Tyler Reddick has finally reacted to his boss, Michael Jordan’s, controversial victory lane celebration last Sunday at Daytona International Speedway. A former NBA legend and Hall of Famer, Jordan co-owns 23XI Racing, a Huntersville-based race team, which Reddick currently drives for.
While Reddick and the No. 45 team celebrated their first-ever Daytona 500 victory, Jordan was seen repeatedly pinching Reddick’s son, Beau’s, buttocks, before rubbing the back of his leg. The clip went viral, sparking a controversy as well as backlash from NASCAR aficionados.
On Monday, Reddick appeared on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio and addressed the matter himself. Well, it seems like Reddick saw nothing harmful in the way Jordan interacted with his six-year-old son.
“From my perspective, I’ve gotten to know Michael and his family very well over the years I’ve been here with 23XI, and I don’t see what other people see when it comes to this,” Tyler Reddick said. “For me, it’s a huge moment; this is the biggest moment of my career.”
Winning the Daytona 500 is indeed a huge deal. Several championship-winning drivers have tried to win the crown jewel event in the past and failed. In fact, it took Dale Earnhardt Sr. 20 years to earn his first and only Daytona 500 triumph.
“It’s a huge moment for my family and for his family, and I just put that off to the side and think about the look on (Michael Jordan’s wife) Yvette’s face and the whole family and his whole group when they got to victory lane too, and just how happy everybody was celebrating together,” Reddick added. “So, that’s where I’m at with it.”
Reddick is now the 44th different NASCAR Cup Series driver to win the Daytona 500. In all, the back-to-back NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion (2018, 2019) owns nine career Cup Series wins.
“It Becomes Messy Pretty Quick”- Kevin Harvick Weighs In on Expectations for Tyler Reddick at 23XI Racing
On a recent episode of the “Happy Hour Podcast,” former Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick explained why winning the Daytona 500 was important for Tyler Reddick and the #45 team. To him, expectations for Reddick have reached a point where succeeding has become a must.
Reddick is currently in his third year driving for 23XI Racing, which expanded to a three-car team only last season. He spent the 2025 season winless, only to snap a 38-race winless streak with his Daytona sweep.
“We put a lot of pressure on Tyler Reddick. He needs to win,” Harvick said. “Everything that they put into 23XI’s cars and Toyota. All the things that happen over there are built to win. Michael Jordan expects to win, Denny Hamlin expects to win, Tyler Reddick expects to win.”
“If they don’t go to Victory Lane, it becomes messy pretty quick, in my opinion,” he added.
Next up for Tyler Reddick is the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway, formerly known as the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Scheduled for February 22, the 260-lap event will be televised on FOX, with live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, starting at 3 pm ET.
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