Indy 500 honorary Pace Car driver confirmed, and it's not Caitlin Clark

As Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles confirmed a few weeks ago, former Iowa Hawkeyes and current Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will not be driving the pace car to start the 108th running of the Indy 500 this coming Sunday, May 26.

Now it has been confirmed that Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ken Griffey Jr. has been named the honorary Pace Car driver. Griffey is set to drive the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray to lead the field of 33 to the green flag for the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval.

Griffey was the first overall pick in the 1987 MLB Draft and went on to become a 13-time All-Star, playing in the league for 22 years.

Ken Griffey Jr. to pace Indy 500 field

"The Kid" spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Seattle Mariners before spending eight-plus seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, a partial season with the Chicago White Sox, and two more with the Mariners to wrap up his career.

Griffey made his MLB debut in 1989 and retired after the 2010 season, making him one of 31 MLB players to compete across four different decades. He hit 630 home runs during his MLB career, good for seventh on the all-time list, and as every true baseball fan knows, he did it the right way. He co-owns the record for most consecutive games with a home run (eight).

In addition to his 1997 American Leaue MVP Award, he collected 10 Gold Glove Awards for his performance in center field and seven Silver Slugger Awards. His 99.32% Hall of Fame vote in 2016 broke the previous record held by Tom Seaver (98.84% from 1992).

NBC is set to provide live coverage of the 108th running of the Indy 500 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET this Sunday, May 26. If you have not yet started a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss it!