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IndyCar: Does Patricio O’Ward have another full-time ride lined up for 2019?

By Asher Fair

SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 16: Patricio O'Ward, driver of the #8 Harding Racing Chevrolet, races against Graham Rahal, driver of the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, during the Verizon IndyCar Series Sonoma Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway on September 16, 2018 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images)
SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 16: Patricio O'Ward, driver of the #8 Harding Racing Chevrolet, races against Graham Rahal, driver of the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, during the Verizon IndyCar Series Sonoma Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway on September 16, 2018 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images) /
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Patricio O’Ward turned down an offer to drive part-time for Andretti Autosport in the 2019 IndyCar season. Does he have another full-time ride lined up?

Before it was made public that Patricio O’Ward and Harding Steinbrenner Racing had cut ties ahead of the 2019 IndyCar season, Andretti Autosport team owner Michael Andretti offered the 19-year-old Mexican a deal to drive for the team in eight races on the 17-race 2019 schedule.

O’Ward, who had been slated to be the full-time driver of the #8 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda for the 2019 season since right after the 2018 season ended this past September, turned down this deal.

Could O’Ward have turned down this deal as a result of the fact that he has another full-time ride lined up for the 2019 season that he has not yet publicized?

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The short answer to this question is one that only he knows (and, of course, if the answer to that question is yes, all of those involved in the deal, including the team for which he is set to drive, would know as well).

But I am not here to state the obvious. Let’s take a closer took at O’Ward’s situation.

By recording nine victories, 13 podium finishes, 15 top four finishes and 17 top seven finishes in the 17-race 2018 Indy Lights season, his rookie season, O’Ward won the Indy Lights championship. As a result, he was awarded (or, in his case, “O’Warded”) a $1 million scholarship to compete in three IndyCar races, including the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, this season.

Now let’s go back to what O’Ward did not even one week ago. Having just lost a full-time ride that had been lined up for him for nearly five months, he rejected an offer to compete in nearly half of the 2019 season’s races (and nearly three times as many races as his scholarship covers) for arguably the top team in the sport.

Meanwhile, the season is scheduled to get underway in just over three weeks.

What gives?

If O’Ward does not yet already have another full-time ride lined up with a competitive team for the 2019 season, him rejecting Andretti’s offer is a HUGE gamble. It could leave him in a position where he can only compete in three races throughout the season, and that is if he even decides that he wants to do that. If he does do that, he might be in a position where he has to do so for one of the sport’s least competitive teams such as Juncos Racing.

With the 2019 season scheduled to get underway in just over three weeks, would he really reject an offer to drive for arguably the sport’s most competitive team in eight races without another offer that is just as good if not better to fall back on, especially knowing the risks of doing so?

This is certainly something to ponder, especially considering the fact that it is extremely late in the game to be added as an additional full-time driver to any team — if he hasn’t already been added without the public knowing about it, that is.

Add to this the fact that given the recent video that O’Ward posted on social media, it does not appear that he currently has another ride lined up for the 2019 season.

Here is this video.

But at the same time, O’Ward seems fairly optimistic about the prospect of landing a great ride for the 2019 season — and soon.

Of course, given the fact that Andretti Autosport and Harding Steinbrenner Racing now have a technical alliance with one another, it is entirely possibly that O’Ward is simply disgusted by the entire situation that he does not want to drive for Andretti Autosport in the 2019 season even though the alternative may be driving for a non-competitive team for only three races in it.

However, considering the fact that he drove for Andretti Autosport in his championship-winning rookie 2018 Indy Lights season, this logic simply does not check out. Plus, consider the fact that we are talking about O’Ward here. Does he really seem like the kind of driver to hold a grudge? Did he even seem the slightest bit “disgusted” in his video?

There are many things to consider when assessing this situation from the outside. At the end of the day, it is another case of “wait and see”. When all of these factors are stacked together, something will eventually win out.

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Does Patricio O’Ward already have another full-time ride lined up for the 2019 IndyCar season that fans simply do not know about yet? Given the situation, this is entirely possible.

Whether or not this is the case should be revealed in the relatively near future considering the fact that the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida are scheduled to host the season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, on Sunday, March 10, which is now under three and a half weeks away.