Michael Jordan Takes The Stand In High-Stakes NASCAR Antitrust Trial, Says Teams Deserve ‘Fair Treatment’

Jordan is the co-owner of the 23XI Racing team.

Michael Jordan stepped into a Charlotte, NC, federal courtroom Dec. 5 not as an NBA legend, but as a NASCAR team owner fighting what he calls an unfair system. Testifying for an hour in the antitrust case brought by his 23XI Racing team and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, Jordan argued that the stock car racing organization’s current business model leaves teams without true partnership or economic stability. Jordan owns 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin.

Jordan opened his testimony with a simple introduction: “My name is Michael Jeffrey Jordan, and I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina.” He next detailed his lifelong passion for motorsports that began with childhood trips to Talladega Superspeedway. Even today, he told the court, he never misses a race and attends up to a dozen events a year, The New York Times reports.

His testimony centered on why he chose to challenge NASCAR after recent charter negotiations his team participated in broke down. Jordan said team owners have been “browbeaten for so many years” while pushing for structural changes, including permanent charters and improved revenue terms. None of those priorities, he said, were meaningfully addressed.

“I wasn’t afraid” to take legal action, Jordan testified. “It needed to be looked at from a whole different perspective.”

Jordan said he has invested $35 to $40 million into 23XI Racing since launching it with driver Denny Hamlin in 2020. That includes purchasing a charter for $28 million, a charter that has since expired after the team refused to sign a deal they considered unacceptable. He rejected provisions that blocked antitrust challenges and a take-it-or-leave-it structure, he said, undermined teams’ ability to operate sustainably, Fox 8 reports.

His goal, he testified, is for a business model that allows teams and NASCAR to grow together.

“The thing I’m hoping for is you create more of a partnership between two entities,” Jordan said. “If that’s the case, it becomes a more valuable business.”

Jordan also acknowledged that 23XI talked with other teams about the charter terms. He said the goal wasn’t to sway anyone for his own gain, but to make sure every owner understood just how lopsided the economics were.

After Jordan testified, Race Team Association executive director Jonathan Marshall took the stand to outline financial models showing NASCAR teams lag behind franchises in leagues like the NBA, NFL, MLB, and MLS. Earlier in the day, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell and Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Heather Gibbs also testified.

The trial began Dec. 1 and is expected to run about two to three weeks.