Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota is going green—very, very green—for a Space Jam tribute built around the Monstars. The 23XI Racing driver is set to take the scheme to Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the film’s 30th-anniversary celebration, joining a broader run of Jordan Brand-themed cars that has made NASCAR a surprisingly effective place to display sneaker and basketball culture at full speed.
The basic idea is simple, but the execution sounds deliberately loud. Reddick’s Toyota wears a bright green body, black across the hood and nose, oversized orange numbers on its doors and hood, and a yellow highlight around the front splitter. The hood’s central graphic is a line-art treatment of the Monstars, backed by a white Jumpman logo placed above an orange basketball. Promotional imagery also includes Bugs Bunny and Space Jam branding.
It is a design that leans into the visual language of the original film rather than merely adding a logo to a conventional racing livery. The green, black, orange and yellow palette immediately points toward the Monstars’ cartoonishly aggressive identity. On a Cup car, where sponsors and race numbers normally need to read clearly at speed, that creates a useful tension: the design has to function as a competitive race car first, while still serving as a recognisable piece of pop-culture art in still images, highlight clips and die-cast-minded display photography.
A 30-year Space Jam celebration on the No. 45
Space Jam reached theaters on November 15, 1996, and starred Michael Jordan, who is also a co-owner of 23XI Racing. That ownership connection makes the tribute more than a general nostalgia play. The team has a direct line to the athlete whose on-screen pairing with the Looney Tunes helped turn the movie into a lasting part of Jordan Brand’s identity.
For this campaign, 23XI Racing has not relied on a single car. Bubba Wallace drove his own Space Jam-themed entry in July, while Reddick previously carried a Space Jam Air Jordan 9-inspired scheme at Daytona earlier in the year. The Monstars No. 45 consequently reads as another chapter in a continuing visual series, not an isolated one-off.
That continuity matters. A themed paint scheme is NASCAR’s term for the full graphic treatment applied to a race car: its colors, number treatment, sponsor marks and character or product artwork. In this case, the theme connects three overlapping audiences: racing followers who know Reddick and 23XI Racing, basketball fans familiar with Jordan’s legacy, and people who remember Space Jam as a movie and a cornerstone of sneaker culture.
The Monstars are an especially suitable choice for a racing visual. Their exaggerated, confrontational look is naturally more forceful than a simple commemorative logo, and the green car should be easy to identify in a crowded field. The orange numbers add contrast against the bodywork, while the black hood and nose put visual weight at the front of the Toyota. The yellow splitter accent is a small detail, yet it helps complete the film-inspired color mix rather than letting the scheme become green-and-black monotone.
Why the hood is doing the heavy lifting
The hood is the focal point of the No. 45 design. It features the Monstars in line art, a style that outlines the characters rather than rendering them as a fully shaded illustration, with the white Jumpman and orange basketball layered into the composition. That approach gives the scheme a graphic, poster-like quality while preserving the broad shapes necessary for a moving car.
Related coverage includes Tyler Reddick’s Monstars No. 45 Brings Space Jam to Las Vegas.
On a racing livery, the hood has unusual importance. It is one of the most visible surfaces in overhead broadcast angles, garage photographs and front-facing promotional material. Putting the most detailed art there ensures that the Space Jam identity is not limited to the sides of the car, where numbers, wheel openings and other required visual elements break up an illustration.
The door numbers remain vital, of course. Racing fans use them to identify a car instantly, particularly during a fast sequence or a replay. Their orange color makes the No. 45 pop sharply against the bright green paint. It also links visually to the orange basketball on the hood, turning functional race identification into part of the overall design language.
For fans who pay attention to the details of special NASCAR cars, the structure offers a clear hierarchy: identify Reddick through the No. 45, see the green-and-black palette, then discover the Monstars and Jumpman treatment up close. That layered read is typically what separates a fully integrated themed livery from a vehicle that simply carries a promotional decal.
Jordan Brand, sneakers and racing as a shared canvas
The livery also arrives alongside Jordan Brand’s wider Space Jam plans. A Monstars-inspired Air Jordan 11 known as “Green Screen” is reportedly scheduled to release on November 16. Early reports describe green suede and glow-in-the-dark soles. Those footwear details remain reported rather than confirmed here, but the apparent timing makes the green No. 45 a natural companion piece for the shoe.
The Air Jordan 11 has an unusually strong connection to Space Jam. The “Space Jam” colorway became one of the most prominent Jordan releases associated with the film, and Jordan Brand is said to be bringing a trio of Space Jam-inspired Air Jordan 11 designs during the holiday season. The No. 45 does not need to reproduce a sneaker exactly to benefit from that association. Instead, it uses a related theme—the Monstars—and its own vehicle-sized palette to keep the campaign visually fresh.
This is also in line with 23XI Racing’s past use of Jordan Brand sponsorship. Previous schemes have referenced the 1985 Air Jordan poster and elephant print, the pattern associated with some of the brand’s most recognisable footwear design. These cars effectively use motorsport bodywork as a giant storytelling surface, translating footwear imagery and basketball-era references into colors, shapes and sponsor graphics that can be seen at trackside.
There is a practical marketing advantage to that approach without needing to reduce the car to an advertisement. Racing delivers recurring, high-visibility moments: the reveal, practice and qualifying imagery, the race broadcast, social posts, and the afterlife of photos and videos. A sneaker-inspired car can place a familiar visual motif in front of viewers who may not normally follow footwear releases, while longtime sneaker fans gain a reason to notice a racing event.
It is a crossover model that depends on visual clarity. A subtle reference can delight dedicated collectors and design fans, but a Cup car has only moments to register on screen. The No. 45’s intense green paint, orange numbering and character art solve that issue by making the Space Jam connection readable at a glance.
Reddick’s role in the ongoing series
Reddick has become a central driver for these Jordan Brand-oriented executions. Along with his earlier Daytona Space Jam Air Jordan 9 scheme, he opened the 2026 Cup season with three consecutive wins, becoming the first driver to accomplish that feat. That competitive backdrop gives the Monstars car an extra bit of sporting weight: it is not merely attached to a novelty entry, but to a driver carrying significant momentum during the season.
There is no reason to treat themed cars as separate from the competition itself. The visual package may be playful, but Reddick’s No. 45 will still be judged by the same on-track variables as every other car: pace, execution and race circumstances. What the livery changes is the attention around it. A successful run at Las Vegas would make the Monstars design part of the weekend’s racing memory; even before that, it provides a distinct visual marker for viewers following the event.
It also shows how a film anniversary can be handled without relying only on retrospective merchandise. The Space Jam campaign is being expressed through multiple formats: Wallace’s July car, Reddick’s earlier Air Jordan 9-themed Daytona scheme, this Monstars No. 45, and the reported “Green Screen” Air Jordan 11. Each draws from the same cultural universe while using a different image or product connection.
That kind of variation is important for a property as visually familiar as Space Jam. Repeating the same black-and-concord sneaker colorway across every activation could become predictable. Centering the Monstars instead shifts the focus to the movie’s antagonists, lets green dominate the composition and creates a sharper contrast with earlier Jordan-themed designs.
What it means for Space Jam fans watching Las Vegas
The most immediate appeal is uncomplicated: a Monstars race car is a fun sight, and the No. 45’s colors are designed to be noticed. But there is also a coherent thread behind it. Michael Jordan’s role in Space Jam, his connection to Jordan Brand and his co-ownership of 23XI Racing mean the team is unusually well positioned to blend these worlds without the crossover feeling arbitrary.
For gaming and fighting-game fans, the broader appeal may be familiar as well: pop culture often gains energy when athletic competition, character design and bold branding meet in a format built for motion. For another example of how sport and game imagery intersect, see our look at boxing’s place in Street Fighter’s Balrog fight design.
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the No. 45 will turn a 1996 basketball-and-animation phenomenon into something made for a very different kind of arena. Rather than treating its anniversary as a static throwback, the Monstars scheme puts the celebration on a fast-moving, highly visible platform—one where green paint, orange numbers and a white Jumpman can do as much storytelling as a traditional poster.
