Tyler Reddick will arrive at Phoenix Raceway with more than a historic winning streak on the line. The 23XI Racing driver is also unveiling an Air Jordan-themed No. 45 Toyota that turns his latest NASCAR Cup Series start into a rolling tribute to Michael Jordan. The new look fuses Jordan Brand iconography with a car that has already become one of the central storylines of the 2026 season.
The Jordan-inspired scheme underscores how closely Reddick’s rise is now tied to Michael Jordan’s growing presence in stock car racing. As the No. 45 team chases a rare four-race run of victories, the Phoenix debut of this Air Jordan concept gives the organization a visual identity that matches its competitive momentum.
The Air Jordan concept comes to the No. 45
The Air Jordan-themed No. 45 continues a pattern of 23XI Racing using its cars as canvases for basketball history. The organization has previously placed an iconic image of Michael Jordan on Tyler Reddick’s car for a Chicago street event, turning a NASCAR entry into a moving homage to Jordan’s legacy in the Windy City and to the sport’s return to Chicago. For Phoenix, the team has leaned even harder into Jordan Brand styling, with the No. 45 Toyota Racing USA Camry dressed in a sleek look that reflects the footwear line that defined Jordan’s NBA superstardom.
Social posts promoting the Phoenix weekend show NASCAR fans a 23XI Racing design explicitly billed as a Jordan Brand-inspired paint scheme for Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota Racing USA Camry at Phoenix. The look aligns the car with the same aesthetic that has defined Air Jordan shoes for decades, and it arrives at a track that promotes its own major events through Phoenix Raceway as it prepares for the Straight Talk Wireless 500.
Reddick’s historic streak and the Phoenix stakes
Tyler Reddick enters Phoenix as one of the defining figures of the early NASCAR Cup Series season. A driver profile that tracks his career through Tyler Reddick shows a competitor who has steadily climbed into the sport’s top tier, and that ascent has accelerated in 2026. Reddick and the No. 45 team for 23XI Racing have already made NASCAR Cup Series history earlier this year by stringing together a run of victories that places them alongside some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers at Phoenix and beyond, according to coverage that highlights how Reddick and the No. 45 group are chasing a rare accomplishment in the modern Cup Series format.
At the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix, the No. 45 entry delivered another landmark result. Race reports describe how the event’s Texas Grand Prix Results confirmed that Tyler Reddick Makes History with a 3rd Straight Win, with the phrase Straight Win used to emphasize the scale of the achievement for Tyler Reddick and Michael Jordan’s 23XI group in the NASCAR Cup Series Texas Grand Prix. Another account of his season notes that Tyler Reddick, who drives for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, has made history as the first driver in NASCAR’s 77-year history to open a campaign with this particular combination of success, a benchmark that underscores how unusual the current streak is in the 77-year story of NASCAR.
Michael Jordan’s growing NASCAR footprint
Michael Jordan’s role in this story extends far beyond the logo on the hood. Reports on his involvement describe how NASCAR is getting its biggest dose yet of Michael Jordan, the team owner, as Tyler Reddick continues his historic start to the 2026 season, with the No. 45 group going for a four-peat at Phoenix while Jordan’s visibility around the series increases with each win. That coverage frames the current run as a turning point in which NASCAR and Michael Jordan, the owner, are becoming tightly linked in the public imagination, especially as the sport weighs how much of a boost it can receive from this streak and the Air Jordan connection.
Jordan himself has spoken about the dynamic inside 23XI Racing, crediting his partner Denny Hamlin for the day-to-day building of the team and describing his own approach as a backer who simply wants to put up the resources and let racers do their work. In an interview that looked ahead to Phoenix Raceway next Sunday, he praised how Denny has done an unbelievable job in terms of helping build this team and said that he believes the group has done a good job of taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the season opening Daytona 500 and the subsequent run through Circuit of the Americas, where Reddick’s performance gave Jordan another taste of a three peat in a different sport from his NBA dominance Michael Jordan Praises.
Why Phoenix and the Jordan tie-in matter now
The Phoenix weekend brings several storylines together at once. The Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway is the next stop for Jordan, Reddick, and 23XI, and coverage of that schedule notes that the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway will be the stage where the Air Jordan-themed No. 45 attempts to extend its run while Michael Jordan plans to be present at the track. The event is part of a broader slate of NASCAR and INDYCAR activity in the region, highlighted by reporting from Cole Cusumano, Special for The Republic, who points out that Reddick will attempt to win a fourth consecutive race, a feat that would further elevate his status in the field at a venue that has hosted some of NASCAR’s most significant moments in recent years Cole Cusumano.
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