IndyCar star Pato O’Ward came out during the season opener, Grand Prix of St Petersburg, and shared his feelings about the INDYCAR-NASCAR doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway and St. Pete. The Mexican driver recently came out and took his words back after last weekend’s TV rating comparison.
After FOX acquired a third of Penske Entertainment last year, hence acquiring a third of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a decision was made to have an INDYCAR-NASCAR doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway in an attempt to introduce new fans to both series.
Pato O’Ward was asked about his feelings regarding the double header, and the Arrow McLaren star criticised the decision as he said,
“I’m sick and tired of IndyCar being like the ‘support race’. It’s (double-headers with NASCAR) great for the fans, but not for us. I know that every time we race with them, we are always the ‘support show’.”
On March 4, FOX released the viewership numbers for last weekend’s races, which included an IndyCar- NASCAR Truck series doubleheader at St. Pete. The Cup Series race and O’Reilly series race at COTA got 3.9 million and 1.07 million average views, respectively.
For the race in St. Pete, the IndyCar season opener had 1.4 million average views, whereas the Truck series had 1 million. Pato O’Ward reacted to these viewership numbers and backtracked on his criticism of the NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader.
“I stand corrected, I’m so happy to be here with NASCAR this weekend🤝😆” posted Pato O’Ward
However, at St. Pete, the Truck series race took place on Saturday, whereas the IndyCar race was on Sunday. For the upcoming doubleheader at Phoenix with the Cup Series, the IndyCar race will be on Saturday, and the NASCAR race will be on Sunday.
Daniel Suarez will be rooting for Pato O’Ward at the Phoenix Raceway
Spire Motorsports driver Daniel Suarez and Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward are fellow countrymen and are native to the city of Monterrey. The two have known each other for over 20 years and have crossed paths multiple times as they made their way up the motorsport ladder.
Daniel Suarez recently came out and reflected on the IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader at Phoenix and suggested that he will be rooting for his childhood friend Pato O’Ward. He said,
“I have a couple of friends in the INDYCAR series – my amigo Paisano Pato, who I’ve known for over 20 years and also Scott McLaughlin. I’ll definitely be rooting for them. I think the INDYCAR Series is amazing. I really love watching those guys race. INDYCAR has a different fan base than NASCAR, which makes it great to bring families together to enjoy both series.”
Both Suarez and O’Ward are the only full time drivers to hail from Mexico on the current grid of their respective disciplines.
Edited by Pranay Bhagi