Michael Jordan has incredibly lofty expectations for Bubba Wallace on the NASCAR track.
After getting his first top-five finish of the year, Bubba Wallace now faces unrealistic expectations from 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan for the rest of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series.
Wallace finished fifth at Pocono over the weekend to give him his first top-five finish of the season. This was his first since joining upstart 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin as a division of Joe Gibbs Racing. Wallace may have fallen shy of lofty expectations thus far, and while he does have youth on his side, Jordan has set his expectations high, as you might imagine.
Jordan expects the popular NASCAR driver to have weekly finishes in the top-10. Jordan was able to be the greatest basketball player of all time by setting lofty goals and expectations for himself and not stopping until he realized them. He’s using that same mindset with Wallace to help him realize his potential behind the wheel.
Michael Jordan has set the bar unfairly high on Bubba Wallace for this season
While it is one thing to set difficult goals, it is apparent that Jordan has no earthly idea how hard it is to finish inside of the top-10 in a NASCAR race each week. That’s like asking an emerging All-Star infielder who went 3-for-3 at the plate in Sunday’s series clincher to hit .400 for the rest of the season. Jordan hovered around The Mendoza Line when he played for the Birmingham Barons.
Though having the support of Gibbs, Hamlin and Jordan will help Wallace achieve new highs on the racetrack, let’s shoot for realistic consistency here. This is the first year on a new racing team for all involved. Expansion teams are often horrendous in professional sports leagues. As expected, Jordan wants to believe 23XI Racing can be NASCAR’s version of the 2018 Vegas Golden Knights.
Challenging Wallace to be even better is one thing, but demanding a near impossibility is absurd.