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While the basketball world laments the absence of Michael Jordan from the sport, NASCAR is reveling in the icon’s deepening motorsports involvement.
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said at the Front Office Sports Tuned In media summit Tuesday that Jordan, the co-owner of 23XI Racing, is “all in” about the future of racing.
“He shows up at every race. He’s passionate about the sport, and for NASCAR, you can’t pay for that,” O’Donnell said about Jordan. “You can bring celebrities or athletes to the race who may or may not be [racing] fans, but he’s a true fan, and he cares about the sport.”
That sentiment highlights a vast difference from nearly a year ago, when NASCAR and Jordan were locked in a bitter antitrust legal fight. As a high-stakes trial began last December in Charlotte, the two sides, along with Front Row Motorsports, reached a surprise settlement that included the creation of evergreen charters that guarantee teams race entry and a larger share of purse money.
“Being in a courtroom, looking across and seeing Michael Jordan was just a little bit odd,” O’Donnell said. “But even during that time, and at the end of that trial, we had a discussion about the fact that he was all in, and so are we.”
The current alignment between NASCAR and Jordan differs strongly from basketball, where the former Bulls superstar and then Wizards executive and Hornets owner had a highly limited guest role on NBC Sports last season—one that likely isn’t being reprised for the 2026–27 NBA campaign starting next week.
“Even during the NBA All-Star Game, Michael was with us at a NASCAR race. That shows his passion,” O’Donnell said. “He’s invested in the sport, he’s a winner, and he wants to see his team win, so we’re excited to have him.”
Despite all that, NBC Sports is still defending what it did last season with Jordan.
“I love the fact that we did one interview—and you can say what you want about it airing once or being spread out over our series of pregame shows during the year—it’s a year later and people are still talking about it,” NBC Sports announcer Mike Tirico said at Tuned In.
O’Donnell has also reached a level of rapport with Jordan that MLS commissioner Don Garber is attempting to forge with soccer icon Lionel Messi.
The NASCAR antitrust fight was just one of several major organizational changes over the past year that also included the departure of former commissioner Steve Phelps, as well as former CEO Jim France, part of NASCAR’s controlling family, relinquishing that title. O’Donnell said the NASCAR commissioner title is not likely to be refilled.
“For us, I think we’ll leave it where it is,” O’Donnell said regarding NASCAR’s leadership hierarchy. “If you look at our sport, we’re different, and looking forward, I don’t expect us to have a commissioner. The job right now is to go out with all the different stakeholders, bring them together, and make some tough decisions. But we’re going to be a lot faster about what we do in terms of making decisions, smart ones, but really getting folks pivoted toward what is the art of the possible.”
Hollywood Lift
NASCAR, meanwhile, is eagerly awaiting the planned 2028 release of the sequel to Days Of Thunder, the 1990 motorsports movie starring Tom Cruise. The original Days of Thunder helped lead NASCAR into a golden age that decade, and a similar lift is anticipated this time around.
Far from being a passive observer, NASCAR is actively involved in the movie’s production, including supplying more than 80 race cars that will be involved in the filming.
“Tom’s message to us was, ‘I’m going to put you in front of an entirely new audience,’” O’Donnell said. “So for us, it’s obviously a whole new open door…He wants this to be as authentic as it can be. We’ll see how the storylines come together, but we’re producing probably more than 80 cars that are going to be part of this. Some we don’t expect to get back as they’re wrecked as part of this. But this is absolutely a big opportunity for us across the board.”
