Located just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio sits the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The ninth race of the IndyCar Schedule takes us to rural Ohio for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. The 2.258 mile 13 turn track provides a variety of long straights and tight turns to test the drivers ability to set up and make passes when the opportunity presents itself. 

Alex Palou Looks to Extend Championship Lead

Coming off a strong performance and the win at Laguna Seca, the Chip Ganassi driver looks to put his adversaries for the title further in the rear view mirror. This weekend, Palau will look to add his name alongside his teammate, Scott Dixon, of repeat winners at Mid-Ohio. IndyCar has been coming here since 2007 and only Dixon has managed to pull off back-to-back wins at the road course, doing so in 2011 and 2012, but more on that later.

As mentioned previously, Palou’s strong showing last week has given him some cushion over second place Will Power, leading him in the championship standings by 23 points. That being said, the title is still wide open as even a minor slip up by any of the championship favorites can strongly affect their championship hopes. 

In five attempts at the track, Palou has three podiums and a win, all coming in the last three years, coinciding with Palou’s move to Chip Ganassi in 2021. Qualifying, it seems, is Palou’s only weakness when it comes to Mid Ohio as he has never qualified better than fourth at the track. Will he be able to break that trend this weekend and extend his championship lead? 

Mid-Ohio May be Scott Dixon’s Second Home

When talking about Mid-Ohio and IndyCar, Scott Dixon has to be in the conversation to be a threat. Scott Dixon has made a whopping 18 starts at Mid-Ohio and has won six times (including back-to-back in ‘11 and ‘12 as mentioned before) and has found himself on the podium 8 times. To add to his list of accomplishments at Mid-Ohio, he has 13 top five finishes and 17 top 10’s. With an average finish of 5.1 and an average start of 6.7, Scott Dixon knows his way around the course.

A strong showing at Mid-Ohio could be just what the doctor ordered to get Dixon back on track for his record-tying seventh title. The championship is within reach as he only sits 32 points back of his teammate Palou. 

Kyle Kirkwood Emerging as a Dark Horse in Championship 

Nine races into the season and it seems as though nobody wants to mention Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood as a threat for the championship. In his third season in IndyCar, Kirkwood is looking to build off of a strong 2023 which saw him finish sixth in the championship while bringing home two victories (Long Beach and Nashville). 

Kirkwood has shown this season that consistency is key when going for an IndyCar title. While none of his stats jump off the page at you, he has only one finish outside the top 10 this year with an 11th place finish at the Indy Road Course. He is currently on pace to lead 115 laps this year which would surpass his previous best of 88 in 2023. 

Mid-Ohio has not been friendly to Kirkwood with his best finish being 17th in 2023 after starting third. He started ninth before crashing out of the race 28 laps into the 80 lap race in 2022. All that being said, Kirkwood has qualified in the top 10 in both of his attempts at Mid-Ohio and if he can put together a complete race and stay out of trouble, he can find himself moving up in the standings at.