Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin defend Curtis Polk after NASCAR attack in lawsuit: 'It's personal'

Last week, NASCAR filed a countersuit against Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and his business partner Curtis Polk, along with Front Row Motorsports. The GOAT isn’t taking too kindly to the action from NASCAR.

Lawsuits can get messy. Apparently, for Michael Jordan the NASCAR lawsuit has stepped into that territory. It is no longer about business, according to the basketball legend and businessman.

Christopher Yates, attorney for NASCAR, went as far as to single out Polk in a statement to the media. “I don’t think Mr. Polk really understands the sport [of NASCAR],” Yates said, via Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press.

Fryer is reporting today that Michael Jordan is standing by Curtis Polk. As is Denny Hamlin. The 23XI Racing ownership group is standing united, it appears.

“Curtis and MJ stand united,” a spokeswoman told Fryer regarding the countersuit. “His perspective is if you are coming after Curtis, you are coming after him. He doesn’t look at this as just business. It’s personal.”

Hamlin, three-time Daytona 500 winner, also released a statement. He is supporting his co-owners.

“That’s like saying a chef doesn’t know how to cook,” Hamlin said. “He’s built Michael Jordan’s empire for the last 30 years. The guy knows the business. 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.”

This NASCAR lawsuit is personal to Michael Jordan. I’m sure that will go well.

NASCAR responds to Michael Jordan ‘personal’ quote

It hasn’t been long since these statements were released. So, it is shocking to see that NASCAR has already responded to Michael Jordan. Like I said, this is going to go well for everyone involved and definitely won’t end in petty squabbling.

Jenna Fryer of the AP has reported the response from NASCAR. It’s a doozy.

“In response to ‘personal’ NASCAR notes to me they didn’t make it personal but 23XI did when it named Jim France in the original suit,” Fryer wrote on X/Twitter. Now we know how everyone feels about being named in lawsuits.

Michael Jordan and NASCAR are not seeing eye-to-eye. That is for sure. An appeal is coming up in May with a decision in the weeks to come. If that appeal is not successful, NASCAR will likely be heading for a trial in December with 23XI and Front Row. This will be a season-long story.