Under the stadium lights on pit road at Darlington, Bubba Wallace is standing at the side of his purple car, the word Toyota lettered across it in the frames, still in his firesuit and leaning on the car by the window opening. A tall man in a dark T shirt, khaki shorts and a flat cap walks up, leans in close and puts a hand on the car. The small captions on screen read “alright kid?” and Wallace’s answer, “Yea.” Then the two clasp hands.

The man is Michael Jordan, and the clip is from Wallace’s own Instagram account, @bubbawallace, posted September 6, 2026. The text across the top of the frame reads “Michael Jordan checks on Bubba Wallace after 500 miles at Darlington.” Wallace’s caption is short: “P8 at Darlington,” followed by a line about how long the night was and a sweating face emoji.

The whole video runs about eight seconds. In the first frames Jordan approaches from behind, with crew members in purple team shirts gathered around the car. By the middle of the clip he is bent toward the cockpit, face to face with Wallace, who looks drained but breaks into a grin. In the last frames Wallace reaches out and the two shake hands across the bodywork while the crowd and the grandstand lights fill the background. Nothing else is said on the captions, and the clip ends there.

What the Night at Darlington Actually Was

The race behind the sweat was the Cook Out Southern 500, run on Sunday night, September 6, 2026, and the opening race of NASCAR’s Chase. According to NASCAR’s official race recap, the field ran 367 laps of the 1.366 mile Darlington Raceway, which works out to just over 501 miles. Practice and qualifying had been cancelled, so NASCAR called a competition caution on lap 35, and an eight minute red flag for rain came with 29 laps to go. Christopher Bell won by 1.038 seconds.

Wallace’s eighth place hides a busy night. The official results page shows he started 17th and led 38 laps. The recap says he was second at the end of Stage 1, fifth at the end of Stage 2, and took the lead for the first time after a pit cycle around lap 151.

Where It Left Him

NASCAR’s own Chase Report after Darlington describes Wallace as a big mover of the night after he jumped four spots with his eighth place finish. It lists him tenth in the standings, 81 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, and notes: “Don’t underestimate the importance of stage points during The Chase.” The next stop on the schedule was Gateway.

Why Jordan Was on Pit Road

Jordan is not a visiting celebrity in this clip. When the team was announced in October 2020, NASCAR reported that Jordan and Hamlin had formed 23XI Racing, pronounced “twenty three eleven,” combining Jordan’s number with the No. 11 that Hamlin has used throughout his Cup career. NASCAR’s announcement said the car would carry No. 23, the number Jordan wore in winning six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, and that Wallace would drive it from the team’s debut at Daytona in February 2021. The car Wallace is leaning on in the video is that same No. 23.