After a grueling first half of the season, IndyCar will have a weekend off before kicking off the second half. The series will return to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 2 for the Honda Indy 200 on USA Network. The 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course provides numerous challenges to drivers and engineers with elevation changes, high-speed corners, tight corners, and everything in between.
Scott McLaughlin will enter as the defending race winner, as he led 45 laps and beat Alex Palou to the finish line by a half-second. Palou has all of the momentum right now though. The 2021 series champion has won three of the last four races, and has a commanding 74-point lead in the standings after his victory today in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. There has only been one instance of a back-to-back winner in the 17 races at Mid-Ohio.
That driver was Scott Dixon, who won the events in 2011 and 2012. Dixon is no stranger to the Mid-Ohio circuit, as he has won there six times in his career. He also has 12 top-five finishes at the track, with 261 laps led. He has only finished outside of the top-ten once in his 17 starts. That came in 2016 when he has a suspension failure.
Will Power is always a factor in this event, as he has started on the front row nine times and has seven podium finishes at Mid-Ohio. The reigning series champion has yet to start inside the top-six this year, which is the longest stretch of his legendary career. Power has led 205 laps at Mid-Ohio, but none in the last three races there.
Another driver to keep an eye on is Power's teammate Josef Newgarden, who has tasted victory twice at Mid-Ohio. The Indy 500 winner earned a runner-up finish today at Road America, and is in position to hunt down Palou for his third series title this year. It is a hometown race for Graham Rahal, who won back in 2015. Seven of the last eight races have been won from the front row, so qualifying will be important.
Race weekend schedule (Eastern Standard Time)
Friday June 30
3:05 pm - Practice 1
Saturday July 1
9:45 am - Practice 2
2:45 pm - Qualifying
Sunday July 2
1:30 pm - Race
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