Celebrations are a huge deal in sports, to the point where there are personal celebration choreographers for some sports entities. In motorsport, post-race celebrations have been a tradition for ages. Be it the iconic spin in the grass by Dale Earnhardt at Daytona, to Lewis Hamilton’s crowd surfing at Silverstone. Many such moments encapsulate the overwhelming joy.

One such moment was Tyler Reddick’s Talladega win this year which got Michael Jordan himself to join them at the racing lanes.

When Michael Jordan joined Reddick after a surprise win

The 2024 NASCAR season had quite a few nail-biters, and Talladega was one of them. The race had the fans on the edge of their seats till the last second, when a confident Brad Keselowski said “Watch this”, as everyone including Keselowski thought he was pretty much the clear winner. “I really thought Brad had the race won,” Reddick recalled. But Michael McDowell had some other plans.

“A lot happens quick,”  Tyler Reddick said, recalling the maneuver by McDowell. As the three Fords were approaching the finish line, Spire Motorsport driver Michael McDowell leaned into Keselowski for the overtake, which caused an under-steer, forcing Keselowski to slow down. Amidst all this chaos, Reddick saw an opportunity, and as the saying goes, ‘Chaos is a ladder’ and Reddick lived up to that. The maneuver gave a small window of time for Reddick to step on the gas and go for it, and he did exactly just that, overtaking Keselowski in the last seconds and winning Talladega.

The iconic win called for a celebration, but what better way to celebrate than having the ‘GOAT’ Michael Jordan himself joining you on the track? As soon as Tyler Reddick started celebrating in front of the fans, NBA legend Michael Jordan pulled out from the crew chief booth joining Reddick and his family for the celebration. But that came as a surprise to Tyler Reddick himself as he admitted: “I didn’t even know Michael was there until the race had ended”.

This came as a surprise for everyone because Denny Hamlin once famously called Michael Jordan ‘bad luck’. “Denny keeps saying I’m bad luck when I come to the track” Michael jokingly admitted once. But to make this win even more special, in an even more wholesome moment during the celebration, Reddick’s wife Alexa DeLeon handed over their son Beau to Michael Jordan, recalling that Reddick said: “He’s carrying my kid higher than he’s ever been in his whole life,” implying a sarcastic take on the sheer massive 6’6″ stature of Jordan. He still to this day cherishes that moment and when he looks back at it, he just thinks “Kid just getting casually carried around by MJ”, for which he just had two words: “Pretty wild”.

Future of Reddick with Michael Jordan & Co.

On that day at Talladega, Tyler Reddick added his own unforgettable moment to the archives, which was capped by a surreal moment with Michael Jordan himself. This win wasn’t just a flash in the pan, Reddick had 3 race wins across the season, with an average finish of 12.9 and overall 4th position in championship standings. All this combined, he makes a pretty good case for championship contention next year.

Reflecting on the season, Reddick explained, “I don’t know if ‘reflect’ is really the word that comes to mind for me. I have plenty of good notes to go back through. We all do. I think at some point we’ll review the season as a whole. But yeah, I think at moments I probably have, but not for long periods of time. I’ve just been doing other things outside of racing that’s taking up all my day.” 

Looking ahead, Reddick and 23XI Racing seem stubborn in capitalizing on their momentum. Now with a growing reputation as underdogs punching above their weight and a star-studded leadership team, they have surely slipped into the radar as serious contenders in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Now with Michael Jordan’s 23XI coming in even stronger after the lawsuit, Reddick is can look to make a mark for himself in the 2025 season.