Tennis Influencer Rachel Stuhlmann Is Pumped For The Indy 500

Buckle up.

It's officially the biggest weekend in racing around the world as races from Monaco, to Indianapolis, to Charlotte will dominate the sports landscape Sunday during the traditional running of three of the biggest races of the year and, surprisingly, the world's No. 1 ranked tennis influencer, Rachel Stuhlmann, is fired up.

"If you're not first, you're last! Shake and bake baby 🏎️🏁🥇 #indy500," our old friend Rachel wrote on Instagram Friday afternoon while decked out in her finish line bikini and channeling her inner Ricky Bobby.

Of all the things I didn't expect to see on a Friday heading into Memorial Day weekend, it was Stuhlmann doing some open-wheel racing influencing in 2023.

I'm left wondering if the Indy 500 did the right thing and hired Rachel to make an appearance at the race, maybe hang out at the Snake Pit for a few DJ sets and have fun amongst the fans over the weekend.

Let's face it, the 500 could use a shot of social media influencing. The big "stars" being brought in for this one isn't earth-shattering.

• Tyrese Halliburton -- averaged 20.7 PPG for the Pacers -- will driver the pace car

• Jewel will sing the national anthem

• Woke BLM activist actress Stephanie Beatriz who, in 2020, famously asked fellow TV cop actors to donate to bail funds to bail out BLM protestors, is the Indy 500 grand marshal

• Angela Brown will sing "God Bless America"

• Adam Driver is the honorary starter

In other words, if Stuhlmann WAS NOT hired to influence the Indy 500, today's development that she's influencing the race is a HUGE get for the 500 organizers.

While TV viewers might not be wowed by the star power brought in for the NBC broadcast, track officials are starting to talk about the possibility that they're closing in on once again selling out the massive track in the very near future.

Sunday's race could break 330,000 fans packed into the 300-plus acre complex, according to the Indy Star.

“It’s a thing I worry about every day, but from our 500-hour renewal period, we’ve been up (year-over-year) every single day. I literally wake up every day worried that the sales are going to stop, but we’re about a tick over 1% up (on 2022 sales), which doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re talking about more than 300,000 people, that’s 3,000-4,000 more people to this year’s 500 versus last year,” track president Doug Boles told the paper earlier this month. “At that rate, we’re starting to get back into that sellout conversation, probably in the next couple years.”

In other words, maybe it makes total sense Rachel, a Missouri native, has jumped on the 500 bandwagon.

Perhaps she's just ahead of the curve here.