Michael Jordan isn’t the only NBA superstar with a NASCAR team in his portfolio.
As most NASCAR fans know, the basketball legend is part owner of 23XI Racing alongside Denny Hamlin. The team fields Cup Series rides for Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, and Jordan has been active in his ownership role of his team and become a regular fixture on pit road.
There’s also Brad Daugherty, who’s not only been a longtime NASCAR analyst since retiring from the NBA after 8 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but is also co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing, which runs the #47 car for 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
But did you know there’s actually a third NBA player with an ownership stake in a NASCAR Cup Series team?
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is a minority owner of Fenway Sports Group, an ownership group whose holdings include Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, and the Premier League’s Liverpool F.C. soccer team.
And they are also co-owners of the NASCAR Cup Series’ RFK Racing team, along with Jack Roush and Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.
The team was originally founded by Roush as Roush Racing, but in 2007 Fenway Sports Group’s owner John Henry bought a 50% stake in the team and renamed it Roush Fenway Racing. Then in 2021, Brad Keselowski joined the team as co-owner and driver of the #6 car.
Of course LeBron isn’t as visible of an owner as Michael Jordan or Brad Daugherty, which makes sense because not only is he a small minority owner but he’s also still an active NBA player.
But he does still publicly offer his support to his team:
And in 2022, one of RFK’s cars driven by Chris Buescher even featured the LeBron James Foundation as a sponsor.
Now we just need to see him alongside Michael Jordan on pit road at a race someday.
