Josh McDaniels to drive pace car in NH NASCAR event

I guess you could call him a multi-sport athlete, depending on how you interpret some of the words in that sentence.

That’s right: the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, Josh McDaniels in NASCAR. He will be in the cup series on July 16th. He will be drivin’ a pace car prior to Overton’s 301. The actual event is at 3 p.m. and will air on NBC Network.

Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I enjoy NASCAR and love coming up to New Hampshire Motor Speedway whenever I get a chance,” the statement from McDaniels read. “Driving the pace car to start the race is about as exciting as it gets. I know we have had players at the Patriots take a turn in the pace car, and I heard how much they enjoyed the experience. I look forward to my chance to do it.”

McDaniels is not the first guy with Patriots connections to do this — or the second or the third. Julian Edelman did it in 2014, Rob Ninkovich did it in 2015 and last year, it was Matt Light’s turn. Of course, Light is the former Patriots left tackle.

Since 2001, McDaniels has coached the Patriots all but three seasons. He was the Denver Broncos head coach in 2009 and 2010. When he got hired in 2009, he was the youngest coach in the NFL until the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Raheem Morris. In 2010, McDaniels had the honor of coaching Tim Tebow, but then he got fired. He was also caught up in a videotaping scandal there which fed conspiracy theorists on the whole Patriots cheating scandal.

After losing his job with the Broncos, he was the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for one full season. The next year–2012–he resumed the role with New England. It is the same role he had from 2006 to 2008.