Jalen Milroe catches up with Michael Jordan at GEICO 500 in Talladega
The Geico 500 took place at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, and Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe got to hang out with an NBA legend. Milroe was spotted with Michael Jordan, who is a co-owner of 23XI Racing. The two took a photo, and it was shared by Alabama’s Football official X account.
“Let’s roll,” Alabama Football wrote on the post. “Congratulations on the win!”
Tyler Reddick won the Geico 500 and is part of the 23XI Racing team. After the race, Jordan talked about how excited he was to see 23XI Racing get a win in Talladega.
“For us to win a big race like this, it means so much to me for the effort that the team has done,” Jordan said. “I’m all in. I love it. It replaces a lot of the competitiveness that I had in basketball. This is even worse because I have no control. If I was playing basketball, I have total control but I have no control. I live vicariously through the drivers and all the crew chiefs and everybody.”
Jordan also compared Reddick’s victory to winning an NBA playoff game. “As you know, this is the NBA playoffs right now. To me, this is like an NBA playoff game,” Jordan said. “I am so ecstatic for the fans who support the sport itself. We’ve been working hard trying to get ourselves up to compete against all the top guys in this sport. But we’ve done a heck of a job just to be where we are.”
Jalen Milroe looking to do more at Alabama in 2024
Milroe enjoyed the race after he and the rest of the Crimson Tide took part in spring practice. During the spring game, Milroe expressed frustration on the sideline as he was not happy with how things were going.
“All it is is passion,” Milroe told ESPN’s Molly McGrath. “It’s passion. Wanting to be the best version of ourselves every single time we touch the field. The biggest thing is we don’t want to be satisfied. We all have room to grow, always have things to improve on, stuff like that.
“But the biggest thing that we want to do is stack drives. Stack drives, keep getting better, touch that sideline and regroup. That’s all the main focus is. Eat drives and pay attention to detail. Stuff like that.”
Milroe enters the 2024 season after leading Alabama to an SEC championship last year. The 21-year-old was named to the All-SEC Second Team after throwing for 2,834 yards and 23 touchdowns. Milroe also ran for 531 yards and 12 scores in 2023.
On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.