Kyle Petty jabs Michael Jordan for leaving Michigan early before Tyler Reddick’s win

When Tyler Reddick won his first race of the season at Talladega back in April, Michael Jordan , his 23XI Racing boss, was in attendance.

It was Jordan’s first time being at the racetrack where one his drivers took the checkered flag, and a special moment in the young history of 23XI. Fast forward to this past Sunday at Michigan and once again, Jordan was present. Both Reddick and Bubba Wallace had fast racecars but, in the end, it was Reddick who stayed out of trouble and got to Victory Lane at Michigan. Surely, there was another epic celebration with Jordan, right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, rain pushed the remaining 149 laps to Monday. Jordan didn’t stay at the track, missing out on Reddick getting his second win of the season. Kyle Petty, the NBC Sports analyst, poked fun at Jordan for leaving the track early.

“23XI, seemingly out of nowhere, four years old, is now poised to take the regular season championship against a Penske, against a Hendrick, against a Roush, against a Gibbs, against these teams that are established,” Petty said . “These guys have done a phenomenal job. Tip of the hat to Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan who by the way, shouldn’t have left yesterday or he had been back in Victory Lane.”

Jordan may have missed out, but there could be an even greater celebration in store in just under two months’ time at Phoenix. That, of course, will be up to Reddick, but there’s no denying that he is a championship contender, and perhaps the favorite heading into the playoffs.

Tyler Reddick establishes himself as championship favorite after win at Michigan

Following his victory at Michigan, he sits atop the points standings, leapfrogging Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. He has a series-leading 17 top 10s and 11 top 5s and has finished P8 or better in 10 of the last 11 races.

Reddick has quietly gone about his business while drivers such as Larson, Hamlin and others have grabbed headlines. Yes, those drivers are all championship contenders, but so is Reddick.

“We went into Sunday night kind of scratching our heads on our McDonald’s Toyota Camry. Everyone at 23XI did a really good job,” Reddick said after the race. “We had a good mindset coming into today on what we need. I love running high, and I couldn’t yesterday. I knew that it was important for us to work on that coming into the race today.

“The group did a really good job at that, and we made great adjustments. Honestly, going into stage three we had a tough go of it on pit road, but they had a great catch. Great way to get redemption from one year ago here.”

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