Prayers Up: IndyCar Team Announces Sponsor For Driver Sting Ray Robb That Is In Stark Contrast To Norm

There have been a lot of attempts to keep faith out of sports — see NBC editing out the part of Texans quarterback CJ Stroud's post-game interview where he mentioned Jesus — so, it's refreshing to see a sport where the complete opposite is happening.

In fact, in the NTT IndyCar Series, one team announced that their primary sponsor for the season will be Pray, billed as the "world's No. 1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content," by a series press release.

The company's branding will be clear as day in giant letters on the sidepods of AJ Foyt Racing's No. 41 Chevrolet which will be driven by second-year IndyCar driver Sting Ray Robb. He spent last season with Dale Coyne Racing and will make his debut with AJ Foyt Racing early next month in the season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix.

"With the explosive growth of Christian advertisers being embraced by television networks, we recognized motorsports fans as an incredible audience for Pray.com," Pray.com Founder and CEO Steve Gatena said in a statement. "We partnered up with Sting Ray – not only because of his cool name but also because of his Christian testimony."

Robb, like the aforementioned CJ Stroud, doesn't shy away from discussing his faith, and it's great to see an athlete not only commended for doing so but rewarded.

"Faith has been an important part of my journey, and I am excited to be able to drive a car that will represent that," 22-year-old Robb said. "I’m honored and blessed to partner with Pray.com. Through this partnership, we'll utilize our aligned beliefs and goals to encourage others in their commitment to prayer and grow the faith community."

IndyCar, AJ Foyt Racing Are Staring Down The Woke Mob

This is a major W for IndyCar. The leagues and networks that shy away from religion (unless it's drag nuns in which case the Dodgers are like "Bring It!") and talk of it do so largely out of fear of the woke mob. 

Lucky for those of us who like it when people can speak freely and express themselves — faith included — IndyCar seems to be a-oh-kay with it. In fact, the press release announcing the Pray-AJ Foyt Partnership was made available on the series' website.

Sponsors aren't easy to come by. Pray will be largely responsible for Robb and the No. 41 team will be able to take part in the 2024  IndyCar season.

While that's good for the series, had IndyCar been nervous that this sponsorship would be seen by the loud minority of whiners that usually get up in arms about stuff like this, there probably would have been a mechanism through which they could have put their foot down and ended the arrangement.

But they didn't.

Good on IndyCar, Aj Foyt Racing, Sting Ray Robb, and Pray for this partnership that is a rarity in the sports world.