West Allis. Mexican Patricio Pato O’Ward continued to make headlines in American motorsports by winning the first race of a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile track, where he spent the weekend asking IndyCar officials why they allowed NASCAR to beat them to the punch in organizing a race in Mexico City.
O’Ward, a native of Monterrey, is IndyCar’s most popular driver and desperately wants to race in his home country. Instead, it was NASCAR that announced this week that it will hold a race in the Mexican capital in June. And the Mexican lamented that, believing there is no more room for IndyCar.
The situation escalated when IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said promoters in Mexico City felt the series and O’Ward were not popular enough to warrant anything more than a lease deal for the series to host the race.
That rankled O’Ward, who has steadily built up his fan base and is probably the second most popular driver in Mexico, behind only his compatriot Sergio Perez, who races in Formula One.
His answer came on Saturday, with his victory in Milwaukee, his third of the year but his first on an oval since July 2022, when he won at Iowa Speedway.
The three wins are the most in a season for the Arrow McLaren Racing driver, hours after F1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri swept the front row spots in qualifying for Sunday’s race in Italy.
O’Ward led 133 of the 250 laps. He attended the post-race news conference wearing a sombrero. Will Power, who finished second, expressed support for him in his dispute with the management.
“Really, we, not NASCAR, should be in Mexico City,” he said. “Pato who?” O’Ward asked mockingly.
The victory overshadowed the title battle between points leaders Alex Palou and Power, who began the race 54 points behind the reigning IndyCar champion.
Power finished second to cut Palou’s lead to 43 points with two races remaining, both on ovals.
#Pato #OWard #wins #Milwaukee #race #IndyCar
– 2024-09-08 11:21:06
