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Jordan expects his new NASCAR team to win: 'That's my competitive nature'

ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP / Getty

Michael Jordan is NASCAR's newest owner and plans to run his race team with the same winning mentality as his championship playing days with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan, who also owns the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, announced Monday he had paired with driver Denny Hamlin to form the NASCAR team, which will feature Bubba Wallace as its driver.

Jordan believes the trio has the right recipe for success.

"My biggest conversation to Denny was, 'Look, I don't want to get in there to just go around the races and just go around and around and around and finish up 18th, 19th, 20th, 30th," Jordan told Dustin Long of NBC Sports. "I want to win. I want to be put in a position for the best chance for us to win. That's my competitive nature. That's always been who I am."

The 57-year-old Jordan explained he didn't have plans of becoming a NASCAR owner, but things came together over the last 10 days after Hamlin made a joke about them forming a team together.

"It was one of those things, again, it's always been on my mind," Jordan said of becoming an owner. "I go with my gut feeling. When the time is right you know it. When this was presented to me, I felt good about it. When Bubba was involved in the whole conversation I felt good about it."

Along with becoming the first Black principal owner of a full-time Cup Series team since Wendell Scott in 1973, Jordan will bring a presence to the NASCAR circuit. Paired with Hamlin and Wallace, the team is already drawing attention.

"They're going to be like rock stars," co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing, Brad Daugherty, said.

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