Caitlin Clark Named 2026 Indy 500 Grand Marshal as Fans Roast Angel Reese Over the Brickyard
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway just handed Caitlin Clark another piece of the city. The Indiana Fever star will serve as the Grand Marshal for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, and the announcement immediately turned into the latest excuse for fans to drag Angel Reese into the conversation.
Clark, the face of the Fever and the most popular player in the WNBA, gets the honor of waving the green flag at the most famous race in American motorsports. It is the kind of crossover moment that has become routine for her. The 24-year-old has already turned a midwest WNBA team into a national TV ratings juggernaut, and now she is opening the biggest single-day sporting event in the country.
What started as a celebratory announcement quickly became fan ammo. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is nicknamed The Brickyard, and that gave Reese’s critics the layup they were waiting for. Reese has spent two pro seasons clanking shots at the rim, and last year set a record nobody wants by missing more layups than anyone in the league. The jokes wrote themselves the second the Grand Marshal news dropped.
Fans flooded social media pointing out that Reese would feel right at home at a track literally named after bricks. Others suggested Reese should be the one out there since she is the league’s expert on hitting them. It was relentless, it was unfair in spots, and it was also exactly what was going to happen the moment Clark got tapped for the gig.
This is the dynamic the WNBA cannot seem to escape. Anything Clark does, Reese gets pulled into. The two have been linked since the 2023 national title game, and every honor for one becomes a fresh reason for fans to compare them. The league has tried to play both sides, but the public has clearly picked a winner, and it is not the Sky forward.
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has been openly supportive of the Grand Marshal gig. Clark already knows the city, already loves the Speedway, and her presence is going to draw a massive crossover audience to a race that is fighting harder than ever for casual eyeballs. Putting her front and center on race day is one of the smartest decisions the Speedway has made in years.
The timing only adds to the spectacle. The Fever and Sky play their first matchup of the WNBA season on June 4, just over a week after the Indy 500. So Clark gets the entire national spotlight to herself on race day, then heads straight into the most anticipated regular season game in the league against the player who keeps getting roasted in her honor.
It is hard to overstate how much the WNBA has built its modern marketing around Clark. She moves the schedule, she moves the ratings, she moves merchandise, and now she is moving the ceremonial start of the Indy 500. The Fever guard’s reach keeps expanding while Reese keeps catching the secondhand smoke.
Will Reese respond? She always does. Reese has not been shy about firing back at Clark’s fans before, and the fact that she is heading into a nationally televised showdown with the Fever in two weeks means she has every reason to push back. But for now, the jokes are flying, the Speedway has its biggest name in years, and Caitlin Clark gets another iconic Indianapolis moment all to herself.
The flag drops Sunday. Clark waves it. And somewhere, Reese is hearing about it whether she wants to or not.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
