Michael Jordan never shied away from taking a dig at his opponent after a win. For the 2025 Clash at Bowman Gray, fans felt like the 23XI Racing owner was trying to do the same thing with the paint scheme for the Toyota Camry. Paint schemes always excite fans, and as the new season rolls up, and wait with bated breath to see their favorite team’s new look. The ones fans are most eager about are probably, Sammy Smith’s #8 car in the Xfinity Series. Or Shane Van Gisbergen’s Red Bull scheme. We are also excited to see Denny Hamlin’s #11 paired with the new sponsor King’s Hawaiian.

And speaking of Hamlin, his and Michael Jordan’s owned 23XI is always on top when it comes to paint schemes. Be it Bubba Wallace’s Jujutsu Kaisen car or Tyler Reddick’s Jumpman cars. And even this time, the team had outdone itself, making a special car for “The Clash.” The first look had fans in awe, but now it’s been deleted from all their social media handles. A move that has left fans confused and saddened.

What happened with the #45’s BGS car?

23XI Racing is now regularly making headlines. If not lawsuit-related, then something else. So., here’s the thing. The NASCAR Cup Series is coming back to the Bowman Gray after 1971. And 23XI Racing to commemorate it had a special paint scheme planned. It was a #45 black and white car with the Jumpman logo on the hood and the sides. And it’s got some tape over the logo. Finally, the bumper reads ‘UNBANNABLE.’ Now that’s something we want to see on NASCAR tracks.

This scheme was released in an X post via 23XI Racing’s official account. The caption read, “40 years of greatness hits the track.” But after roughly three hours of the post being public, it was mysteriously deleted. But in today’s day and age that is a long time, so basically everyone has already seen it. If you haven’t, here, take a look:

This scheme would have killed it with fans as it’s got a deep old connection to Michael Jordan and his NBA career. Jordan was already a phenomenon drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. And Nike wanted to sponsor him. But They knew MJ would need something special to sign with them. Fast forward, they made the first Air Jordan. The red-black sneakers were the first time any rookie had a shoe named after them. That got Jordan wooed and on the Nike roster.

And the best part was the marketing strategy. NBA rules said the sneakers on the court need to be 51% white and match with your teammates. But MJ wore the red ones, regardless. This created a rage,. MJ was fined, and the shoes were banned. But it started what would become the world’s most popular sneaker brand. After getting banned, Nike released a commercial of MJ wearing the shoes with a voiceover that said, “Fortunately, the NBA can’t ban you from wearing them.” Naturally, the shoes became insanely popular. It was kind of the start of an NBA revolution.

It’s been 40 years since then, and Reddick’s car was a tribute to that era. Hence, when the post was deleted and Reddick may not be bringing that car, fans were disappointed.

Fans question the mysterious disappearance!

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Surely when the 2025 season would have ended. And the list of the top 10 paint schemes from the season came out. This one would have been included. Imagine the die-cast of this. Fans’ disappointment is understandable. One fan, probably still hoping it comes back, wrote, “Now that’s a scheme!!!” More like what a scheme it could have been. But it’s puzzling to us why would 23XI Racing do this. It had a perfect story and perfect timing.

Well, some fans think this is NASCAR’s doing. But we resonate with a fan when he said, “Why would NASCAR ban this?” Any paint scheme is largely harmless. Unless it violates some NASCAR rules. Schemes have been banned in the past. Like the Skoal Bandit car. But that was largely to prevent tobacco branding. Or how political sponsorships or movie promotional car schemes were banned in the past.

But the #45 car doesn’t really fit any of this bracket. Still, fans continued to blame the racing organization. A fan wrote, “NASCAR did this. They took it as a shot and would probably have kicked them out of the clash if they could.” Some fans think it’s something related to the anti-trust lawsuit, “Guess they didn’t clear it with the lawyers…” Well, that could be the case. So the same shoes from ’84 are making their way back in Feb 2025. Around the same as the Clash. So maybe this was like a promotional thing and NASCAR stopped it. Maybe the preliminary injunction gives them charter rights, but not the right to use NASCAR as a personal advertising platform. That’s only our guess. The actual reasons are still unknown.

Another theory could be that Michael Jordan was taking a dig at NASCAR for trying to ‘ban’ 23XI from being a chartered team during the preliminary injunction. Now that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports won that, this could have been a subtle nod towards that, while maintaining the original story of the iconic Air Jordan’s anniversary. Regardless, it seems like the ‘unbannable’ pain scheme has indeed been banned.

So yeah, like this fan wrote, “unbannable was in fact bannable 💔” And who knows, maybe this is part of MJ and the team’s genius marketing plan. They probably knew NASCAR would not let them run such a scheme. Just like how they knew the NBA would not let them have the shoes on the court. But still, they went ahead with it. What if 23XI Racing plotted to get the paint scheme banned? So that there is enough hype, regardless.

What do you think? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.