A race to remember for fans the world over in Laguna Seca marked the end of an era as the titans of the NTT IndyCar Series roll into The Buckeye State.
Setting sail from pole, Alex Palou dominated the day, leading over half of the laps on the way to his second win of 2024.
The DHL “Pride Ride” seldom fell behind its competition, defying bad breaks for cautions and rising to the front no matter the challenger.
Colton Herta was the only driver to keep Palou within his line of sight, pacing the field for eight laps before coming home second.
Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi broke up the Honda party by placing third in his #7 Chevrolet with Romain Grosjean notching his best finish of 2024 in fourth.
California’s dusty landscape created problems for all three of Team Penske’s entries with each of them going for a spin during the race, dropping both Newgarden and McLaughlin outside of the top-15 while Power recovered to place seventh.
Two drivers made their debuts in new rides last week as Nolan Siegel’s first race with Arrow McLaren ended in 12th while the guy he inevitably replaced — David Malukas — took his new #66 Meyer Shank Honda to 16th, rebounding from a late tire failure.
Palou’s victory extended his points lead over Power to 23 points, but with half the season remaining, most drivers in the top-10 still have an outside shot at a title if the points leaders encounter issues over the next nine races.
The News
Alexander Rossi will be hitting the free agent market.
Rossi’s two-year contract with Arrow McLaren expires at the end of 2024, and the team announced his 2025 replacement on Tuesday.
Christian Lundgaard is slated to drive the #7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for years to come.
The 22-year-old Dane made his way up the Formula 1 ladder, having a landmark 2020 season in F2 that saw him win two races and finish seventh in final points.
Lundgaard began moonlighting in American open-wheel racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing the next year before joining the grid full-time for RLL in 2022.
His #45 HyVee racing team picked up an eighth-place points finish last season on the heels of his first IndyCar victory at Toronto.
With years of great racing ahead of him, Christian Lundgaard takes his talents to an Arrow McLaren team that will enter next season with three drivers under age 25, far and away the youngest team in the series.
The Track
A group of local businesspeople led by Les Griebling footed the bill for a 2.4-mile road course in Lexington, Ohio all the way back in 1962.
After multiple upgrades and modifications, today’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course sits at 2.258 miles with 13 turns and a newly-repaved track surface for this year’s event.
The track has hosted races for ARCA, NASCAR Craftsman Trucks & Xfinity Series, Trans-Am, IMSA, MotoAmerica, and SCCA, among others.
Eventual 1980 IndyCar Johnny Rutherford claimed the inaugural win at the course, and since then, Scott Dixon owns the record for victories at Mid-Ohio with six.
Not only is a fresh coat of pavement here to welcome the NTT IndyCar Series, each car will be fitted with a new hybrid power unit. You will hear a ton about this new addition this weekend, so I’m going to skip out on explaining it.
Hybrid power should give these cars an extra zip on the exit of corners, much like other Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) in multiple racing disciplines.
Sliding out of the last left-hand turn, drivers pull onto the frontstretch and across the start-finish line before swinging to the left for the fast turn 1.
A rather long straightaway gives drivers the opportunity to race side-by-side until entering the heavy-braking zone of turn 2. Known as “The Keyhole”, the hairpin bends 180° to the right, opening up on corner exit for the expansive back straight.
Downhill drag racing cuts slightly to the right before approaching the tight turn 4 that sends drivers uphill to the treacherous turn 5. The variance in elevation doesn’t let up as the exit of turn 5 blends into the sharp right-hander of turn 6.
Drivers then enter the dreaded “Esses”, an undulating paved path through the Ohio hills that spits drivers out at turn 9. The right-hander demands the car to accelerate uphill on exit, cascading down into Thunder Valley.
A jab to the right for turn 10 requires car’s to hug the guardrail on the right side to properly setup for the fast left of turn 11.
Cars straighten up one last time on corner exit until flying into the slow, sweeping right-hander of turn 12. Better known as “the Carousel”, the best drivers leave the turn on the curb before cutting back to the right for turn 13 to complete the lap.
Weather & Fast Facts
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by The 2025 Civic Hybrid is set to get going close to 2pm Eastern time while coverage starts on NBC at 1:30pm.
Following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic season where Mid-Ohio hosted a doubleheader, the race grew to 80 laps, down 10 laps from the traditional 90-lap event the series held at the circuit since making their return to the circuit in 2007.
The average Mid-Ohio IndyCar race sees two cautions for nine laps under yellow, six lead changes, 113 passes for position, and lasts a little over an hour and 40 minutes.
Winning teams pitted just twice throughout the race in each of the last seven events, so tomorrow’s winner should pay two visits to the pits for fresh tires and more fuel.
In the last seven races, there hasn’t been a repeat winner, and with so much uncertainty with the new hybrid system making its debut, Mid-Ohio could be poised to enshrine a new winner on Sunday afternoon.
The temperature for tomorrow projects to rise to 84°F during the race, making the fresh, smooth asphalt even more slick for those Firestone tires.
These are the most average and perfect conditions possible for this track, and hopefully, we’ll be treated to a dynamic show from the titans of IndyCar.
The Odds
As I do every week, I pull these odds from DraftKings Sportsbook.
At the top of the stack is the pole sitter for the Honda Indy 200: Alex Palou (+110). Last year’s winner looks to go back-to-back at Mid-Ohio and by following up his win two weeks ago at Laguna Seca.
The reigning series champion took over the #10 Honda for Chip Ganassi in 2021, and he’s been a fixture on the Mid-Ohio podium since. With teammate Scott Dixon to lean on, it would not shock me to see Palou celebrating with fried chicken tonight.
Right behind Palou in the odds and on the grid is Pato O’Ward (+350). The marvelous Mexican holds a solid record at Mid-Ohio but not a spectacular one, never ending a day in Lexington in the top-5.
Pato isn’t a stranger to the clean air of Thunder Valley; he led 28 laps in the 2022 running before suffering from a mechanical failure. Having Palou in his sights could offer insight on how to beat his adversary in today’s race and the championship.
Last among the top-3 is Colton Herta (+600). The Andretti Global wunderkind reaches new highs every week, yet he’s not converting those gains into victories.
To Herta’s credit, Andretti appears to be a step behind this season considering none of their three cars have reached the top step of the podium. However, the winner of the second 2020 Mid-Ohio race starts from P4 and is hungrier than ever for a win.
Writer’s Pick
In the last edition of the IndyCar Almanac, I chose Colton Herta to win the race, and though he was the second-best car all race, he was unable to keep pace with Alex Palou’s Pride Ride, settling for second.
I don’t want to settle for second this week. That’s why I am picking David Malukas (+1600). The Meyer Shank racer tackled time trials, comfortably cruising into the Firestone Fast Six and a third-place starting spot.
After his ouster from Arrow McLaren earlier in the year, Malukas made his debut in the #66 at Laguna Seca where he made it to the Fast 12 and ran in the top-10 for parts of the day before a shredded tire ground his once=promising day to a halt.
Lining up on the inside of the second row allows the former Dale Coyne product to breathe a little at the front of the field like he did in his Indy Lights days.
The Chicago native returns to the Midwest this weekend with top-10s in each of his two starts at Mid-Ohio, and I suspect he’ll be far better than mid this afternoon.
(Top Photo Credit: Tom E. Puskar/AP Photo)
The Wide World of Dirt 
Leave a comment