Michael Jordan has lifted the lid on his bitter legal battle with NASCAR, with the NBA icon admitting he was ‘nervous’ to take the stand in court but was ‘all in’ on the lawsuit.
Jordan, who won six championships with the Chicago Bulls during an illustrious career, gave a rare interview to Gayle King that aired in full on CBS Sunday morning.
The 63-year-old is famously private and rarely gives one-to-one interviews. Even this one with King, she admitted in a teaser earlier this week, was ’10 years in the making’.
Jordan revealed that his love for NASCAR came from his mechanic father and his ‘love for cars’, joking both he and his mom liked ‘driving fast’ when he was growing up.
But before a NASCAR lap had even been driven this year, Jordan secured victory in a landmark legal battle when he and co-owner Denny Hamlin took on the motorsport giant with a federal antitrust lawsuit.
The settlement in December was considered a major victory for Jordan that secured a permanent franchise-style model and ensured the team would remain in business for the long-term.
Speaking to Gayle for CBS News Sunday Morning, Jordan revealed his reasons for taking on NASCAR and why he was dreading taking the stand in court.
He said: ‘Oh yeah, I was definitely nervous. Don’t get me wrong. Being in a courtroom makes me nervous. That’s not where I want to be, really. I was all in. I was going to win.
‘This fight was needed, you know? And I was going to fight even harder. If I got kicked out, at least I made people aware that change needs to happen in the sport, you know?
‘I went in with the idea that I don’t care – even if I lost, I won.’
Jordan also revealed to King that he’s never sat inside a NASCAR car, and never will, because at 6ft 6ins he simply can’t fit.
He told King that he’s now living a ‘quieter life’ away from basketball but conceded the recent legal tussle with NASCAR has kept him in the spotlight.
But, while he’s still been making plenty of headlines, Jordan insists the pressure of owning a team is completely different to the burden he felt playing basketball in Chicago.
‘The burden of living a certain way, you know? Living up to – trying to maintain whatever everybody’s perspectives is for you or was for you,’ he continued.
‘That is a burden, you know? And it’s a lot of people that has to endure it. And there’s a certain period of time that you can go through that, and then at some point in time you say, “I’m tired of doing that”.’
Despite his move into NASCAR, Jordan admitted there’s a ‘huge piece’ of him that wishes he could return to the basketball court.
‘But I’ve compensated that – that feeling through NASCAR or through fishing,’ he said.
‘But that urge to dream, that if I wish I can still pick up a basketball and… I would love to do that. Believe me.’
The interview comes on the back of an incredible start to the NASCAR season for Jordan’s 23XI Racing team.
They have won four of six races so far this season, including the iconic Daytona 500.
