Pato O’Ward is looking forward to the opportunity to bring an IndyCar Series race to a crowd of passionate fans in his home country of Mexico.

The 25-year-old, who is arguably the most popular driver in the sport with his followers filling the grandstands with flags and even surrounding his transporter car throughout the race weekend, has been consistently vocal about moving the North American Open Wheel Championship to the other side of the Rio Grande.

There has been no IndyCar race in Mexico since 2007, which came during the Champ Car era at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

NASCAR wins Mexican Grand Prix for first time

Now, NASCAR has once again beaten IndyCar.

As Motorsport.com previously reported, NASCAR will race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City next year. The races are scheduled for June 14-15, 2025, the same week that the IndyCar Series will race at Gateway. The NASCAR track layout will feature 14 turns, but will skip Turns 5 and 6 and go right at Turn 4 instead of left. Other than that change, it will follow the layout used by Formula 1 at the Mexican Grand Prix.

When Motorsport.com first heard rumors of a possible NASCAR race heading to Mexico, it was during the Detroit Grand Prix weekend in early June. O’Ward shared some thoughts on the matter, including the joy of his friend and Cup Series driver Daniel Sauris, who like O’Ward hails from Monterrey, Mexico.

“I’m really happy for Daniel that he’s going to be able to do that,” O’Ward told Motorsport.com.

As you know, they [NASCAR] They clearly understand what the Latino community can bring to the show.

O’Ward, a six-race winner and driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, also expressed his desire to bring IndyCar back to Mexico, hoping it will count toward the championship and not become a non-points exhibition like The Thermal Club earlier this season.

“For us, this is above my job grade, man,” he said. “I don’t know, I’ll do my best to make it happen, but it’s not my decision. I really hope it happens at some point.” [IndyCar] “If I decide to go to Mexico, I will be very upset if it is not part of the points system for the actual tournament.”

Plan for the future

In February 2022, Mark Miles, chairman and CEO of IndyCar owner Penske Entertainment Corporation, indicated that Mexico was a place he “could envision” hosting the series. At the time, he said, “I think our strategy is that we will continue to focus on our racing in North America. And for those of you in Mexico City, you know that we know that Mexico is in North America!”

“We have long looked at Mexico as a market where we could imagine racing,” Miles added. “We have to find the right place under the right conditions, but we are interested in racing in Mexico if we can put all the pieces together.”

In the period following Miles’ comments, IndyCar seemed likely to head for an exhibition race in Argentina until last December’s presidential election changed the course of that possibility. Meanwhile, there has been little information about any moves by IndyCar leadership to continue pushing for a long-awaited return to La Ciudad de los Palacios.

“Ask Bensky”

During an IndyCar media call on Tuesday, Motorsport.com asked Graham Rahal for his opinion on why IndyCar won’t be held in Mexico.

“I think you should ask Penske Entertainment that question, not me,” Rahal said.

Then Rahal, who won his first-ever Atlantics race in Mexico (Fundidora Park) in 2006 before finishing fourth at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez the following year in a move to Champ Car, briefly shared his desire to see IndyCar host more races outside the United States (the only current round outside the country’s borders is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada).

“I am interested in international expansion, as you know, yes,” Rahal said.