Sophie Cunningham’s offseason has looked a lot like a road trip. The Indiana Fever guard’s season ended with a first-round playoff loss, and she heads into free agency with plenty of decisions ahead. In the meantime, she has been spending her time at racetracks. She went to Atlanta in February, to a Missouri track in September, and to a Formula 1 weekend in October. On Sunday, she showed up at the biggest NASCAR event of the year, and this time she had a job to do. It took just one word, and fans noticed it right away.
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Cunningham gave the “start your engines” command alongside country singer Cole Swindell before the NASCAR Cup Series championship race on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. She started with “Gentlemen.”
She stood next to Swindell beside a blue promotional SUV, with fans gathered around the pair. NASCAR shared video of the moment and wrote, “You can feel the energy now!” Then the race began. Kyle Larson won his second straight championship for Hendrick Motorsports and became just the 11th driver to win the title three times.
It was Cunningham’s third NASCAR appearance of 2026. She attended the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race in Atlanta in February as an Arby’s brand ambassador, with the brand sponsoring Carson Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Last month, she waved the checkered flag at the F1 race in Austin, Texas. She was also present at last year’s Cup Series championship in Phoenix, serving as an honorary pace car driver.
Her most memorable visit came in September at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. She worked as a guest pit road reporter for USA Network and met Jeff Gordon and Michael Jordan.
She also walked through the garage and met drivers including Carson Hocevar, Riley Herbst, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney.
Dillon told her, “We’re huge fans. We love what you stand for.”
Then came a mishap. She took off her heels to kick a football on stage with Kenny Wallace and hit a microphone stand, which damaged a stack of broadcast equipment. She laughed it off afterward.
Now the fans have weighed in on her Homestead moment. “Thanks for the “Gentleman” Sophie 👏👏🔥,” one wrote. Another said, “It’s Gentleman Start Your Engines not Drivers. Sophie got the command correctly.”
That comment has some history behind it. The line is best known from the Indianapolis 500, where owner Tony Hulman used “Gentlemen, start your engines” for years. He said the mechanics, not the drivers, start the engines.
That changed in 1977, when Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for the race.
Hulman added a line about the first woman to qualify at Indianapolis before saying “gentlemen” as usual. Since then, the Indy call has shifted over the years.
Tony George used “Drivers, start your engines” in 2017 and 2018, then went back to “Lady and Gentlemen” in 2019. Roger Penske used “Drivers” again in 2020. So fans have heard both versions, and some see “gentlemen” as the classic one.
Other fans also liked what they saw. “Sophie may bring it back to the good ole days! She said the command correctly!” one wrote. Another posted, “Sophie showing the wnba how to capitalize on the instant popularity that came from CC. And not being a hater!!!”
Her racing schedule backs up the first part. From an Atlanta ambassador job to an F1 flag wave and now the Cup finale, Cunningham has become a regular in the racing world. She is also a 30-year-old guard who just finished her seventh WNBA season and her second with the Fever. She ranked fifth in the league in 3-point shooting at 41.9%.
The last reaction was the simplest. “Soph looks soooooo happy in Everything❤️❤️❤️,” a fan wrote. That fits what she has said at the track. In September, she told USA Network, “You guys are salt of the earth people.” She added, “I feel like these are my people. I belong here.”
For now, the WNBA offseason has given her time to chase that feeling. At Homestead, she got her biggest NASCAR moment yet, and it took just one word to get fans talking.