Denny Hamlin knows having NBA legend Michael Jordan by his side has impacted his career in a good way. While speaking to former NASCAR star Kenny Wallace, Hamlin talked about the advice Jordan gave him as he looks to win a Cup Series Championship.
“He’s always been such a big supporter of mine,” Hamlin said. “You can go back to video of him coming to Homestead when I’ve been part of the championship battle for years and years. He’s always attended. He’s gone out of his way to support me.
“Along the way, yes he gives me motivation. He says the right things to me that makes me lock in and get focused. But he also knows it’s on me to have to want it. I have to want it. If I don’t want it, I don’t want it as bad as it takes to win it, then it’s never going to happen.”
Hamlin went on to talk about how he has missed out on winning a Cup Series championship because the “stars just don’t align.” He added that he keeps putting himself “in position,” and a championship will come, leading to Hamlin revealing the biggest thing that Jordan has taught him.
“Just keep putting myself in position, stay focused and keep putting the work in,” Hamlin said. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I’m going to be just fine. As Mark Martin would say, ‘My life is no different today than if had I won the 1995 championship. It just doesn’t change anything.’”
Denny Hamlin talks launching 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan
Hamlin and Jordan have such a strong relationship, the two launched 23XI Racing that features Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. In April, Hamlin spoke to Barstool Sports about the orginals of 23XI Racing.
“I didn’t realize that his mom and dad used to take him to the NASCAR races when he was a kid, with his brothers and sisters. He went to Darlington, he went to Talladega, he went to Charlotte. A lot of the tracks that we go to still today. So that grew his passion for racing,” Hamlin said about Jordan. “Basically, I was in the middle of COVID, kicking around some tires with some speculative team owners, and I wanted to purchase a stake, a minority stake in a race team, but I wanted to control the competition. The business side of that team. I never was gonna get the control I really wanted.”
Hamlin sent Jordan an article about the two looking to buy a stake in Richard Petty Racing. That led to Jordan telling Hamlin that if he was seriously looking into ownership, let him know.
“I said, ‘Hey, I need a business plan put together, how we’re going to start a race team, and I need it within 48 hours, because I’m flying down to Florida and meet him.’ They worked day and night, came up with the business plan, how we’re going to make it work, showed it to him,” Hamlin said. “He said, ‘Listen, I love it. But this has got to go through my people, and that’s gonna take some time.’ So for the next month and a half to two months, his group vetted it and looked it over, and said we’re in.”
