Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a fan favorite in central Ohio for the NTT IndyCar Series drivers and fans. A long-time stop dating back to the CART days, the 2.2-mile 13-turn track is challenging, with two good passing zones, including the famous Keyhole at the end of turn 2.
This Sunday’s (July 6) Honda Indy 200 is known as a Fourth of July weekend thriller, with the expectation that this weekend won’t be any different.
Last Year
Alex Palou had a minor hiccup during his last pit stop that put him behind Pato O’Ward, who challenged him all day. The two ran closely together until the finish, with O’Ward holding him off for his first visit to victory lane since 2022 at Iowa Speedway.
Champ’s History
It’s imperative to start looking at Palou’s history at the tracks IndyCar is going to visit throughout the rest of the year. The three-time champion has blitzed his way through his four-and-a-half-year tenure at Chip Ganassi Racing in such a way that focusing on his record at tracks is part of the series’ fabric and identity now.
For example, Mid-Ohio can be considered one of Palou’s favorite rides if the schedule were an amusement park. It’s not the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course or Road America, where he won two weeks ago, but he’s good here. Since 2021, he’s finished third, second, first, and second again.
No setbacks expected this weekend for Palou.
Bueller?
Can anyone besides Kyle Kirkwood and Palou win a race in 2025? Others have tried, but luck has fallen in favor of the two winners more than the competition. Palou’s strategy got him out front at St. Petersburg, Thermal and Barber, and he kept it clean to win Indianapolis. Kirkwood survived the mishaps that befell challengers at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway to get his first oval win.
Mid-Ohio has been very competitive over the last eight runnings, with that many different drivers winning. Add in Christian Lundgaard, who excels at permanent road courses, and we could finally see someone besides the top two in points winning.
Hybrid’s Birthday
Happy birthday to IndyCar’s hybrid system, as it has now been one year since it was first implemented. When the system hit track at Mid-Ohio in 2024, little time was wasted in pushing the storyline. Several cars dealt with the mechanical gremlins that came wwith it, but the additional boost was thought to add to the racing.
If the system was thought to be a massive identity changer for the series, there hasn’t been much value added for fans in that span of time. Spectators can’t see it and never know when it’s used, either at the track or on television, because the graphic used isn’t constantly kept on screen.
While the manufacturers, especially Honda, which is considered to be the critical supporter for it, had some fun with the development, the system is barely referenced during races now. Fox Sports color commentator Townsend Bell summed up why that was in a tweet after Detroit. The system is used by drivers similarly, so there is no trade-off anymore.
Besides ovals, which require more driver input to recover the energy, the hybrid is exactly what fans experience every weekend – invisible.
What Else?
Scott Dixon is winless, but shouldn’t be too concerned. He didn’t capture his first victory in 2023 until the 14th race, so heading into the 10th one isn’t an alarm. The issue is his consistency; he’s had one podium and two other top fives in the season. Mid-Ohio is his best road course, but his sixth and last win came in 2019.
Championship contender Kirkwood is hanging in the fight. He lost ground to Palou at Road America but padded his second-place points position with a fourth-place finish. If he is somehow able to cut into Palou’s gap, it will likely require a career-best run at Mid-Ohio, as he hasn’t finished better than eighth there in his previous three starts.
Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson received a new engineer this week to hopefully get his season back on track. With his second-place finish at the Indy 500 wiped out, he’s only nabbed one top 10, at the season opener at St. Petersburg. This time last year, he was hitting a stride of consistency with his new team, racking off five straight top 10s, including a runner-up at Detroit. This year has been a bit rough.
O’Ward can easily defend his victory from a year ago, and it would be a great time for him to do it. He finished 17th at Road America and lost pace with Kirkwood for second in points. A strong run Sunday will set him up for more as the doubleheader at Iowa is the next event, and he has excelled at the cornfield short track.
Frontstretch Predictions
While it’s likely someone besides Kirkwood and Palou will win this weekend, I am sticking to the tried and true method of picking the championship points leader. But I’ll add O’Ward in for second, and Dixon is getting his second podium of the year.
- Palou
- O’Ward
- Dixon
The 90-lap Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio gets underway on Sunday, July 6, at 1 p.m. ET with coverage provided by FOX.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.