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“OUT OF FUEL! OUT OF FUEL!” As soon as Tyler Reddick uttered those words, Hamlin swooped past him to grab the lead of the race. At that moment, nobody thought Reddick would get a chance to visit the victory lane today. Yet here he is, enjoying the spoils of victory while Hamlin, who felt like the race winner until overtime, finished P4. For Michael Jordan, though, Hamlin’s misery couldn’t have come at a better time.

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Michael Jordan relishes Denny Hamlin’s failure at Kansas

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin might be partners off-track, but whenever NASCAR hits the track, the two become arch-nemeses. Hamlin, racing for JGR, becomes the dominant force that 23XI Racing needs to overcome nearly every weekend for a better finish.

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Thus, it’s no wonder Jordan couldn’t help but enjoy a little when Hamlin lost out on the final restart. Talking about the race, Jordan happily said, “I mean. Look, I am racing against Denny. So, I really wanted to beat him. Because I know we’re going to talk a lot of trash a little bit later, but it was a good race!”

While they did win the race, the final few laps gave them enough of a scare to scramble in desperation. It is a miracle that the caution came out when it did, and Tyler Reddick was able to stage a near-impossible comeback.

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“When we started running out of fuel, I didn’t know what was happening, but all the guys at 23XI drove well today. We finished, I think, with all four cars in the top 15. That says a lot about the program, and this kid is on fire. I don’t know what to say; I don’t even know if I could calm him.

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“He’s unbelievable. Those were an unbelievable last couple of laps, and I am proud of him. I am proud of the whole team.” Reddick started the race on pole today, and though he lost out to Hamlin and Larson in the early stages, the final stage was all his to dominate.

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With five wins in the first nine races of the season, Reddick once again finds himself toe to toe with Dale Earnhardt. Nearly four decades after Earnhardt Sr., Reddick became the first driver to achieve this milestone. The last time it happened was in 1987, the season Dale Earnhardt won his third championship.

So what exactly does Michael Jordan feel about his team and their milestones?

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Michael Jordan admits to the perks of victory

“Yeah, when you win, it’s always fun.” Jordan did not hold back the slightest when Jamie Little asked him post-race about his feelings after victory. Moreover, 23XI Racing is currently going through its best season in the NASCAR Cup Series.

What makes it even more special is the fact that Jordan has been a witness to each one of these victories and more. “Right now it’s fun for everybody at 23XI, so me being here and being able to see all the wins, I am so happy for them. I just think we need to continue building on this without a doubt,” Jordan exclaimed.

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His words suggest that he is not satisfied with mere victories from the regular season. Jordan has always been a competitive athlete, and his NBA persona translates to NASCAR when he visits them on the track. The points Reddick has been accumulating in the first half of the regular season make him a strong contender for the regular-season crown.

What that means is that Reddick might just get an edge when NASCAR begins its first rendition of the newest Chase to Cup format for 2026. The grid does not have any answer to Toyota’s speed for now, and at this point, Reddick seems to be running away with the trophies.

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Rohan Singh

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Rohan Singh is a NASCAR Writer at Essentially Sports who is accustomed to conveying his passion for motorsports to a large audience. He has previously created driver and event pages for NASCAR legends like Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and the Crown Jewel events of the sport like the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. As a writer, Rohan uses his understanding of the technical concepts of engineering to deconstruct the complex and highly technological motorsports vertical for his audience. He fell in love with motorsports in 2013, watching Sebastian Vettel claim his crown in India, and since then, he has been pursuing motorsports as his lifelong goal. Armed with the technical know-how and engineering expertise of a Mechanical Engineering degree, and pairing it with his journalistic experience of more than 600 articles in motorsports, Rohan likes to reel in his audience by simplifying the technicalities of the sport and authoring content which appeals to them as a dedicated motorsports fan himself.

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Suyashdeep Sason

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