IndyCar president gets honest about Pato O'Ward's dream of racing in Mexico and NASCAR-induced pressure

IndyCar president Doug Boles has given an update on adding a Mexico City race on the calendar, which has been Pato O'Ward's long-standing dream. The Arrow McLaren driver has been urging the series since 2021 to secure a race in his home country.

However, in August 2024, NASCAR beat IndyCar in doing so. The stock car series announced the addition of a Mexico City race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, starting from 2025, marking its first international race in its modern history. Pato O'Ward was furious when that happened and expressed his disappointment publicly.

In a recent interview with Blackbook Motorsport, Doug Boles addressed how O'Ward has created a big market for IndyCar in Mexico and how NASCAR's development affected their progress.

"I’ve promoted a Nascar race here (the Brickyard 400) at the [Indianapolis Motor] Speedway for a long time and have always felt like the Nascar folks have been great partners with us. In my 90 days [as president], they have been great partners with the series … we share information, we share together to grow the sport," Boles said.

The 58-year-old, who is also president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, explained how NASCAR's announcement put pressure on IndyCar.

"I don’t know that there was frustration that they announced before we did, obviously it put pressure on the series to try and get our deal done … and I think we’re going to get there."

However, Boles made one thing clear. He doesn't view NASCAR as a competitor, but instead as an "open book" that IndyCar can learn from to grow itself.

While IndyCar has yet to finalise a race in Mexico, the series has made considerable progress in its negotiations, as IndyCar CEO Mark Miles made clear earlier this year.

Pato O'Ward shares expected date for IndyCar's potential Mexico City race in 2026

Ahead of the 2025 season, there was positive noise surrounding IndyCar's negotiations with the Mexico City race promoters. The promoters, who had reportedly doubted IndyCar's ability to fill the seats in 2023, seemingly came around.

Pato O'Ward also spoke about those developments during an appearance on the Pit Pass Indy podcast in February.

"I think we can see it as soon as 2026. That's definitely what I've been pushing for and what I know IndyCar is pushing for. It might be pretty close to the Arlington Grand Prix. You never know if they might be back-to-backs because it is gonna be the closest one to Mexico, in terms of logistics travel-wise."

In March, IndyCar announced the dates for the inaugural Arlington GP in 2026. The race weekend will take place from March 13 to 15. Until an IndyCar race in Mexico is finalised, Pato O'Ward is living a part of that dream via his F1 role.

O'Ward is also an F1 reserve driver for McLaren and will participate in FP1 of the 2025 Mexico GP, as he did last year.