HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The hardest hit that Tyler Reddick took at Homestead-Miami Speedway wasn't from a bounce into the wall or from another driver crashing into him.
It was from his boss.
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Michael Jordan is 6-foot-6. Reddick might be 5-foot-6, tops. When Jordan comes at him full speed and wraps his massive arms around Reddick, the driver is going to take a bit of a jolt. That's exactly what happened Sunday, after Reddick won at Homestead and clinched one of the four spots in NASCAR's winner-take-all title deciding race at Phoenix in two weeks.
“To be able to reward him ... it's a true honor,” Reddick said. “It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it.”
For good reason. Winning still drives Jordan more than anything, even at 61.
Building a massive multi-billion-dollar business empire — everything from his famous shoes to clothes to steaks to cars to golf courses and plenty more — didn't turn off Jordan's competitive fires. Neither, obviously, did winning six NBA championships, going into the Basketball Hall of Fame and being widely considered as the greatest player ever. Jordan always wants to win, whether he's golfing against PGA pros at his tricked-out course where drinks get delivered by drones in South Florida or sitting on the wall of pit road watching his 23XI racing team.
“Yeah, baby! Yes!” Jordan shouted when he got to Reddick in the moments after Sunday's win. “Good job, kid! Man, good job.”
From Jordan, there is no higher praise.
There are some similarities between Jordan and Reddick, their wild disparity in height notwithstanding. Jordan was notorious for playing well when he was sick. Reddick clinched the regular-season championship this year at Darlington, a race where he was ravaged by a virus and drove while fearing that he would get sick in his helmet or worse.
“I think it’s just a combination of talent and resilience,” crew chief Billy Scott said. “When things aren’t going right, I sometimes think he’s in his element. He seems to deal with that really well, stay calm and focused. He has that much talent to fall back on to where even if he has to overcome some sort of disadvantage, whether it’s being sick, tire disadvantage, he’s been able to.”
Sunday's win locked Reddick into one of the four spots in the winner-take-all finale. If anyone wondered if the 23XI team was distracted by off-the-track matters — specifically Jordan being part of a lawsuit against NASCAR over revenue sharing, something that could have massive effects on the series going forward — those questions were asked and answered.
As a player, Jordan rarely if ever let off-the-court issues affect his play. As an owner, the same rules evidently apply to him and his team.
“We’re here to win races. I think everyone at 23XI is focused on that,” said Dave Rogers, the competition director for the 23XI team. "I think any team that competes for a championship or wins a championship has to deal with distractions. There’s so many roadblocks in the way, so much noise, so many distractions. I don’t care who it is, what it is, if you are going to win a championship, you have to fight through adversity. That’s just part of it.
“This is one of those distractions that we’re choosing to ignore and just compete at the highest level we know how.”
The second-to-last race of the year at Homestead had plenty of talking points.
— There were 33 lead changes — capped by Reddick's move past two cars on the last lap, one of those cars being driven by Denny Hamlin, part of the 23XI ownership — for a Homestead record.
— There's a chance that none of the Hendrick Motorsports cars make the final four in Phoenix, which would be an almost-unfathomable development given how well 2024 has gone for that powerhouse team.
— NASCAR said there were more than 6,000 passes during green flag racing Sunday, nearly twice as many as any previous Homestead race.
— The ability to deliver great drama at the end, of a playoff race especially, surely left some wondering why Homestead no longer plays host to the season finale.
But the biggest story of all was Reddick and his last-ditch move that paid off at the end. And since he was the biggest story, that meant Jordan was as well. One of basketball's ultimate winners now has a shot at NASCAR's biggest prize, at a time where he is taking his clash over how the sport is governed into the courtroom.
“He was just really proud, the fight that we had, never giving up, fighting through the adversity,” Reddick said. “Just really, really proud of the effort we put forth. Like I said, he believes in me. He believes in this team.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing