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Sports
Michael Jordan Becomes Nascar Team Owner With Bubba Wallace As Driver
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MS. SHAY
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Denny Hamlin has joined Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan to form a Nascar team with Bubba Wallace as the driver, a high-profile pairing of a Black majority team owner and the only Black driver at Nascar’s top level.
The partnership was an- nounced on Monday night in coordinated social media posts by Jordan and Ham- lin, with Wallace adding his own comment. The posts showed a picture of Jordan alongside a firesuit-clad Hamlin in a motorhome at a race track.
Jordan becomes the first Black principal owner of a full-time Cup team since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott drove his own race car in 495 races from 1961 to 1973. Scott’s 1964 victory at the Jacksonville 200 is the only win by a Black driver in Cup history.
The NBA great, who ear- lier this year pledged $100m over 10 years for initiatives combating systemic racism, said the move into Nascar is another step toward racial equality.
Jordan joins former NBA player Brad Daugh- erty, a partner at JTG Daugherty Racing, as the only
MICHAEL JORDAN, DENNY HAMLIN AND BUBBA WALLACE
Black owners at NASCAR’s elite Cup level.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner and a top contender for this year’s Cup title, will be part of a sin- gle-car Toyota entry aligned with Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin has raced his entire career for Gibbs, a Hall of Fame NFL coach.
Wallace is the only Black driver in the Cup Series and this season used his platform to push for racial equality. The 27-year-old successfully urged Nascar to ban the dis- play of the Confederate flag at its events.
Wallace is winless in 105 Cup starts over four seasons, but he has six career victories in the Truck Series. He’s been hampered by mid-level equipment driving the No43
for Hall of Famer Richard Petty and, until this summer, the team struggled to land sponsorship.
Jordan dabbled in racing before with Michael Jor- dan Motorsports. He owned an AMA Superbike team and had one win in 10 years.
Ja Morant, Zion Williamson Headline NBA's All-Rookie
ZION WILLIAMSON AND JA MORANT
Memphis Grizzlies phenom Ja Morant, the 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year, was a unan- imous selection to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team, as the league announced both of its All-Rookie teams ahead of the start of the Eastern Conference finals.
Morant, who finished with averages of 17.8 points per game and 7.3 assists per game in leading the Grizzlies to the brink of the playoffs after being the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Murray State, was the only unanimous selection for the two All-Rookie teams.
The teams are comprised of 10 players voted on by a global panel of 100 sports writers and broadcasters, and are selected regardless of position.
Joining Morant on the first team are Morant's teammate, forward Brandon Clarke, Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn, New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson and Golden State Warriors for- ward Eric Paschall.
First Team
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