Last year, the 23XI Racing team was born, with Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan as co-owners. Around that time, the fledgling organization recruited Bubba Wallace to drive the #23 car. Naturally, one would think that it is incredible that a legendary athlete of Jordan’s caliber is your team owner. However, Bubba Wallace has confessed that he is not starstruck.
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He said, “Nah, never was. Like people think, ‘Oh man, you race for (Michael Jordan)!’. Yeah, it’s cool, but… MJ’s tequila company, Cincoro, we had a party in Nashville for Friday night when we were there for that weekend. George Kittle was there. We were just sitting there talking and MJ walks by, and he’s like freaking out. He’s going nuts. I was like, “Yeah. That’s MJ.” Like my man was going nuts.”
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What else did Bubba Wallace say about Michael Jordan?
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The driver also confessed that Michael Jordan himself had a bit of a fanboy moment at the party. Apparently, when ‘His Airness’ was mingling with Bubba Wallace and other guests, he spotted Kittle was off in the crowd. That was when the Chicago Bulls legend kind of fanboyed a little, while Wallace was a bit calmer.
So Jordan walked up to the San Francisco 49ers tight end and Bubba Wallace introduced the two. From there, the two athletes struck up a conversation right there itself. Suffice it to say, George Kittle was incredibly thankful, and Michael Jordan was the same. While all that was going on, Wallace was nonchalantly sitting and thinking, “Oh, that’s MJ. That’s Kittle. Cool.”
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Now, the #23 driver is looking forward to the upcoming race weekend at the Daytona International Speedway. He is right on the verge of qualifying for the Playoffs, and Daytona is a happy hunting ground for him. Last time out at the Daytona 500, he came extremely close to winning the race, which would check off a huge bucket list item. Now, he is hoping to go one better this weekend.
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