Michael Jordan to set up Nascar team with Bubba Wallace as his lead driver

Former NBA star Michael Jordan is to set up his own Nascar team, with Bubba Wallace as the lead driver.

As the only full-time black competitor on the grid, Wallace has been vocal in fighting racism.

Jordan, who launched the team with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, said: “Historically, Nascar has struggled with diversity.”

“The timing seemed perfect as Nascar is evolving and embracing social change more and more.”

“I see this as a chance to educate a new audience and open more opportunities for Black people in racing,” Jordan said.

Hamlin added: “Michael and Bubba can be a powerful voice together, not only in our sport, but also well beyond it.”

Wallace is a vocal supporter of Black Lives Matter, and was one of the loudest voices in the push for the banning of Confederate flags, formerly a common sight at NASCAR events.

He wants to use his heightened platform to ‘stand up for a race that feels defeated’ after he found a noose in his racetrack garage in June.

An FBI investigation followed, with it determined that the garage door pull rope, which had been fashioned like a noose, had been in that stall at the Talledaga Superspeedway track since last October.

Wallace, the sport’s only African-American driver, has insisted that it was "straight-up noose" and whether directed at him or not, still believes it was an act of racism.