Pacers and racers: Pascal Siakam to serve as honorary pace car driver for Brickyard 400 at IMS
The NBA veteran who helped anchor the Pacers' trip to the NBA Finals, pushing the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder to a seven-game series, will drive the 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS and lead the 39-car field around the Racing Capital of the World ahead of the green flag set to come just after 2 p.m. Sunday.
'Basketball and motorsports — Pacers and Racers — go hand in hand in Indianapolis,' IndyCar and IMS president Doug Boles said. 'Following the Pacers' electrifying postseason run, it's only fitting to have Siakam join us to pace the field as NASCAR's biggest stars compete to win the in-season challenge and add their name to the history books with a win at the Brickyard.'
B is for Brickyard and C is for cookie: Cookie Monster will be grand marshal of NASCAR race
Siakam is the first Brickyard 400 pace car driver selection in recent years without a direct racing connection, following on the heels of Rick Hendrick, the owner of NASCAR's winningest team, who drove a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to lead the field to green a year ago in IMS' return of the Brickyard 400 to the 2.5-mile oval. Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon served as honorary pace car drivers for the Brickyard 400 in the three previous races ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Siakam is the second active Indiana Pacer to have served as an honorary pace car driver at IMS, with fellow All-Star Tyrese Haliburton doing so for the 2023 Indianapolis 500.
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