Michael Jordan Trolls Denny Hamlin, Then Seals It With a Kiss

Yep, that viral clip of Michael Jordan sneaking up on Denny Hamlin, grabbing him by the neck, and planting a kiss on his head is real. It happened in the heat of a win, and it makes a lot more sense once you know the backstory.

The moment, and why it blew up

Sunday, April 19 at Kansas Speedway: Tyler Reddick snatched a wild, last-lap win. Michael Jordan, who co-owns Reddick's team, 23XI Racing, was hyped. He walked up to his friend and business partner Denny Hamlin, put a hand around Hamlin's neck in a clearly playful way, kissed the side of his head, and ghosted. Cameras caught it. X ate it up. One post summed up a chunk of the replies: "Who grabs another man’s neck and kisses them. So WEIRD."

The odd (but very real) dynamic here

Jordan and Hamlin launched 23XI Racing ahead of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. The team runs three full-time Cup drivers: Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and Riley Herbst. The twist: Hamlin is still an active driver for rival Joe Gibbs Racing and plans to keep racing full-time against his own organization through the end of the following season. So on race day, Jordan is literally rooting against his co-owner.

• Kansas rundown: Hamlin led a race-high 131 laps in the No. 11 and was set up to win with two to go.
• Then a late caution forced an overtime restart, scrambled everything, and Hamlin slipped to fourth at the flag.
• Reddick got by Kyle Larson on the final lap to win.
• If Hamlin had held on, it would have been his fifth career Kansas victory.
• Instead, Reddick logged his fifth win of the 2026 season - and we are only nine races in.

So yeah, Jordan was celebrating. Hamlin was not. The neck grab and kiss? That was Jordan doing what he does best: competitive trolling.

What they said after

Jordan, to FOX Sports, did not bother hiding how much he enjoys beating his buddy:

"Look, I’m racing against Denny. So in essence, I really wanted to beat him because I know we’re going to talk a lot of trash a little bit later."

Hamlin unpacked his side on the April 20 episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. He said he usually feels mixed when a 23XI car wins - happy for the team, frustrated if it costs him - but this time he was 100 percent locked in on his own result. Translation: no split emotions here, just steam coming out of the No. 11 hauler.

He also admitted he had been jawing with Jordan before the race, telling him Kansas was basically a guaranteed win unless something weird happened. Hamlin says he talks a lot of trash, Jordan loves to serve it back, and when it’s head-to-head, Jordan wants his 23XI guys to beat Hamlin as badly as anyone.

About that other Jordan clip you might remember

This is not Jordan's first viral NASCAR moment this year. After Reddick won the Daytona 500 on February 15, another video circulated showing Jordan standing behind Reddick's 6-year-old son, Beau, and appearing to tap the kid's lower back and brush his leg. The internet did its thing. A second angle added context: before that, Reddick had dumped an ice-cold drink on Beau during the celebration. Some people online suggested Jordan was helping brush off ice or liquid. Either way, it turned into a full-on discourse outside the typical racing crowd.

Bottom line

Between Daytona discourse and the Kansas kiss, Jordan keeps pulling the spotlight far beyond the track. The friendly one-upmanship with Hamlin clearly isn’t going anywhere - and neither are the clips.