Caitlin Clark made her first look at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – on Josh Berry’s No 4 Ford.
The rookie driver took his Stewart-Haas Racing entry the normal 2.5-mile oval with a picture of the WNBA’s rookie star plastered throughout the hood of his automobile.
Speedway officers had hoped to get the highest total choose within the WNBA draft to the ability for Could’s Indianapolis 500 festivities, however the Indiana Fever spent most of that point enjoying highway video games. This weekend, Clark is taking part in All-Star actions in Phoenix.
So Panini, certainly one of Berry’s sponsors, did one thing neither Nascar nor IndyCar officers might – serving to make Clark the face of race weekend.
“Clearly, beginning our partnership with Panini has been actually cool, they’ve an enormous presence in Nascar and in sports activities usually,” Berry mentioned earlier than Friday’s observe session. “For them to make use of the hood of our race automobile to attract consideration to the Caitlin Clark assortment that’s out is admittedly cool. I feel it’s been a preferred week on social media for our No 4 automobile.”
Racing with a picture of another person on his automobile is a primary for Berry, not that he minds.
Clark has grow to be a world sensation over the previous two seasons. She’s helped make sellouts routine at ladies’s faculty and professional basketball video games.
Heck, her reputation would possibly even assist the 33-year-old Berry improve his profile as he switches to Wooden Brothers Racing subsequent season.
“The quantity of consideration the automobile has gotten this week by way of social media and all the pieces’s been actually cool and I’m positive it’ll proceed to construct by way of the weekend,” mentioned Berry, who was thirteenth on the pace chart Friday with a quick lap of 180. “Hopefully, we are able to have a great race and make all of them proud.”
Berry isn’t the one driver who might be making his last look for Tony Stewart’s group this weekend. So will Chase Briscoe.
The No 14 Ford, which Briscoe drives, was beforehand run by Stewart, a three-time Cup champion who gained two Brickyard titles in his dwelling state. Sunday’s race will mark the tip of the road for that quantity.
Tyler Reddick had the quickest lap within the hourlong observe session Friday as he pushes to win the regular-season Cup title.
The 23XI Racing driver was clocked at 182.582mph in his No 45 Toyota. Ryan Blaney, of Workforce Penske, was second at 181.928 within the No 12 Ford whereas Denny Hamlin drove the No 11 Toyota to 3rd at 181.561.
Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman rounded out the highest 5 in the one scheduled observe this weekend.
Michael McDowell was twenty seventh, at 179.076, after successful final 12 months’s race on Indy’s 14-turn highway course.
Qualifying for the Brickyard 400 is scheduled for Saturday with the race set for Sunday.
