The world’s top-ranked decathlete and Olympic medalist Leo Neugebauer, who starred at the University of Texas at Austin, will serve as Honorary Starter for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

Neugebauer bolstered his status as one of the world’s best premier decathletes by winning a silver medal in his 2024 Olympics debut in Paris. Born in Germany, he moved to the United States to compete at the collegiate level and landed at the University of Texas.

He won back-to-back collegiate titles at the Outdoor Track and Field Championships (2023, ’24), set NCAA and UT records in the decathlon, and owns both the heptathlon and decathlon school records. Neugebauer has earned multiple awards, including the 2024 Bowerman Award and the 2023 USTFCCCA Men's Outdoor Co-National Field Athlete of the Year honor. The Bowerman is given to the top male collegiate track and field athlete, and he became the first male from UT to win the award. In 2024, he also broke the 40-year-old decathlon record in his home country of Germany.

Neugebauer will have the honor of waving the green flag to start the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix that begins at 2:30 p.m. CT (TV: FOX, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM). He joins actor Jack Quaid, star of Paramount Pictures’ new high-octane thriller “Novocaine,” in the principal dignitary roles. Quaid was announced earlier as the Grand Marshal and will deliver the starting command to the field of NCS drivers for the third race of the season.

Another former NCAA star athlete will serve in a dignitary role with Riley Gaines providing the pre-race invocation. Gaines was a 12-time NCAA All-American at the University of Kentucky (2019-22) and named the Southeastern Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year in her final season.

The NASCAR at COTA doubleheader also includes Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Focused Health 250 that begins at 1:30 p.m. (TV: CW, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM) and the debut of the IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge (IMSA).

Among the dignitaries for Saturday’s NXS race are award-winning singer-songwriter and UT student Brooke Mitchell singing the National Anthem and 2023 Professional Fighters League Light Heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay providing the invocation.

Full pre-race lineup for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix:

  • Grand Marshal: Actor Jack Quaid, star of the new Paramount Pictures movie, “Novocaine.”
  • Honorary Starter: Leo Neugebauer, the world’s top-ranked decathlete and Olympic silver medalist from University of Texas at Austin.
  • Invocation: Riley Gaines, 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer.
  • Honorary Race Officials: Wendall Scott family; Dino Bernacchi, Chief Marketing Officer for Sonic Automotive, EchoPark Automotive, and Sonic Power Sports.
  • Presentation of Colors: Civil Air Patrol's Apollo Composite Color Guard Commanded by Captain Alexander Hertzler.
  • American Flag Arrival: Re/Max Skydive Team (Turn One).
  • National Anthem: Rebecca Vermeulen, San Antonio Police Department officer.
  • Fly-By: Four T-6 aircraft from the 47th FTW at Laughlin Air Force Base (from Turn 11 to Frontstretch).
  • Pre-Race DJ: DJ Cassandra.
  • Driver Introduction Announcers: Ray Villarreal and Jose Castillo.
  • Track Welcome: Bryan Hammond, Executive Director for NASCAR at COTA.

Full pre-race lineup for Saturday’s Focused Health 250:

  • VIPs: Larry Cassar, Co-Founder and President, Focused Health; Shawn Holt, Co-Founder Focused Health, Chief Revenue Officer at Bloom; Vicky Finn, VP of Client Partnerships and Strategy; Jon Barian, Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Cigna.
  • Honorary Starter: Kellie Rice, Vice President, National Sales Strategy Officer at Centene.
  • Grand Marshal: Matt Ferret, EVP Sales and Customer Relations at Medical Mutual of Ohio.
  • Presentation of Colors: Civil Air Patrol's Apollo Composite Color Guard commanded by Captain Alexander Hertzler.
  • Invocation: Impa Kasanganay, 2023 Professional Fighters League Light Heavyweight champion.
  • National Anthem: Brooke Michelle, award-winning singer-songwriter and UT student.

The NCS and NXS will return to the Lone Star State along with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series for a May 2-4 visit to Fort Worth and Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). Fans can take advantage of the “Texas Two-Step” promotion between NASCAR at COTA and TMS. Speedway Motorsports will offer ticket purchasers of either NCS race a 20 percent discount if they would like to attend both. Click HERE for more information on the “Texas Two-Step” promotion or to purchase tickets.

Tickets:
Tickets for children ages 12 and under are just $10 for the March 2 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix NCS race and free for the March 1 NXS Focused Health 250 and IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. For individual tickets, weekend packages and camping, fans can visit NASCARatCOTA.com.

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