Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace Form New NASCAR Team

By M.G. Alison. First Posted: Sep 22, 2020 05:45 AM EDT

NBA great Michael Jordan has added another sport to his name as he forms a NASCAR team with his long-time friend Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace for the NASCAR Cup Series 2021.

Jordan and Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, announced their new team by simultaneously posting the news on their social media accounts.

Jordan said that he had been a NASCAR fan all his life because when he was growing up in North Carolina, his parents would take him and his siblings to the races.

According to Jordan, the opportunity to have his own racing team in partnership with his friend Hamlin and with Wallace as their race driver is very exciting for him.

Hamlin noted that getting Wallace as their race driver was an easy choice.He added that Wallace had shown tremendous improvement since racing in the Cup Series, and he and Michael Jordan believed that he is ready to take his racing career to a higher level.

The Daytona winner further said that Wallace deserves the opportunity to compete for race wins and that their team will make sure that he will have the resources to be able to do that.

For his part, Wallace shared Hamlin's social media post and commented that being part of the team is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he believes that it is a great fit for him at this point in his career.

Wallace had recently announced that he would be leaving Richard Petty Motorsports by the end of the season. He added that he is grateful and humbled that Michael Jordan and Hamlin believed in him and that he is "super pumped" to start his adventure with them.

Wallace has yet to win in the CUP Series, wherein he had 105 starts in over four seasons. He, however, has six career victories in the Truck series.

According to Wallace, Michael Jordan and Hamlin are great competitors and are focused on building the best team that they possibly can and compete for race wins.

Wallace is the only Black NASCAR driver in the CUP Series, while Jordan is the first Black major owner of a full-time Cup team since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott in the 1970s.

Scott had driven his own race car from 1961 to 1973 for a total of 495 races. His 1964 victory at the Jacksonville 200 is the only win by a Black driver in the NASCAR Cup history.

Jordan joins NBA colleague Brad Daugherty as the only Black owners at the NASCAR's elite Cup level. Daugherty is a partner of the JTG Daugherty Racing.

NASCAR has issued a statement welcoming Jordan to the Cup series. The statement said that Jordan's presence at the NASCAR's top level would add to the excitement and momentum growing around their sport.

Jordan also owns the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA. Aside from the NBA, he has also played in Major League Baseball.