Tyler Reddick admits the first time he met Michael Jordan, he could feel the nerves.
Reddick has no problem driving a race car 200 miles an hour. But meeting one of the world’s most famous athletes who co-owns the 23XI Racing team? That got to him.
“The first time I met Michael. I was really nervous, honestly,” Reddick said. “You’re meeting one of the greatest to ever do it. I remember just being nervous and trying not to say the wrong thing or act like a fool or anything crazy.”
As far as saying the wrong thing, Reddick probably knows that actions speak louder than words, especially when it comes to winning races and championships.
The 28-year-old Reddick will vie for the NASCAR Cup Series title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway as he battles defending Cup champion Ryan Blaney, two-time titlist Joey Logano and William Byron. The highest-finishing driver among those four will be crowned the champion.
Not only is it Reddick’s first time among the Champ 4 drivers in Cup (Reddick won two Xfinity titles in this format), he also makes 23XI’s first appearance in the championship round in the four-year history of the organization. Jordan, a North Carolina native whose father would occasionally work on racing engines, co-owns the team formed by his good friend, Denny Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“As I’ve gotten to know [Jordan] better, spend more time around him, it’s been nice getting know Michael, and him getting to know me and understand also, on top of it, how passionate he is about racing,” Reddick said. “From our first conversation that was something that he made even more apparent to me, but I just also been seeing it through his actions, through his excitement over these last two years, too.”
Jordan sits on the pit box for the races, often right behind the crew chief. For Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, he has gotten comfortable with Jordan’s presence.
After Reddick’s win two weeks ago, Jordan praised Scott’s strategy.
For Scott, also making his first Champ 4 appearance as a crew chief, hearing Jordan talk about him in the media certainly isn’t something he expected.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Scott said. “It’ll be a long time before it fully sets in, but It’s amazing how much he understands and studies the sport and he knows everything that’s going on.
“That’s one thing that [what he says] means a lot because he is as knowledgeable about it as any fan out there and or any other owner for that matter. And so when he does give the compliments, it’s well warranted.”
Tyler Reddick will carry the banner for dirt late model racers as he races for the Cup title
And it goes the other way around. Jordan called into a competition meeting last year and apparently didn’t mince words.
“At the end, he gave his opinion on what he heard — and he didn’t like what he heard,” Hamlin said. “He gave certainly some pointed remarks as to what championship teams sound like, and what winning teams sound like, and how we need to change the way we are communicating and the way we were shifting blame all over the place.
“That was a pivotal moment for our team and our drivers to hear about taking responsibility for each person’s shortcomings and how you are going to get better.”
If Reddick can pull off the title, he’ll not only do it with the extra noise surrounding him driving for Jordan in what is the first trip to the Champ 4 for driver and team co-owner. But the organization also has the extra noise of currently suing NASCAR over antitrust grounds.
Jordan, speaking outside the courtroom Monday, said he feels his team can put that aside.
“The race team is going to focus on what they have to do this weekend, which I expect them to. … I’m looking forward to winning a championship this weekend,” Jordan said.
Reddick said he can put all that noise behind him as well, even in his first Champ 4 attempt. He feels his past experiences in the Xfinity Series will help him focus on the task at hand.
“It doesn’t [impact me],” Reddick said about the 23XI dynamic. “I wish I could explain to you why that’s the case, but for me, I’m just focusing on what I can control — that’s my race car, that’s my team, that’s our preparation and mindset going into the weekend.
“The rest is off to the side and worry about it later.”
If he can capture the title, Reddick is for sure to get another bear hug from Jordan as he did after the Homestead win. On that afternoon, Jordan called Reddick “a little kid.”
Reddick says Jordan can call him that even though Reddick is 28 years old.
“[He] can do whatever he wants as long as we keep getting race-winning race cars like that and keep fighting like we have been this year,” Reddick said. “I would rather Michael say I’m a little kid than him say nothing at all.
“I’m quite OK with it.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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