Just imagine it: the roar of 40 overpowered sedans—plastered in vinyls hawking everything from fast food to faith, weed to Creed—bumping and banging at 200 mph. NASCAR has always drawn in unlikely characters. Beyond big screen portrayals by Tom Cruise and Will Ferrell, it has lured celebrity team owners like Pitbull, Super Bowl coach Joe Gibbs, and, most improbably, Michael Jordan. But unlike the others, Jordan has taken his endless hunt for an edge to court—the federal kind, not the hardwood.
Jordan is suing NASCAR for monopoly. His 23XI Racing team, along with Bob Jenkins' Front Row Motorsports, has hauled NASCAR into federal court, claiming new changes to the sport's charter system are unfair to teams. For most fans, the surprise isn't the lawsuit's details but the casting. Jordan, a global icon and owner of one of NASCAR's newest teams, is playing the part of underdog, slinging stones at the France family dynasty that built stock-car racing from a Daytona beach into a billion-dollar circuit.
