Michael Jordan has warned NASCAR that he stands by his right-hand man Curtis Polk and that this ongoing legal war is ‘personal’ for the NBA legend.
‘If you are coming after Curtis, you are coming after (me),’ Jordan said through a spokesperson.
Back in October, Jordan’s 23XI Racing and another team, Front Row Motorsports, filed a joint antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series.
They alleged that the new charter system – NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise model that assures charter holders certain financial guarantees and a place in all 36 Cup Series races – limits competition by unfairly binding teams to the series, its tracks and its suppliers.
The two groups branded chairman Jim France and his family ‘monopolistic bullies’, while vowing to stand up to them and ‘refuse to be victims’.
NASCAR then launched a stunning countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row and Polk, a 23XI co-owner who has advised Jordan for decades. Jordan’s team were accused of being part of an ‘illegal cartel’.
Michael Jordan has warned NASCAR that he stands by his right-hand man Curtis Polk
Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a lawsuit against NASCAR in October
The NBA legend’s business manager Polk (right) is singled out in NASCAR’s countersuit
Polk, Jordan’s longtime business manager and partner, was singled out in NASCAR’s countersuit as the mastermind for a near-mutiny. He was accused of threatening a boycott of the Daytona 500 qualifying races.
But Jordan, through a spokeswoman, warned NASCAR that everything Polk has done represents the NBA icon. Polk owns a piece of 23XI alongside Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.
‘Curtis and MJ stand united. His perspective is if you are coming after Curtis, you are coming after him,’ said the spokeswoman. He doesn’t look at this as just business. It’s personal.’
NASCAR attorney Christopher Yates told The Associated Press that he doesn’t ‘think Mr. Polk really understands the sport’.
He said: ‘He’s done a lot of things that might work in the NBA or might be OK in the NBA but just are not appropriate in NASCAR.’
Hamlin also took exception to Yates’ comments. ‘That’s like saying a chef doesn’t know how to cook. He’s built Michael Jordan’s empire for the last 30 years. The guy knows the business,’ Hamlin said.
‘Curtis has just been fantastic for our team and certainly a pioneer, I believe, and a trailblazer for new ideas that our team uses every single time we hit the racetrack and how we do business.’
Polk has advised Jordan since 1989 and manages Jordan’s financial and business affairs, family office and related companies.
Jordan has vowed ‘to fight for a competitive market’ for all teams across the NASCAR world
He advised Jordan during the launch of Nike’s Jordan Brand in 1997 and was an executive producer of ‘The Last Dance’, the award-winning docuseries chronicling the Chicago Bulls and Jordan’s NBA rise.
There have been warnings that a victory for 23XI in court could cause NASCAR to disband the entire charter system. A trial is slated for December.
Thirteen teams signed the charters just before last season’s playoffs after a take-it-or-leave-it offer by NASCAR.
But 23XI and Front Row held out — in large part because of a clause in the charter that prohibits teams from suing NASCAR — and since both teams didn’t like the terms, they wanted the right to sue over antitrust allegations.
Jordan has said he’s suing NASCAR on behalf of all the teams so that even the smallest ones can receive equal footing in terms of benefits as a participant in the top motorsports league in the United States.
