2025 might be the year for women\u2019s basketball collaborations with NASCAR.<\/p>\n
The sports of stockcar racing and women\u2019s basketball are crossing paths again this weekend in Daytona at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, where LSU superstar guard Flau\u2019Jae Johnson will wave the green flag as the race\u2019s honorary starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to wave the green flag at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is such an honor,\u201d Johnson said, per the Daytona Beach News-Journal<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m hyped to be part of something this legendary and bring my energy to the track. This is going to be a moment to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time that someone from women\u2019s college basketball has helped start a race at one of the sport\u2019s iconic tracks. In 2022, fresh off winning her second national championship, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley drove the pace car at Darlington<\/a>.<\/p>\n A native of Savannah, Georgia, Johnson has established herself as one of the faces of women\u2019s college basketball heading into her senior season at LSU and will likely be a lottery pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. The 5-foot-10 All-American guard was one of only two players at the Power 4 level last season to average at least 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds. 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The other was USC star JuJu Watkins.<\/p>\n Johnson is, of course, also a rapper who is signed with Jay-Z\u2019s Roc Nation. This opportunity for her at Daytona is her latest opportunity to be in the limelight. She also has NIL deals with JBL, Taco Bell, Powerade and Puma.<\/p>\n