The Big Lead

Did Michael Jordan Start a NASCAR Team to Get Back at Brad Daugherty For Not Watching 'The Last Dance?'

By Stephen Douglas

Brad Daugherty and Michael Jordan.
Brad Daugherty and Michael Jordan. / Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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Michael Jordan is coming to NASCAR. Jordan has teamed up with Jordan Brand's first NASCAR athlete, Denny Hamlin, to start a single car NASCAR Cup Series team. The driver of the car will be Bubba Wallace. The motoviation behind Jordan joining NASCAR? Probably to resume destroying Brad Daugherty's life.

Daugherty played eight seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, making four All-Star teams. During his playing days, he wore number 43 because of Richard Petty. The Cavaliers made the playoffs five times during Daughtery's career. In four of those seasons, the Cavaliers were eliminated by Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

Daugherty retired following the 1993-1994 season. He's a business owner, has worked on and off in both basketball and NASCAR broadcasting, and is co-owner of his own Cup Series team, supporting drivers Ryan Preece and Rickey Stenhouse Jr. He probably assumed in NASCAR he was safe from Jordan, but then he made a fatal error.

In May, Daughtery spoke to The Undefeated and commented on The Last Dance.

"“I haven’t watched one peep of it,” Daugherty told The Undefeated about the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. “I hear about it all the time. I get calls from people. … I appreciate Michael Jordan for what he is and I’ve known him forever. Great basketball player. But I don’t get caught up.”"

He didn't watch? He appreciates Michael Jordan? He's great? If Daugherty had watched The Last Dance, he would have known that Michael Jordan has perceived slights from far more minor transgressions. So is it any coincidence that less than five months later Jordan has not only come to NASCAR, but poached Bubba Wallace, who drove the No. 43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports which is owned by Daugherty's childhood hero?

It is unlikely Jordan rests until Daugherty has been chased from his favorite sport. Who knows what Daugherty must have done as a freshman at North Carolina that caused Jordan to hold a 40-year grudge.