Pato O'Ward dominates Milwaukee and displays his popularity with 1st win on an oval since 2022
Pato O’Ward remained in the headlines Saturday by winning the first race of a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile, where he has spent the weekend questioning IndyCar leadership for allowing NASCAR to beat the series to a race in Mexico City
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Pato O'Ward remained in the headlines Saturday by winning the first race of a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile, where he has spent the weekend questioning IndyCar leadership for allowing NASCAR to beat the series to a race in Mexico City.
O'Ward, from Monterrey, Mexico, is IndyCar's most popular driver and desperately wants to race in his home country. Instead, NASCAR said this week it will race in Mexico City next June and O'Ward is miffed that there's no longer room for IndyCar.
The situation escalated when IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said the Mexico City promoters have felt the series and O'Ward are not popular enough to warrant anything but a lease agreement to stage the race themselves.
That irritated O'Ward, who has organically and steadily built his fanbase and is probably second only to Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez in popularity in Mexico.
