Norway? Spain? England? INDYCAR Drivers Watch Home Countries Vie For World Cup

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Lexington, Ohio) - Dennis Hauger hasn't had a moment to talk some World Cup trash to fellow INDYCAR rookie Caio Collet as Norway takes on Brazil in a Round of 16 contest that follows the INDYCAR race on Sunday. But Hauger, the first Norwegian to race in INDYCAR, has a celebration plan - that's if he earns his first career INDYCAR podium. It's a celebration that World Cup fans have seen from the Norwegian faithful this summer. "That's my only goal this year. Get on the podium so I can row back to Norway and celebrate with that,"Hauger quipped during a news conference last week. "That would be so fun." INDYCAR coverage starts Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX. It leads right into World Cup pre-game coverage at 3 p.m., with the Round of 16 double-header of Norway vs. Brazil and England vs. Mexico to follow. The INDYCAR drivers from those countries - and all that remain in the World Cup - are paying attention. "Mexico's been killing it," said Pato O'Ward, who is hugely popular in his native Mexico, to me and other reporters Friday. "I kept seeing a lot of videos and reels, and I felt so much FOMO that I wasn't there to just experience the vibe, experience the energy. "Obviously, I experience it in a certain degree when I see a lot of the Mexican fans around the races that I go to throughout the year, and it makes me want to be there." Like many of those from England, driver Louis Foster isn't sure about his team. "I support, but I'm realistic," Foster told me Friday. "Facing Mexico is going to be tough being their home event in Mexico City with the elevation and everything else and the team hasn't been playing particularly well. "I think they could pull through. It's a very toss-up game. If we get through that, we should be able to get through the next stage as well, but we'll face Argentina in the semis. Argentina and France, over the last four to eight years, have just been leagues above everyone else. So fingers crossed." The next INDYCAR race, July 19 at Nashville Superspeedway, will immediately follow the post-game coverage of the World Cup final on FOX. Could Spain be in it? Alex Palou, the only Spaniard to win the Indianapolis 500 and the only Spaniard to win an INDYCAR title (he has four), wouldn't make a prediction. But Palou is hopeful that Spain and the United States win their games Monday so they can meet in a World Cup quarterfinal. "That would be very exciting," Palou said at a news conference Friday. "Then ... if Spain wins, I could be like, We beat you guys' to the team. And if the U.S. wins, I can go to my friends in Spain and be like, Yeah, America.' "I think I can play both sides. And whatever happens will be fun."