What started as a joke brings Michael Jordan to NASCAR

Denny Hamlin said he was only starting a joke when he prodded basketball superstar Michael Jordan about the two becoming owners of a NASCAR team after reports linking them as such went public.

The NASCAR star told the NBA legend it was fake news — but if he wanted to make it real, to give him a call.

Which is what Jordan did.

Within 10 days, the joke that Hamlin started became a real deal.

The Jordan-Hamlin collaboration announced this past week doesn’t yet have a name, sponsor or car.

Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s only African-American driver, will be behind the wheel for the one-car team when it comes together. The presence of Jordan — he said he plans on coming to the track often — on pit road is expected to provide a sport known for a lack of diversity with a Hall of Fame dosage of it starting in 2021.

Jordan told NBC Sports that Hamlin’s casual quip spurred a follow-up conversation between friends. Hamlin has been called the Jack Nicholson of the Charlotte Hornets, the NBA team principally owned by Jordan for which the three-time Daytona 500 winner has courtside tickets.

“My biggest conversation to Denny was, ‘Look, I don’t want to get in there just to … finish 18th, 19th, 20th, 30th. I want to win,” Jordan said.

It remains to be seen if he will. Beating Kevin Harvick and the other NASCAR speed demons might not be as easy as hitting a game-winning basket over Craig Ehlo in the playoffs. But if Hamlin was only starting a joke, the hope around the garage area is that it will help NASCAR laugh all the way to the bank.

New rubber to meet LVMS road

In its never-ending quest to make racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway more exciting, NASCAR will introduce a new right-side tire for Sunday’s South Point 400.

Not all the playoff drivers are convinced it will be a race changer in hot weather.

“It’s supposed to be a little bit more grip,” said Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 88 Hendricks Motorsports Chevrolet. “So if it’s more grip, I’d say the race will be similar to February, just in the sense that the track is going to have less (grip), so maybe it will even out a little bit.”

LVMS litmus test

Drivers said winning in Las Vegas is more crucial this year given its spot in the playoff rotation. The South Point 400 precedes unpredictable races at Talladega and the Charlotte “roval” that will reduce the championship-eligible drivers to eight. The Las Vegas winner, provided he’s a playoff driver, automatically advances to the next round.

“Talladega is definitely the wild card, and you don’t necessarily want to have to worry about getting a good finish there, or a finish at all,” said Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 Cup Series champion and defending South Point 400 winner. “I think it would make things a lot easier, a lot less stressful, if we could win at Las Vegas.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.