Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
It was a holiday weekend. It was a great weekend for Italians. I guess we are dropping the "Andrea" form Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian confirmed he will be driving a Mercedes in 2025. Franco Colapinto made his Formula One debut, replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams, and Colapinto became the first Argentine to start a grand prix since 2001. A drought ended in Aragón. The FIA World Endurance Championship experienced the heat of Austin, Texas. NASCAR released its schedule and the Cup Series debuting in Mexico City got everyone's attention, especially in the IndyCar paddock, and it set off a fire storm.
IndyCar's Boiling End to Summer
NASCAR's news of a race weekend in Mexico City at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez set people off in IndyCar circles.
For the last few years, there has been rumblings of IndyCar interest in racing in Mexico's capital. Those picked up over the last four years with the emergence of Patricio O'Ward as a top driver in the series. Sometimes it sounded promising, but it is IndyCar, a series that talks a big game but rarely do we see anything big splashes made.
With O'Ward's success, a trip to Mexico felt worthy of exploring. When NASCAR announced its 2025 calendar with a June 15 date at the home of the Mexican Grand Prix, those in IndyCar universally felt this was a missed opportunity, none so more than O'Ward himself.
O'Ward has spent the last few seasons becoming more than a great driver in the IndyCar Series, but one of the few true ambassadors, reaching out to fans and attempting to draw more people to races. He is undoubtedly the most celebrated driver in the series and has the largest fan base. The man had children chanting his name during Indianapolis 500 practice this May. Part of his appeal is his ability but also his charisma, and he can connect to a segment of the population that has long not had someone to cheer for in IndyCar. Mexicans are passionate about their countrymen and will overwhelmingly support one of their own, more so than Americans supporting Americans.
Attracting fans hasn't been the only thing O'Ward has been doing the last few years. He has also been vocal about IndyCar's lack of promotion and attempts at exposure. The series has pushed back and it pushed back again ahead of Milwaukee after O'Ward expressed his displeasure.
There is a reason for everything, including IndyCar's lack of a Mexico race, but Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles did not win over any understanding with his explanation. Miles said IndyCar was unable to find a partner to organize the IndyCar race and he was told by the circuit that it was open to renting the facility to IndyCar, but not fully covering the event.
A fair explanation but one that did not need Miles to go further in saying IndyCar was not big enough in Mexico to justify a race and O'Ward was not popular enough to draw a crowd.
All those things might be true, but Miles threw IndyCar's biggest star under the bus while also acknowledging the series' long-apparent shortcomings that ultimately fall at his feet.
It has been a long summer for IndyCar, and this incident was the spark to set the wildfire ablaze.
It has been building since the Indianapolis 500 in May. This was the first time we really heard drivers and those around the series vocalizing frustration that IndyCar can draw 300,000 people for one race, draw about five million people to their television screen to watch, and then have very little carry over to subsequent races. It has always been the case that the Indianapolis 500 is the most-attended race and most-viewed race of the season, but this year the drop-off became unacceptable, especially after the race we saw with the finish it had between IndyCar's biggest driver in O'Ward and one of its best and nearly as photogenic drivers in Josef Newgarden.
For too long IndyCar has been able to draw five million viewers for one race and then barely scraped together one million viewers for every other race. The masses are not asking for five million viewers at every race, but it would be nice if the average was around two or two-and-a-half million, and half of the audience for the Indianapolis 500 tuned in for every other event.
NASCAR's expansion to Mexico City, bringing a championship Cup Series race to an international venue for the first time since 1958, illustrates how North America's biggest two series have been moving in the last five years. Since 2020, when the world was shutdown due to the pandemic and there were concerns about what would be possible in the future, NASCAR has grown. It has taken chances. It has gone to venues long considered as never possibly hosting a NASCAR race. Circuit of the Americas has a race. It put a street race in downtown Chicago. It has seen North Wilkesboro return to the calendar after it was abandoned for nearly a quarter of a century. After nearly 20 years of a stagnant schedule with little expansion and variety, NASCAR has taken a new approach in the 2020s and it is spreading itself out.
Even Formula One has boomed in the last four years, and notably so in the United States where there are now races in Miami and Las Vegas on temporary circuits that were at best pipe dreams and would never have been seriously pursued ten years ago.
IndyCar is the only series that has shrunk since 2020, and nobody links shrinking to success.
IndyCar had a race at Circuit of the Americas. The pandemic killed it. IndyCar was planning on returning to Richmond. The pandemic has indefinitely cancelled that plan. The best thing that has happened to IndyCar in the last four years has also been one of its blackest eyes as it established a race in downtown Nashville and had big plans to move the race even more into the heart of the city, race on its famed Broadway and have Nashville be the season finale, but that all fell apart when the promoters ran into conflicts with the construction with the new football stadium for the Tennessee Titans, which will not open until 2027.
There is no race in Texas. IndyCar's furthest race east is Toronto. There is no race in the northeast of the United States. There is no race between Iowa and California. Until this season, there were three races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There were three races in the state of Wisconsin this season. Ten of the 17 races in 2024 took place in six states that are all connected to one another. The new venue for the 2025 season is The Thermal Club, a country club racetrack with zero interest in opening its doors to a public crowd, which will be the third race in California, running the Palm Springs-area, a place with about 45,000 inhabitants.
Mark Miles picked the wrong time to pick a fight with IndyCar's most popular driver. Miles has been in charge since 2013 after Randy Bertrand was dismissed after a four-year run that was marred by the death of Dan Wheldon. It is hard to believe Miles has been at the helm for over a decade. He ushered in a new full-time television partnership with NBC and then another historic TV deal with Fox. There was a transition from Verizon title sponsorship to NTT when it looked liked IndyCar may have been without a title sponsor. IndyCar had a settled period under Miles where the series wasn't losing venues left and right and had calendar stability.
Entering 2025, more must be done. It is time for a new voice leading the charge that will be capable of spreading IndyCar to new and forgotten corners. It needs someone who can lift O'Ward into a more known name as well as making some of these drivers recognizable beyond one day of the year. Entering the new deal with Fox, IndyCar has a good benchmark from there it is start and it should look to grow from over the next five years. This period should be done under the stewardship of a new CEO.
But IndyCar's biggest problem is Miles has been setting out and accomplishing what his boss Roger Penske desires. Miles has gotten a new television deal with more money coming into the series. Thermal Club is paying to host IndyCar. The Indianapolis 500 remains a healthy race. The charter negotiations appear set. With all the boxes being checked, why would Penske change a thing?
There are plenty of reasons why, even for an 87-year-old man. IndyCar will not reach a higher level under this leadership. After a decade in charge, it has maxed out its potential. From the sounds of it, everyone inside the paddock would embrace someone new with new ideas. You must believe they have lost a lot of confidence and respect for Miles after what was said in Milwaukee. Everyone knows exactly what Miles is capable of and IndyCar will not get much bigger than this under his control. For the second half of the 2020s, it is time for someone else to lead the charge.
Champions From the Weekend
Louis Foster clinched the Indy Lights championship with a victory at Milwaukee.
Leonado Fornaroli clinched the Formula Three championship with finishes of eighth and second from Monza.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Louis Foster, Patricio O'Ward and Scott McLaughlin, but did you know...
Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Oliver Bearman (sprint) and Gabriel Bortoleto (feature) split the Formula Two races from Monza. Tim Tramnitz (sprint) and Sami Meguetounif (feature) split the Formula Three races.
Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Aragón Grand Prix, his first grand prix victory since October 24, 2021. Márquez also won the sprint race. Jake Dixon won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. José Antonio Rueda won the Moto3 race, his first career victory.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Shwartzman won Lone Star Le Mans from Circuit of the Americas. The #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas won the LMGT3 class.
Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500, his first Cup victory since March 13, 2022. Christopher Bell won the Grand National Series race.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP has a round at Misano.
NASCAR opens its playoffs in Atlanta.
GT World Challenge America will be at Barber Motorsports Park.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has a round at the Sachsenring.
World Superbike visits Magny-Cours.
The Acropolis Rally will be held.
