Having been an advocate of diversity in NASCAR for more than three decades, Brad Daugherty finds Michael Jordon’s effort commendable.
When Michael Jordon and Denny Hamlin founded 23XI Racing they had only one driver in mind, Bubba Wallace, to take the seat of their No. 23 car. Since then, Wallace has repaid the faith of the owners by winning one race in each of the two seasons and showing signs of improvement for further success.
“It’s the most competitive era this sport has ever seen” – Justin Marks on the competitiveness in NASCAR right now
The JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner was full of praise for Jordan for putting Wallace, the only African American full-time driver in NASCAR’s top tier, in this position.
“Without Michael Jordan, we don’t have an African American driver sitting in a seat that’s capable of winning a race every week. This has been my sport for 35 years, I’ve been the guy, the African American guy who’s tried to ply his way towards creating opportunity,”
“And I’ve been able to do that on my race team by bringing guys in. And you see a lot of faces along pit road of color that started with my race team. And I’m proud of that. But I told Michael the significance is, I was never going to be able to put Bubba Wallace in a race car that was capable of winning every week because we’re just small,” Daugherty added.
Daugherty recently became the first black team owner to win Daytona 500 as his No. 47 driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Daytona 500 in double overtime.
Daugherty also revealed that his childhood idol was Richard Petty and he dreamt of winning the Daytona 500 not as a team owner but as a driver. He even said that the win “might be the pinnacle of my sports career”.