As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, it is a track where the Air Jordan paint scheme first won with Kurt Busch. Tyler Reddick has since won (at Talladega) with the Jumpman logo on the hood.
Which makes one think, now that he has driven for 23XI Racing — co-owned by Michael Jordan — for the past couple of years, what type of shoe game does Tyler Reddick have?
Here’s Reddick talking a little bit about sneakers with FOX Sports:
Since you race for Michael Jordan, I’m curious about your history with sneakers. Like, were you a big shoe guy before?
I like shoes, but I went to the dirt track and lived in a hauler. The hauler was dirty. The track’s muddy. That’s just no place for Jordans to be, honestly, if you really cared about wearing it more than a month. So I didn’t have a grand collection, that’s for sure. But we race asphalt everywhere we go now. We had that one dirt race, It’s been nice to know the only time I have to worry about what I’ve got on my feet is when I get out of the plane or walk to the rental car in the grass lot. Other than that, I know I can, for the most part, keep my shoes pretty clean.
Do you pay a lot more attention to shoes now that you drive for MJ?
I always did pay attention to shoes. But it’s just been really fun to … probably my favorite brand of shoe was Jordans. And now I get to just stockpile them. I’ve got many choices when it comes to what color I’m going to wear that day with what I have on the car, or what I’m feeling like wearing to the shop, or whatever I’ve got going on. Between the highs and lows, I’ve got plenty of options for summer and winter.
So do friends ask you now for shoes?
They have, yeah. Trying to figure out what I can put where and who can get what is a task.
Do you go back and forth like, I can give them, no, I should keep them. Or how do you balance it?
Anything I get shipment-wise, I’m keeping all of it because it’s my size. But, if I’m ever looking around and see a shoe that I like, but they don’t have it in my size, I try and think, “OK, who’s that size?” And decide if I’m going to get it or not.
I guess then not many people have your size of shoe?
I think the 9 is normal. The 9s are hardly ever in stock. Size 9, I feel like it’s kind of in that window of shoes that are hard to find.
And so how many shoes do you have? Do you have a storage space for shoes at home?
I’m out of storage space. I’ve got to take my workout/storage room and turn it into a shoe room. That’ll be fun.
It’s pretty wild?
Yeah, you would think my wife would have all the shoes. But it’s actually me that has all the shoes.
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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