In 2025, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin put their dream at stake when they decided to wage war against NASCAR. According to sources, their team’s valuation was worth nearly $160.2M. With a net worth of hundreds of millions, fans did not expect the duo to gamble it all and try to bring NASCAR to its knees when they took the France family to court because of the unfair charter agreement. But they did.

While it worked out in their favor, both Hamlin and Jordan knew who they were going up against. Hence, even when they were nervous about it, they were ready to stake it all in hopes that they were going to set a positive precedent for others in the sport.

In his interview with CBS Sports, Michael Jordan made a strong statement about his dedication to the cause. “This fight was needed, and if I got kicked out, at least I made people aware that change needed to happen in the sport. So I went in with the idea that even if I lost, I won.”

That is the mentality that won him the lawsuit alongside Front Row Motorsports. But for Jordan, the experience was not that terrific. He was rather nervous about being in court. Spending time on ‘court’ during his career did not make him as nervous as the courtroom of justice.

“Oh yeah, I was. Don’t get me wrong, I was nervous. The courtroom makes me nervous; that’s not where I want to be really 100%. But I was all in; I was going to win. One way this sport is going to grow is we have to find some synergy between the two entities. And I think we got to that point.”

It was a harsh situation for Michael Jordan, who had entered the sport in hopes of making a name for himself on the track. After spending time being involved with the NBA and basketball, Jordan had a rather harsh reality check when he first set foot in NASCAR.

“I was focused on basketball. Now when I got into NASCAR, I could see how things operated; it was lopsided, it was a wall. This sport was not set up for long-term success for the individuals that are involved in the sport. Now, up top, yeah, they can make it. They were in a good place.”

So when he decided to take the matter into his own hands, he knew that it was going to be a huge sacrifice. Both he and his best friend, Denny Hamlin, were ready to make that sacrifice in order to try and fix a broken system for a sport that has always relied on creating a grand legacy for generations to come.

So how did that pay off in the end?

Michael Jordan’s victory that led to NASCAR’s growth

Besides the personal victory for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan with the $300M payout that would definitely help the team, the entire sport went through a boom. The team charter valuations jumped up to nearly $100M after earning evergreen status.

A direct result of the same can be observed through the recent rumors in the paddock. There are certain speculations that Hyak Motorsports and Haas Factory Team might end up selling their NASCAR charter to scale down their operations. Instead of running a sponsorless Cup Series program, they will be running a better O’Reilly program.

This was only possible because of the unprecedented hike in charter prices owing to 23XI’s victory. Not only that, but 23XI Racing is also claiming personal achievements like no other outfit this season. They are at the top of the leaderboard with four victories to their name. 

It seems like no one can stop them from claiming success this season. Not even the Big-3 have come close to the level of performance Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace have displayed through the race weekends. So this gamble by Jordan definitely ended up winning him a full house. Looks like he won’t be kicked out of NASCAR after all.