"It's a true honor": Tyler Reddick addresses Michael Jordan's delightful celebrations following his Homestead win
A big highlight after Tyler Reddick won at Homestead was the celebrations of his boss, Michael Jordan. The NBA legend is the co-owner of 23XI Racing alongside Denny Hamlin. And after Reddick earned Jordan his first major milestone with his NASCAR endeavor in a regular season championship, his Homestead win earned him a shot to achieve an even bigger milestone.
This is because Reddick's Homestead win earned him a place in the Championship 4 lineup, which would mean that he now has a chance to win the NASCAR Cup Series title in Phoenix in a couple of weeks.
But after his win at Homestead, Tyler Reddick was asked about Michael Jordan's celebrations and to shed light on what the moment of celebrating with the former Chicago Bulls man was like.
"It’s special, man. He’s dedicated a lot of his time, his efforts, his money into elevating 23XI to where it is right now. He’s fully committed to this team, to our organization. To be able to reward him with the days like we had today, it’s a true honor. It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it. He believed in me. He believes in this team. The people, him, Denny, everybody else, has put together to create what 23XI is. He’s put a lot towards it. It’s really cool in these critical moments to be able to deliver for him and for everybody else that’s a part of the team," Reddick described.
Tyler Reddick further revealed what Michael Jordan told him after he gave him 'a bear hug.' The #45 driver claimed Jordan was 'really proud' because he overcame on the good side after fighting through adversity and never giving up.
Reddick emphasized that MJ believes in him, in 23XI Racing, and mentioned that even though circumstances weren't ideal, his team had to overcome them.
The Homestead winner added that Jordan was 'really proud' of the entire team for their effort.
Michael Jordan claims 23XI Racing needed Tyler Reddick to win at Homestead
Amid 23XI Racing's ongoing legal controversy with NASCAR over the charter battle, Tyler Reddick winning at Homestead to book his Phoenix ticket was something Michael Jordan claimed was a big deal for the team.
The NBA legend said after the race:
"Little kid drove his ass off. I’m proud of him. Oh man, he just let go. He just went for it, and I’m glad. We needed it. We needed it."
Tyler Reddick claimed he did all that it took to win the race, considering they're fighting for a championship. As for his last lap pass on Ryan Blaney which came in the penultimate corner of the race, Reddick said he couldn't believe the pass.
All he knew, Reddick added, was that he had to get on the right side of the #12's door as he expressed his excitement to be racing for a championship in Phoenix.