FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) 鈥� NBA top rookie Cooper Flagg got a fast ride on the track Sunday before the with another 19-year-old, Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch.
A week after being named the , the Dallas Mavericks’ 6-foot-9 forward was the honorary pace car driver for the race in Texas.
But several hours before leading the 38-car field to the green flag at the 1 1/2-mile track, Flagg was the passenger in that 2026 Chevrolet Corvette. It was driven then by Zilisch, who is in his first full Cup season with Trackhouse Racing after winning 10 races in NASCAR’s second-tier series last year.
鈥淲e got going pretty fast, and I think half the ride I was more scared of what was going on,鈥� Flagg said. 鈥淚’ve never been in a car going that fast, so it was pretty cool.鈥�
Zilisch was driving well over 100 mph while giving Flagg an up-close look at the track.
So what do a talk about while going around the track?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know much about racing, but I think just being able to connect on the fact that we鈥檙e both young in our respective sports … that was really cool, and to be able to talk to someone that鈥檚 going through a lot of similar things at a time in your life,” Flagg said. “There鈥檚 just not many people that have been through this type of stuff at this age, so I think it was cool to connect on that.鈥�
It was the first time Flagg, who was born and grew up in Maine, had been to any NASCAR track. But his parents in 1999 started going regularly to races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with Tony Stewart being their favorite driver.
Flagg said his parents, who were with him, hadn’t been to a NASCAR race in a while since they got busy following him and his two brothers. During their visit to Texas, they got to meet personally with seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champ Jeff Gordon and owner-driver Denny Hamlin.
On the warmup laps, Hamlin drove his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota alongside the pace car driven by Flagg. Hamlin then backed off and pulled up to the bumper before settling back to the second row and his starting spot of fourth for the green flag.
Flagg set a host of records as an NBA teenager and edged his former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel for the NBA rookie award announced last Monday. Flagg was the first rookie since , now a NASCAR owner, in 1984-85 to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
___
AP NBA: and AP auto racing:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
