There are five drivers that are making their first career starts at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Three of which, have never raced in an NTT IndyCar Series race before either. For Oliver Askew, Rinus VeeKay and Alex Palou, they’re in for a wide eyed experience in Saturday’s Genesys 300 (8 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network).

For Pato O’Ward, he may not be considered a “rookie” by the definition of those standards due to him making eight career Indy Car starts prior, but none of those past starts though were on an oval. Yes, he spent the Month of May last year with Carlin trying to make the Indianapolis 500, but following a practice crash, the speed just wasn’t there and he missed the show.

 

He’d make just three more Indy Car starts since last May, but then moved back overseas for a seat over there. I said it then, when he joined the Red Bull program, IndyCar was going to lose a rising star.

O’Ward is legit. He’s the real deal. In 2018, he won the Indy Lights championship on the heels of nine wins. He also had three runner-ups too. That’s 12 top two finishes in 17 tries. He won seven times in Pro Mazda competition in 2016. Unfortunately, the funding was what he needed to do much more than the three race scholarship allowed last year. That’s when Red Bull picked him up.

Now, as luck may have it, he’s back in a full time seat with Arrow McLaren SP. The kid is going to be a future star in this series if given the right equipment and time to shine. The problem now is, he had to wait almost three months later than expected to get back going again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel a little anxious, a little nervous, excited,” O’Ward said on Friday. “But I think ultimately we’re all ready to get back to racing. We’ve all been preparing. We’ve been trying to prepare the best way we can to start the season.

“Obviously, the preparations are quite different heading into the first oval of the season. This year the first race is going to be an oval. It’s quite different to past years what it’s usually like. That’s definitely going to present some challenges ahead, especially me never driven laps at Texas Motor Speedway, the first INDYCAR oval race.”

If anyone of these inexperienced drivers can find the front on Saturday night, it’s O’Ward. While the team is going to go a little bit conservative on the setups to keep him and his rookie teammate Askew comfortable, look for O’Ward to maximize his potential.

I”t’s going to be important to just be efficient and use our time wisely, in a good way, not to get impatient,” O’Ward said of the limited amount of practice on Saturday. “I think that’s going to be the most important part.

“But it is going to be a race. It’s obvious some things change a little bit, especially when you’re going at it with other people. But, yeah, I think the most important thing is being very patient, bringing everything home, build momentum to start the season, because that is going to be the most important thing.”