Steve Sarkisian named honorary starter for EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix

FILE – Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian celebrates after his team won the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Oklahoma State in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. Sarkisian’s contract extension will push his guaranteed salary to $10.3 million this year under details released by the school’s Board of Regents. That will make him one of the highest paid coaches in the country after leading the Longhorns to the Big 12 championship and their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns football program will have a big presence at Circuit of the Americas when NASCAR rumbles into town for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian, fresh off taking the Longhorns to the Big 12 Conference title, College Football Playoff and No. 3 national ranking last season, will be the honorary starter for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday. He’ll wave the green flag as the drivers roll over the starting line at 2:30 p.m.

Cameron Dicker, known affectionately as “Dicker the Kicker,” will give the invocation before the race begins. Dicker, who plays for the Los Angeles Chargers, hit 94% of his field goals in 2023, making 31 of 33 kicks, and was a star for the Longhorns from 2018-21.

Actor Giancarlo Esposito is the race’s grand marshal and actor Skeet Ulrich is the honorary pace car driver. Country music singer Cody Jinks is the grand marshal for the Focused Health 250 at COTA, the Xfinity Series race on Saturday.