Will Buxton adores Pato O’Ward, but he might not agree with the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren driver.
O’Ward opposed the idea of doubleheader weekends — events that hold both INDYCAR and NASCAR at the same venue, in the same time frame.
“Tired of INDYCAR being treated like a support race,” O’Ward said. “INDYCAR shouldn’t become a sideshow.”
That’s often what happens when there are doubleheaders at places like St. Petersburg, which hosted the INDYCAR season opener on Sunday morning and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday. Plus, there’s this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, with INDYCAR’s Good Ranchers 250 on Saturday (3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app) and NASCAR’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
However, Buxton, the FOX Sports INDYCAR play-by-play announcer, sees these doubleheaders as an “opportunity.”
“An opportunity for INDYCAR fans to fall in love with NASCAR and for NASCAR fans to fall in love with INDYCAR,” Buxton said on Monday’s episode of “SPEED With Harvick And Buxton.”
“[It’s] for race followers in each camps to achieve a new understanding and a new respect for championships which they may by no means have watched, or all the time believed that they should not. Want individuals to recollect you? Play the very best rattling gig of your life. INDYCAR merely has to do what it does finest, and that is be the quickest racing on earth. That’s the way you make followers. And that is how INDYCAR turns into the headliner.”
“Look, I love Pato,” Buxton added. “I love that he’s honest, and he speaks from the heart. And while I know exactly where he’s coming from, I think there’s a bigger picture to look at here.”
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Double-headers imply extra eyeballs, extra followers, extra probabilities for Tyler Reddick followers to fall in love with Alex Palou and vice versa.
“INDYCAR and NASCAR double headers are a great idea, because it shouldn’t be about anyone other than the fans,” Buxton stated. “It has to be about what’s right for them, and how the championship can maximize welcoming new fans to a racing product that we all adore. And the best way to do that is to simply get on with what INDYCAR does the best: putting on a show. The fastest racing on earth.”
INDYCAR could have the platform to do this this weekend at Phoenix.