It’s a safe guess Pato O’Ward hopes ticket sales for the inaugural INDYCAR Grand Prix of Arlington weekend are the same as the trajectory of his first pitch before the Texas Rangers-New York Yankees’ game Wednesday, Aug. 6 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas – high.

O’Ward threw the ceremonial first pitch before the game as part of in-market promotions surrounding tickets going on sale Wednesday for the new INDYCAR race weekend March 13-15, 2026, in North Texas. The landmark race weekend is fueled by a first-of-its-kind partnership between INDYCAR, the Dallas Cowboys and REV Entertainment, the official events partner of the Texas Rangers.

“It feels like home,” said O’Ward, a native of Mexico who attended high school in Texas. “The closest I have to home currently. I love it. I always have.

“Everything is bigger here. Everything is greater here. It really is an amazing place to be a part of. I spent a lot of time in Dallas in 2019. I have friends here who live here. They’ll for sure be here for the race.”

The INDYCAR Grand Prix of Arlington’s 2.73-mile temporary street circuit will be seamlessly integrated into one of the nation’s most vibrant entertainment districts in the heart of the Metroplex, winding around AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in addition to the current and former homes of the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium.

O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, got a look at part of the circuit Wednesday and was impressed. There were two unique aspects of the track that caught his eye.

“One of my favorite parts is it’s going to be a two-sided pit lane like the Detroit Grand Prix,” O’Ward said. “The hospitality extends out on top of the track, the only hospitality that we’ll legitimately be driving under. That’s going to be a really cool experience for the people who are there.

“I feel like the fan experience here is going to be like nothing we’ve seen. It’s a formula for having a great event.”

But O’Ward also knows advance preparation and simulation modeling will be essential for success on the Arlington circuit because no teams will have a book of setup knowledge to draw from because the track is new and temporary.

This could be the most important prerace track walk of 2026, too.

“It’s a challenge, not just for the drivers but for the teams,” O’Ward said. “Whoever rolls off the strongest, the preparation is going to pay off over the weekend.

“You can see the layout, but you can’t see the pavement changes, the undulations. We feel that. That’s all things you need to explore when you go out (on track). You need to be confident in the car to put the lap time in. When you don’t have that, sometimes it’s a struggle. If you explore well, it will pay off.”

The new Arlington race also looks to pay dividends for NTT DATA, the series sponsor and a technology partner of Arrow McLaren. The company’s North American headquarters are in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, making this a special race for the company and its employees.

In fact, NTT DATA officials accompanied O’Ward to the Rangers-Yankees’ afternoon game.

“We have a big office and employee presence here,” said Vikesh Gumpalli, senior vice president of technology solutions and sales for NTT DATA. “Being a local resident here for nearly a decade and a half, it’s really exciting to have INDYCAR come back to the DFW-North Texas area. There are a lot of race fans in this city.

“We are very focused around elevating the INDYCAR SERIES fan experience.”

To buy Grand Prix of Arlington tickets, click here. For more information about the new event, visit, www.gparlington.com.