AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Pato O'Ward wasn't sold on the motorsports doubleheader this weekend at Phoenix Raceway because the IndyCar driver doesn't like being “the support series” to NASCAR.
Then he saw the television rating — 3.9 million viewers on Fox Sports for last week's NASCAR race — and changed his mind.
“I stand corrected, I'm so happy to be here with NASCAR this weekend,” the Mexican wrote on social media.
These are heady times for the top two racing series in the United States, as both are riding a wave of momentum at the start of the season. The NASCAR team owned by Michael Jordan has set a record in winning the first three races with Tyler Reddick to draw enough attention that even Magic Johnson is paying attention.
“I want to congratulate my friend Michael Jordan once again!” he wrote. “His 23XI Racing team won its (third) straight NASCAR race to start the 2026 season making NASCAR history!”
And IndyCar is coming off a strong season-opening weekend with a full month of racing for the first time in years. IndyCar is partnered with NASCAR this weekend and races Saturday, one day before the Cup Series runs on the 1-mile oval. For IndyCar, it's a first trip back to Phoenix since 2018.
The atmosphere is light and festive at this track nestled in the desert landscape and Fox Sports is thrilled with the doubleheader. The network is in its broadcast portion of the NASCAR schedule and last season bought an ownership stake in IndyCar.
“Good things come in pairs! This weekend’s ‘Desert Double’ is a great opportunity to showcase and cross-promote the biggest stars in racing to motorsports fans all weekend," said Bill Wanger, head of programming and scheduling at the network. "We at Fox Sports are thrilled to help bring these two worlds together.”
The pairing is partly the vision of Eric Shanks, CEO of Fox Sports, which airs the entire IndyCar season on its main network channel. When Fox took over as broadcast partner last year, Shanks often stacked the races back-to-back with NASCAR to pull in as many eyeballs as possible.
It's a logical sentiment and apparently working.
“This is so great for racing fans, I have never understood people who are like ‘I only watch NASCAR and not IndyCar’ or vice versa,” said NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney. “This just brings everybody together. I think the crowd for both days is going to be fantastic and I wish there would be more doubleheader weekends because I like hanging out with those guys and watching them and it's easier for me to watch with them here. It's an awesome series.”
IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden said he was staying after his race to watch the Cup Series live on Sunday and would be cheering on his Team Penske teammates Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano.
“I wish we had more weekends together. I just don't see how us being together is ever a bad thing,” Newgarden said.
IndyCar had the track to itself for Friday afternoon qualifying at the same time the Cup Series garage opened for inspection. David Malukas won the first pole of his career in his new Team Penske ride, and Newgarden was second for a Penske 1-2 sweep.
The biggest surprise, though, was Mick Schumacher, who qualified fourth for his oval debut.
“This guy is like a complete, literal foreigner to oval racing,” Newgarden said of the son of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher. “For Mick, what a tremendous job. The race is a different story. But you've got to be open-minded in this series — he could just come in and be a natural.”
The field will be chasing four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou on Saturday after Palou won last weekend's opener in St. Pete. Then on Sunday it will be 39 drivers trying to snap Reddick's run and prevent him from winning a fourth consecutive week.
Jordan has been to all three of Reddick's victories this year and will be in Phoenix, and when the Basketball Hall of Famer is involved, everyone's excitement rises.
“When you have an owner that was the greatest to ever do it in his sport, and he has so much interest in the sport that I'm in, that's just a positive for racing,” Blaney said. “I think it creates a lot of eyes from people who were maybe a fan of Michael's when he was playing, or their parents were a fan of Michael's. Well now they are watching this because MJ is here.”
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
