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MADISON, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 13: Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway on September 13, 2026 in Madison, Illinois. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham traded the basketball court for pit road Sunday, making a high-profile appearance at World Wide Technology Raceway ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cunningham was on site in Madison, Illinois, for the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sept. 13, and she hardly stayed in the background.<\/p>\n The WNBA guard spent time around the NASCAR garage and pre-race festivities, crossed paths with some of the biggest names in the sport and even tried her hand at kicking a football into the crowd. That last part did not go entirely according to plan.<\/p>\n Cunningham, who grew up in Missouri, was also set to contribute to USA Network\u2019s race broadcast, giving her trip to Gateway a role beyond that of celebrity guest.<\/p>\n Sophie Cunningham Meets NASCAR Stars at Gateway<\/p>\n Cunningham\u2019s Sunday included an impressive NASCAR meet-and-greet.<\/p>\n She was photographed with Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar before the race and was also seen greeting NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon.<\/p>\n \n Michael Jordan was another familiar face Cunningham encountered during the afternoon. Jordan, of course, has his own major connection to Sunday\u2019s race as co-owner of 23XI Racing.<\/p>\n Cunningham\u2019s presence quickly gained attention online, with photos and videos of her making the rounds as NASCAR prepared for the second race of its 2026 championship Chase.<\/p>\n The appearance also brought Cunningham back to familiar territory. She was born and raised in Missouri and played collegiately for the Missouri Tigers<\/a> before beginning her WNBA career.<\/p>\n Sophie Cunningham\u2019s Football Attempt Goes Sideways<\/p>\n One of Cunningham\u2019s funniest moments of the afternoon came away from pit road.<\/p>\n During a pre-race event alongside former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace and television personality Johnny \u201cTV\u201d Vitale, Cunningham attempted to kick a football into the crowd.<\/p>\n Instead, the ball struck a microphone stand on stage.<\/p>\n The mishap immediately generated some laughs and provided Cunningham with another viral-worthy moment during an afternoon in which she seemingly popped up everywhere around the racetrack.<\/p>\n Cunningham has emerged as one of the WNBA\u2019s most recognizable personalities, and her Gateway appearance put her in front of another massive sports audience.<\/p>\n She also came to NASCAR with some genuine racing interest. Cunningham has previously spoken about growing up in a family of NASCAR fans, and Sunday gave her a chance to experience a Cup Series race in her home state while joining USA\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n For one afternoon, at least, Cunningham went from one of basketball\u2019s most talked-about personalities to one of NASCAR\u2019s<\/a> most noticeable guests.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMaggie MacKenzie<\/a> Maggie MacKenzie covers NASCAR for Heavy.com. She previously worked for NASCAR.com, where she reported, wrote, and edited race-weekend coverage and traveled to key events throughout the season. She has more than ten years of experience in sports media and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. More about Maggie MacKenzie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty MADISON, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 13: Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever attends the drivers meeting prior to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-894659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2295098994-e1789330679948.jpg\")
GettyMADISON, ILLINOIS \u2013 SEPTEMBER 13: Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever (L) and Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Spectrum Chevrolet, talk during the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway on September 13, 2026 in Madison, Illinois. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n