HOMESTEAD, Fla. >> The hardest hit that Tyler Reddick took at Homestead-Miami Speedway wasn’t from a bounce into the wall or from another driver crashing into him.

It was from his boss.

Michael Jordan is 6-foot-6. Reddick might be 5-foot-6, tops. When Jordan comes at him full speed and wraps his massive arms around Reddick, the driver is going to take a bit of a jolt. That’s exactly what happened Sunday, after Reddick won at Homestead and clinched one of the four spots in NASCAR’s winner-take-all title deciding race at Phoenix in two weeks.

“To be able to reward him ... it’s a true honor,” Reddick said. “It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it.”

For good reason. Winning still drives Jordan more than anything, even at 61.

Building a massive multi-billion-dollar business empire — everything from his famous shoes to clothes to steaks to cars to golf courses and plenty more — didn’t turn off Jordan’s competitive fires. Neither, obviously, did winning six NBA championships, going into the Basketball Hall of Fame and being widely considered as the greatest player ever. Jordan always wants to win, whether he’s golfing against PGA pros at his tricked-out course where drinks get delivered by drones in South Florida or sitting on the wall of pit road watching his 23XI racing team.

“Yeah, baby! Yes!” Jordan shouted when he got to Reddick in the moments after Sunday’s win. “Good job, kid! Man, good job.”

From Jordan, there is no higher praise.

There are some similarities between Jordan and Reddick, their wild disparity in height notwithstanding. Jordan was notorious for playing well when he was sick. Reddick clinched the regular-season championship this year at Darlington, a race where he was ravaged by a virus and drove while fearing that he would get sick in his helmet or worse.

“I think it’s just a combination of talent and resilience,” crew chief Billy Scott said. “When things aren’t going right, I sometimes think he’s in his element. He seems to deal with that really well, stay calm and focused.”

Sunday’s win locked Reddick into one of the four spots in the winner-take-all finale. If anyone wondered if the 23XI team was distracted by off-the-track matters — specifically Jordan being part of a lawsuit against NASCAR over revenue sharing — those questions were asked and answered.

As a player, Jordan rarely if ever let off-the-court issues affect his play. As an owner, the same rules evidently apply to him and his team.

“We’re here to win races. I think everyone at 23XI is focused on that,” said Dave Rogers, the competition director for the 23XI team. “I think any team that competes for a championship or wins a championship has to deal with distractions. There’s so many roadblocks in the way, so much noise, so many distractions. I don’t care who it is, what it is, if you are going to win a championship, you have to fight through adversity. That’s just part of it.”