FOX presenter takes a dig at Graham Rahal for rejecting IndyCar promos that made O'Ward, Newgarden, and Palou go viral

FOX presenter Jamie Little has taken a dig at IndyCar veteran Graham Rahal for refusing to feature in the 2025 pre-season promos. The premier American open-wheel racing series, in conjunction with new exclusive broadcasting partner FOX, shot three promos in the fall of 2024 and aired them before the 2025 season.

Each promo was focused on the journey of one particular driver - two-time Indy 500 Josef Newgarden, then-three-time (and now four-time) IndyCar champion Alex Palou, and IndyCar's most popular driver, Pato O'Ward - and was crafted to display each driver's personality with a touch of humor. It was FOX's first step to uphold its promise of growing IndyCar's reach and viewership among new and younger fans.

FOX aired the ads during the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl as part of its cross-promotions. The promos went viral, with fans hailing FOX for its marketing ingenuity.

Now, with the 2025 IndyCar season having been concluded with a 27% spike in viewership, FOX presenter Jamie Little revealed that Graham Rahal was also one of the drivers approached for the promos, but he declined. In a recent appearance on IndyCar veteran Conor Daly's Speed Street podcast, while speaking about FOX's 2026 plans, Little said [47:57 onwards]:

"I asked Shanks (Eric Shanks, FOX CEO), my boss, about continuing those commercials that we saw with Palou and Josef, it was amazing... (and) O'Ward. I mean it was so cool. I guess the integration into everything that FOX did, the Super Bowl... you know how much Super Bowl ads are, it's ridiculous. We saw him in there, saw him in the Daytona 500.

So I think that got a lot of people interested because they were short little movie trailers, as you guys know. And I know people are kicking themselves for saying no to being in them, like Graham Rahal (laughs)."

Little's revelation comes as a surprise because earlier in the season, Graham Rahal had called FOX out for promoting only three drivers and leaving some of the sport's greats out.

Graham Rahal slammed FOX for only promoting three drivers before the 2025 IndyCar season

Graham Rahal with Will Power at the IndyCar Java House Grand Prix of Monterey - Source: Getty

In April this year, a month into the 2025 IndyCar season, Graham Rahal called out FOX for putting all its eggs in three baskets out of the available 27. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver pointed out that the American media giant should've also included the 'GOAT' of IndyCar, six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, in the mix.

In an interview on the Speedfreaks podcast on YouTube, the six-time race winner said [5:08 onwards]:

"Let's be honest here. When you look at marketing, they're only marketing three drivers. That's factual. The only things you have seen to date is Pato, Josef, and Palou. There's a lot of other great people; forget about me, because as we talked about off-air, I could care less about attention. I've got way better things and more important things to do in my life than worry about if somebody on Twitter likes me or not," Graham Rahal said. [5:08 onwards]

Elaborating on the exclusion of IndyCar champs Will Power and Scott Dixon, the 36-year-old added:

"You've got guys like Will Power who have stood the test of time that continue to have exceptional races. You've got Scott Dixon. How do you ignore Scott Dixon? Greatest of all time. I understand that Alex Palou is beating Scott Dixon week in and week out nowadays, but that doesn't take away from who he is or what he has done or what he continues to do."

In August, FOX bought a third of IndyCar from Roger Penske, whose company, Penske Entertainment, owned 100% of both IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The media giant is expected to go bigger with its promos for the 2026 season, which gets underway on March 1 on the Streets of St. Petersburg.