For a brief period of time, Phoenix Raceway looked like Pato O’Ward’s arena. The Arrow-McLaren driver was poised for a victory in the IndyCar NTT Series’ third race of the season. However, he could not get the job done, as Roger Penske’s star driver zoomed past him for the win. Moreover, O’Ward’s comments also did not last so well on the track, as the latest winner advocated for a harmonious weekend with NASCAR.

IndyCar’s internal debate about NASCAR’s presence

“Hope we have more of these,” were the 6 words uttered by Josef Newgarden, who won the Good Ranchers 250 on Saturday. “It’s been great to be here this Cup weekend,” he continued. “It’s good for the fans, it’s good for us. It was so fun to drive yesterday, we had a car that was fast when we needed it.”

These words, uttered by the Team Penske driver, were a direct contrast to Pato O’Ward’s opinion. The Monterrey, Mexico native said two weeks back that he is “tired of IndyCar being like the support race” to NASCAR. Both disciplines raced together in St. Petersburg, and another doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway followed that up.

Indeed, NASCAR tends to dominate TV ratings and audience numbers – it scored 3.9 million views in COTA while IndyCar logged 1.4 million viewers on the same weekend in St Petersburg. Then, the ‘Desert Double’ at Phoenix Raceway saw IndyCar sharing its race with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, while the Cup Series got its own race day. These factors elevate O’Ward’s point; however, the Phoenix race winner clearly deflected from his views.

Josef Newgarden, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar champion, had a solid rival in Pato O’Ward even during the race. The latter was second when the final caution flew on Lap 207. Despite restarting ninth, O’Ward moved up the ranks swiftly into the top five – but could not get to first place due to balance issues. Despite missing the win, O’Ward logged the 50th top-five finish in his 108th career start.

Meanwhile, Josef Newgarden, who had also won IndyCar’s last iteration in Phoenix back in 2018, rejoiced in his latest win. At the same time, he cheered on his NASCAR teammates – specifically one of them.

A nod to a unique physical trait

After defeating Pato O’Ward’s advances and words in Phoenix, Josef Newgarden was not done yet. The Team Penske driver hung around for his NASCAR compatriots. It was already a Penske sweep this weekend; David Malukas won the pole for the IndyCar race, Joey Logano won the pole for the NASCAR race, and Newgarden won the IndyCar race. Finally, Ryan Blaney lived up to the expectations and fetched the Straight Talk 500 victory.

“I’m a huge Blaney fan – great guy, great human being, incredible racecar driver. You know, I’m gonna be a little biased today. I’m going for Blaney, even though a Team Penske win is what we want,” Josef Newgarden said before the race results.

The 35-year-old Nashville native is mostly without facial hair. So Newgarden could not help but admire Ryan Blaney’s unique trait: “I don’t even know that I can grow half the facial hair (as Ryan Blaney). He grows so much hair! There must be so much testosterone in that man. It also just works for him; he looks like a pure NASCAR driver.”

Clearly, Team Penske dominated the mood in Phoenix. Let’s wait and see if this sweep extends into the future race weekends as well.