After years of frustration as an NBA executive, the basketball legend’s 23XI Racing team has surged to the front of the Cup series, reshaping his legacy

Michael Jordan the basketball player is success personified, the legend against whom all others are measured. Michael Jordan the sports executive, on the other hand, has spent much of the past three decades falling short of his own impossible standard.

In 1999, Jordan joined Abe Pollin’s Washington Wizards ownership group as a history-making minority partner, but neither his star power nor a brief return from retirement translated into sustained team success. Eleven years later, he took over the Charlotte Bobcats, replacing BET co-founder Robert Johnson as the league’s only Black majority owner – but poor roster moves, questionable hires and three playoff appearances in 13 years, with nary one series victory, ultimately became his legacy as the principal steward of the retro-branded Charlotte Hornets.

The basketball legend says Nascar gives teams too little power with too much risk. His lawsuit could force historic changes to how one of America’s biggest sports is run

Michael Jordan took the stand on Friday in his landmark antitrust fight against Nascar, a case that could reshape how one of America’s biggest sports is run. Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports say Nascar holds so much control over everything, from the tracks to the money to the rulebook, that teams have no real bargaining power. Nascar denies that and says the lawsuit threatens to blow up a system that has held the sport together for decades.

The case has already pulled blunt internal messages into public view and laid bare long-running frustrations between teams and Nascar leadership. Denny Hamlin, Jordan’s co-owner, has said the trial will finally “hear the truth” about how the series “really operates”.

• Jordan testifies in Nascar antitrust case

• Says he invested $40m into 23XI team

• Criticizes charter system as unlawful

Michael Jeffrey Jordan, as he cordially introduced himself to the federal courtroom in Charlotte on Friday, admitted it was his competitive side and novelty within the sport that emboldened a push for 23XI Racing to “challenge” Nascar over what he perceived were violations of antitrust rules.

Jordan shared financial and corporate details of his 23XI team and said he invested $40m of his own funds in the success of the Nascar Cup series team launched along with business partner Curtis Polk and longtime driver Denny Hamlin.