WWE Stars Make Surprise Appearance at NASCAR Phoenix Race

The Miz, whose real name is Mike Mizanin, is a longtime WWE wrestler who signed with the company in 2004. The 46-year-old out of Cleveland, Ohio is a two-time WWE champion and a former headliner of WWE’s largest show of the year, WrestleMania, in 2011.

Paul Heyman is a longtime wrestling manager. In WWE, the 61-year-old wrestling legend has worked alongside some of the company’s biggest stars in history, including Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, and Roman Reigns.

The two WWE stars were seen at the driver’s meeting prior to the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix. 

“WWE’s Paul Heyman and The Miz are here in Phoenix,” wrote motorsports insider Bryan Nolen via X.

The Miz and Paul Heyman were also spotted on pit road talking it up with Jeff Dickerson, owner of Spire Motorsports.

“Spire owner Jeff Dickerson talking (& recruiting?) WWE’s Paul Heyman and the Miz,” via Braking Bob on X.

Standing atop the spotter’s stand high above the 1.0-mile track, The Miz posted a “Miz Method” video to his Instagram. Noting how loud it is at a NASCAR race, Mizanin added the caption, “Yelling a Miz Method lesson at the top of my lungs and NASCAR still has me on mute.” 

“Team work makes the dream work. Everybody sees the driver but watch what happens around him when everybody does their job perfectly. Surround yourself with people who make you a better version of yourself,” Miz said in the video.

The Miz and Paul Heyman are not the first WWE stars to make appearances at NASCAR races in the past, let alone this season.

Among those appearances includes last month at Bristol Motor Speedway. WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair and his daughter, WWE women’s star Charlotte Flair, were both in attendance.

Last year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, WWE women’s star Chelsea Green served as the honorary pace car driver.

Tyler Reddick captured his sixth win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday at Phoenix. After overtaking Chase Briscoe following a late-race restart, the driver of the No. 45 drove to victory in the Freeway Insurance 500.

Reddick, who has the most Cup wins of any driver this season, made up tremendous ground in the championship battle. While there are only three races left in the season, Reddick is 56 points behind points leader Kyle Larson in the seventh position.

Larson finished a disappointing 34th after exiting the race early due to a right-front tire failure that sent him into the wall. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell went on to finish fourth and is now only five points behind Larson in the second position.

Denny Hamlin wound up finishing 28th on Sunday after tire problems of his own. Despite the difficult finish, the driver of the No. 11 managed to gain points on Larson as he is now 31 points behind with three races left.

John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden