The parents of Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg were avid NASCAR fans when he was a kid, but the Maine native had never attended an event until he drove the pace car for the WÜRTH 400 on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Flagg, recently named the NBA Rookie of the Year, had to go through pace car certification before he could drive the Chevrolet Corvette around the racetrack.
“It was great, fast, very comfortable, but I’m excited to show everybody [on the] track and tell them to follow me around a couple of times,” Flagg said before the race.
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Flagg got the opportunity to talk to another prodigy, Connor Zilisch, a 19-year-old looking to take NASCAR by storm similarly to Flagg in the NBA.
“To be able to talk to somebody that’s going through a lot of similar things at a time in your life, there’s 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,” Flagg said.
Flagg rode with Zilisch in the car and admitted he was little scared in the passenger seat driving with the professional.
“I mean, he got going pretty fast. I want to say I think they told him [to only go] 100 miles per hour, but think that’s what he did, for sure,” Flagg joked. “But no, we got going pretty fast. I think half the ride, I was more scared of what was going on. I’ve never been in a car going that fast. It was pretty cool.”
Driver Denny Hamlin had some fun with Flagg while the rookie was driving the pace care riding his bumper from behind.
Flagg also talked about his rookie season, which ended with him winning the second-closest NBA Rookie of the Year race since 2002-03. The Duke product showed massive improvement from the beginning to end of the season.
“It’s just always been about growth, and I thought I had a lot of growth throughout the season,” Flagg said. “So there’s a lot of moments I look back to, and can point to different learning experiences and moments of growth.”
Flagg explained some of the important lessons he learned in his first season.
“The lifestyle aspect of things, growing up fast, learning how to be on my own was definitely something I had to develop very quick,” he said. “But, um, I think just learning how to lose. I mean, there’s 82 games. Even some of these teams that have really successful seasons, there’s still a lot of losing that goes on in a single season.
“So I think just learning how to still take away a lot of positives from even the losses, and be able to learn and grow from those instead of just being kind of devastated by losses. So I think that was a big part of it for me.”
Game schedule dates, times, locations
NEXT UP: Game dates, times, locations, channel
Rangers ▶
June 12 Boston 10, Rangers 1
June 13 Boston 6, Rangers 3
June 14 Rangers 6, Boston 4
June 15 Minnesota 4, Rangers 2
June 16 Minnesota 12, Rangers 2
June 18 vs. Minnesota, 1:35 p.m., RSN
June 19 vs. San Diego, 7:05 p.m., RSN
June 20 vs. San Diego, 3:05 p.m., RSN
June 21 vs. San Diego, 1:35 p.m., RSN
June 22 at Miami, 5:40 p.m., RSN
June 23 at Miami, 5:40 p.m., RSN
June 24 at Miami, 11:10 a.m., RSN
June 25 at Toronto, 6:07 p.m., RSN
June 26 at Toronto, 6:07 p.m., CW
June 27 at Toronto, 2:07 p.m., RSN
June 28 at Toronto, 12:37 p.m., RSN
June 29 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m., ESPN
June 30 at Cleveland, 5:40 p.m., RSN
July 1 at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m., RSN
Wings▶
June 9 Minnesota 100, Wings 76
June 11 Wings 85, Phoenix 70
June 13 Portland 84, Wings 83
June 15 Wings 96, Las Vegas 66
June 17 Golden State 91, Wings 80
June 20 vs. Chicago, 7 p.m., CBS, Paramount+
June 22 at Seattle, 9 p.m., KFAA
June 25 at Las Vegas, 9 p.m., KFAA
June 28 vs. Minnesota, 1 p.m., CBS, Paramount+
July 2 at Connecticut, 7 p.m., KFAA, Amazon Prime Video
TCU Football ▶
2026 season
Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA
Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA
Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA
Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA
Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA
Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA
Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA
Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN
Cowboys ▶
Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Sept. 20 vs. Washington, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS
Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox
Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox
Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox
Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA
World Cup ▶
All local matches at AT&T Stadium
Group stage
June 14 Japan 2, Netherlands 2 (Group F)
June 17 England 4, Croatia 2 (Group L)
June 22 Argentina vs. Austria (Group J), 12 p.m., Fox
June 25 Japan vs. Sweden (Group F), 6 p.m., FS1
June 27 Argentina vs. Jordan (Group J), 9 p.m., Fox
Knockout round
June 30 Round of 32: Group E runner-up vs. Group I runner-up, 12 p.m., Fox
July 3 Round of 32: Group D runner-up vs. Group G runner-up, 1 p.m., Fox
July 6 Round of 16: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox
July 14 Semifinal: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox
FC Dallas ▶
May 2 FC Dallas 2, NY Red Bulls 0
May 9 FC Dallas 3, Salt Lake 1
May 13 Vancouver 3, FC Dallas 2
May 16 FC Dallas 3, San Jose 2
May 23 FC Dallas 2, Colorado 1
World Cup break
July 22 at Portland, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV
July 25 at San Diego, 8:30 p.m., FS1, Apple TV
Texas Motor Speedway ▶
June 20 Team Texas - David Starr's Racing School
June 20 Drift n Drag
July 11 NASCAR Racing Experience
July 11 Hearts in High Gear
July 25 Drift n Drag
This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 3:16 PM.
Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.
