went against him and his team, we might have seen the back of Jordan and 23XI for good.
Things played out differently, however. On day nine of the trial, 23XI and FRM reached a settlement agreement with NASCAR, with a key win for the teams having been Cup Series charters being made evergreen, as opposed to expiring at the end of 2031 as they were set to.
This season, with the lawsuit in the rear-view, Jordan has been a visibly more noticeable presence in the garage, freely talking to the media post-race when his team is in Victory Lane (and that's happened four times in the opening six races!).
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Jordan risked being kicked out of NASCAR for change
We still don't yet know the full impact of December's agreement; we won't for some time yet. However, it could go on to prove a key turning point for the sport and its teams. Now, Jordan has spoken out on the case, revealing that he was willing to risk it all to achieve the changes he thought the sport needed, even if it meant being kicked out.
In an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, the conversation with Jordan began with the 23XI owner being asked if he intended to change the sport by suing NASCAR, to which he replied: “Yes, yeah, 100%.”
The 23XI owner continued: “Well, when I got into the sport obviously, as I learnt, there were a lot of things that I wasn't really happy about. The sport was not set up for success long-term for the individuals who are involved in the sport.
“Now up top [NASCAR’s ownership and executives], yeah, they could make a living, they were making a good living, and the people that were putting on the show were not getting that type of recognition [or] compensated fairly.
“I didn't have a say so initially because I had to get an understanding and know, and once I did and we got to an opportunity where, ‘Okay, we need some changes’, you know, and even if I get kicked out of the sport, even if I lose the lawsuit, I'm gonna wake up some people to understand what they're actually doing is wrong.”
Jordan continued, stressing that his love of NASCAR and wanting the sport to succeed also played a role, and that he wasn’t just rocking up and making demands out of the blue.
“I've been a fan. It's not like I just woke up and said, ‘You know what? I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna attack now’.
“No. I've been involved in NASCAR, and I’ve been a supporter of NASCAR for a long period of time.”
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Jordan nervous of testifying
As part of the lawsuit, Jordan also testified in court, and no doubt his words had a powerful impact on the case, so it was a very important moment in the trial. However, as it turns out, he was nervous about doing so.
“Oh, yeah. I was definitely nervous, don’t get me wrong," Jordan recalled.
“I mean, I was nervous. [Being] in any courtroom makes me nervous because that's not where I want to be, really, 100%."
Once the lawsuit was initially filed, however, the 23XI owner admits his competitive streak was activated, and he was all in on winning the case.
“But no, I knew that once I took the stand, actually, when we filed the lawsuit and people became aware that we were suing NASCAR, I was all in. I was aggressively gonna win. I became a competitor all over again.
“I wouldn't sue you if I didn't think we had a good case, you know, and we had a good case.”
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