NASCAR Star Kurt Busch Reveals Incredible Gift From Michael Jordan After First Win With 23XI

When Michael Jordan joined the NASCAR Cup Series as a team owner prior to the 2021 season it came as a surprise to many.

Jordan had long been known as a NASCAR fan, but had not spoken outwardly about potentially owning a team.

And new teams on the grid traditionally struggled to compete with long-running powerhouse organizations such as Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.

But Jordan had a plan.

He partnered with future hall of fame driver Denny Hamlin, who joined the organization as a minority owner. The two also formed a technical alliance with Gibbs.

The first season on the grid was a learning experience. But 23XI and driver Bubba Wallace each picked up their first ever victories at Talladega Super Speedway in October of 2021.

Jordan, Hamlin and company expanded to a two-car team in 2022. They announced that former series champion and veteran driver Kurt Busch would take over the No. 45 car.

Busch brought with him over 30 career victories and a hall of fame resume of his own.

His first season with the organization brought immediate success. Busch finished fifth at Phoenix Raceway in just his fourth start for the team and third one week later at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Later that year, he picked up his first victory for the organization in dramatic fashion at Kansas Speedway, passing reigning series champion Kyle Larson late in the race.

As it turns out Busch not only left with a trophy, but also with a special piece of memorabilia from Jordan himself following the victory.

Busch recenlty revealed the story behind how he came to acquire a signed Michael Jordan rookie card on Stacking Pennies podcast with Corey LaJoie.

“I called my Vegas guy that’s a huge card collector. I go, ‘find me an MJ rookie card.’ He goes ‘gimme two days,'” Busch began. “So I’ve got it now, just in a nice sleeve and couple other envelopes. And I take it to Daytona. Here’s my game plan.

“I hand (Jordan) this little brown paper bag and he’s like ‘you don’t have to give me anything.’ He unwraps it, goes through it, looks at it and goes ‘damn, you paid a pretty penny for this, didn’t you?’ And I go, ‘I got you something else.’ And I pulled out an autograph pen. One of the blue, primary autograph pens.

“And I said, ‘if you sign that, you keep it. You hold on to it. But when we win together, I got get it back.'”

What an awesome story.

Sadly, Busch ran just seven more races for the team. He suffered a crash in qualifying at Pocono Speedway later that season that caused a concussion.

He sat out the remainder of the season due to post-concussion symptoms and stepped away from the sport in October. Busch then formally announced his retirement in August.

But he goes out with both legendary career and one heck of a story to tell.