The NASCAR Cup Series will make history in 2025 when the sport hosts its international points-paying race in Mexico City — and IndyCar’s Pato O’Ward is already looking for a chance to race in his home country.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown supports his driver’s aims, though he’s advised O’Ward to hold out on making his NASCAR debut until 2026, when the Mexico City event will hopefully not conflict with an IndyCar race.
Zak Brown supports O’Ward’s Mexico NASCAR aims
In the United States, IndyCar and NASCAR are both primarily regional series, with the open-wheel series making one annual foray into Toronto for an international event. But as both sports grow, they’ve both turned their attention to the next country to conquer: Mexico.
Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been hungry to expand its slate of annual racing events beyond FIA-sanctioned series like Formula 1 and Formula E. The arrival of Pato O’Ward in IndyCar resulted in some impressive growth in Mexican fanbases — and many assumed IndyCar would be able to easily negotiate a race deal.
That didn’t happen. Instead, the NASCAR Cup Series negotiated an event for 2025.
IndyCar’s O’Ward feels that the series missed out on its opportunity to monopolize the Mexico City market. Now, if IndyCar wants to compete in Mexico, it’ll have to find a different track.
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