“I Have Lost That In A Casino” – Michael Jordan Wasn’t Worried About The Cost Of Signing A NASCAR Driver To 23XI Racing

And NASCAR really thought they were going to beat this guy in court?

A settlement was reached yesterday in the bombshell lawsuit against NASCAR that was filed last year by two of its race teams, 23XI Racing (which is owned by NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan) and Front Row Motorsports.

The surprise settlement, which came after 8 days of testimony in the trial that rocked the sport, brought to an end the lawsuit from the teams that accused NASCAR of being a monopoly and using unfair (and unlawful) practices to protect their monopoly at the expense of the teams it relies on to put on their show.

I’m not going to get too much into the lawsuit or the settlement, but if you want to read more I broke it all down here. As part of the settlement though, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will get their charters back after losing them when they refused to sign the new charter agreement.

That means that Front Row Motorsports and 23XI will both have three chartered teams competing in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, with the lawsuit revealing that it costs teams around $20 MILLION per year for each car. (Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins testified that he’s frugal so it doesn’t cost his team quite that much…but of course that also reflects in the results).

Of course that’s a lot of money for most people, and even most NASCAR team owners. But Michael Jordan isn’t most NASCAR team owners.

The NBA legend has a net worth that’s reported to be somewhere around $3.8 BILLION, far more than most team owners. And he’s poured a ton of money into his race team, with testimony from the trial revealing that MJ has invested around $40 million into 23XI since the team made its debut back in 2021.

Jordan has been a longtime NASCAR fan, testifying during the trial that he grew up watching the sport with his father. And while it’s the primary source of revenue for some team owners, text messages that were made public during the trial reveal that Jordan is in it solely for the love of the game.

In one exchange with 23XI co-owner and longtime business partner Curtis Polk, Jordan and Polk said that NASCAR is just a “hobby,” because as Jordan put it:

“Only can play but so much golf.”

And in another exchange, Polk and Jordan discussed signing another driver, with Polk seeming to be against the idea and claiming that it would be “burning” millions of dollars.

Jordan wasn’t worried about the money though, laughing it off as insignificant to him:

“I have lost that in a casino. Lets do it.”

The text message was from August 31, 2023, and appears to have been about the addition of Riley Herbst to 23XI. About a year later, it was announced that the team had bought a third charter and would be adding Herbst for the 2025 season.

23XI bought a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing to be used for Herbst’s #35 car, reportedly for $28 million. It’s been reported that Herbst’s family, who own a chain of gas stations and has a relationship with Riley’s sponsor, Monster Energy, helped pay for the charter in exchange for Herbst getting the ride.

Regardless, it shows that MJ is willing to go all in on his race team, and also shows just how ridiculous it was for NASCAR to think they were going to win against him in court.The post “I Have Lost That In A Casino” – Michael Jordan Wasn’t Worried About The Cost Of Signing A NASCAR Driver To 23XI Racing first appeared on Whiskey Riff.