CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR’s management structure is unfair to its teams and drivers, with money and power in the hands of people who don’t risk life and limb on the oval, basketball legend Michael Jordan told a court on Friday.
Testimony from Jordan and the daughter-in-law of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs highlighted courtroom action Friday, in a federal antitrust case, accusing NASCAR of operating as monopolistic bullies.
“Someone had to step forward to challenge NASCAR,” said Jordan, a co-owner of 23XI Racing.
Jordan explained that NASCAR needs to be run more like the NBA, with a mutually beneficial partnership between the league and its teams.
“If you share responsibility, the healthiness of the sport can grow,” he said. “It needed to be looked at from a whole different perspective. That’s why we’re here.”
Drivers are risking their lives to race with no insurance or union protections, according to the former North Carolina Tar Heel, who won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.
“I never saw (NASCAR CEO) Jim France drive a car and risk his life,” Jordan said.
Even though 13 of 15 NASCAR Cup Series teams have signed the 2025-2031 charter agreement extension, those organizations had no real choice, according to Heather Gibbs, chief operating officer of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR).
Before Jordan took the stand, Gibbs told the court that signing was the only option in what amounted to a “take-it-or-leave-it” situation.
“As if you have a gun to your head,”Gibbs said of her team’s decision to sign.
Even though JGR is on one of the sport’s most storied organizations, Gibbs said profits have been hit-and-miss under the current NASCAR system.
“Some years, not every year,” she told a NASCAR attorney asking if JGR is a money maker.
Three of NASCAR’s top five drivers, No. 2 and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, No. 3 Chase Briscoe and No. 5 Christopher Bell, race out of the JGR stable.
Despite the massive stakes on the table and the occasional tough words, both sides were remarkably cordial to one another in court on Friday.
When a NASCAR attorney finished his cross-examination of Jordan, he told the all-time basketball great: “My 9-year-old thinks I’m pretty cool today.”
Jorden joked that the NASCAR attorney should’ve been laced up in the former player’s famed hight tops in court.
“You’re not wearing your Jordans today,” Jordan quipped.
Charlie Gile reported from Charlotte, N.C., and David K. Li from New York City.
Anthony Cusumano contributed.
