INDYCAR’s hottest driver heads to Mid-Ohio in No. 10 American Legion Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou has been dominant since May in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, winning three of four races – including two in the No. 10 American Legion Honda featuring the Be the One initiative. But it’s not just a recent surge that’s got Palou holding a commanding advantage in the series’ point standings.
Palou has been incredibly consistent all season, finishing in the top 10 in every race and pulling in seven top-five performances. He currently holds a 74-point lead over CGR teammate Marcus Ericsson in the INDYCAR SERIES points standings heading into this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
"This has always been a really good race for us and the team in general,” said Palou, who finished second at Mid-Ohio last year and third in 2021, via CGR media. “The atmosphere is great and it's a Honda race, so we want to go get good results for them. It's a road course that I love because it's really tricky, and it's not easy to get a good lap around there with things being so crazy in sectors two and three.
“But after a good few races that we've had, we want to continue on the roll that we're having and score more wins."
Chip Ganassi Racing, as a team, has also been dominant this season, leading the INDYCAR SERIES in wins (four), podiums (eight) and laps led (254 out of 965). All five CGR drivers have now led a lap this year.
Ericsson is the only other driver besides Palou with a top-10 finish in every race. He’ll also carry American Legion branding on his livery this weekend, as will CGR teammate and NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Marcus Armstrong. Ericsson said he enjoys Mid-Ohio, where he finished second in 2021. “It's quite fun, especially the section between turns four and nine. It's very technical and a key part of the track,” he said. “The race weekend atmosphere is something I always look forward to with people out there camping. For us, we've had some good memories at the track finishing second two years ago, quite close to winning. I think we should be strong there and I'm really looking forward to it."
Despite only driving street and road courses, Armstrong has managed two top-10s and still leads the rookie point standings while driving the No.11 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda. He’s looking forward the Mid-Ohio road course.
“It looks very technical and quite similar to a circuit that I grew up driving in New Zealand with a lot of elevation changes and difficult to maximize,” Armstrong said. “I think it will take a few laps to get used to during practice, but after that, I'm confident that we will make the best of it."
Also hitting the Mid-Ohio course this weekend with Be the One branding on his car is CGR developmental driver Kyffin Simpson, who will compete in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio. Two weeks ago, Simpson was top in one of the practice sessions and then captured the pole in record-setting fashion in the INDYNXT SERIES by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America.
But in Turn 1 during the race, Simpson went wide and launched all four wheels into the air after hitting a curb on the exit of the first turn. He slipped to seventh place after the incident and wound up eighth. It was still his second-best finish of the season and moved him up to 13th in the INDY NXT points standings.
This weekend’s 80-lap, 180.64-mile race takes place on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course that includes elevation changes, high-speed corners, flowing corners, tight corners, a narrow (40 feet) racing ribbon and a challenging entry to pit lane.
This weekend’s broadcast schedule (all times ET):
Friday, June 30 – 3:05-4:20 p.m., NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 (Peacock).
Saturday, July 1 – 9:45-10:45 a.m., NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2; 2:45-4:15 p.m.. NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifications (both Peacock).
Sunday, July 2 – 10:30-11 a.m., NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup (Peacock); 11:30 a.m.-12:40 p.m., INDY NXT race (Peacock); 1:30-4 p.m., NTT INDYCAR SERIES race (USA and Peacock).
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Notes:
· The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid will be the ninth race of the 2023 season. There have been five different winners in nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Marcus Ericsson (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (Texas Motor Speedway and Indianapolis 500), Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach), Scott McLaughlin (Barber Motorsports Park) and Alex Palou (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1, Streets of Detroit and Road America) have all won in 2023. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
· The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will be the 40th INDYCAR SERIES race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Scott McLaughlin won the race in 2022. Johnny Rutherford won the first INDYCAR SERIES race at Mid-Ohio, in 1980.
· Scott Dixon is the winningest INDYCAR SERIES driver at Mid-Ohio with six victories (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2019). Emerson Fittipaldi won at Mid-Ohio three times, while Michael Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Teo Fabi, Josef Newgarden, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr. and Alex Zanardi all won at Mid-Ohio twice. Past winners Dixon, Castroneves (2000 and 2001), Newgarden (2017 and 2021), Graham Rahal (2015), Simon Pagenaud (2016), Alexander Rossi (2018), Will Power (2020-Race 1), Colton Herta (2020-Race 2) and Scott McLaughlin (2022) are entered this year.
· Fifteen drivers have won the race from the pole – Mario Andretti (1984), Bobby Rahal (1985), Roberto Guerrero (1987), Teo Fabi (1989), Michael Andretti (1990, 1991), Al Unser Jr. (1994), Alex Zanardi (1996), Patrick Carpentier (2002), Paul Tracy (2003), Scott Dixon (2011), Simon Pagenaud (2016), Alexander Rossi (2018), Will Power (2020-Race 1), Colton Herta (2020-Race 2) and Josef Newgarden (2021). Power has won five poles at Mid-Ohio, the most of any driver.
· Twenty-one drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Mid-Ohio. Scott Dixon (19) has made the most starts at Mid-Ohio among the entered drivers. Ten drivers have led laps at the track (Dixon 261, Will Power 205, Josef Newgarden 162, Alexander Rossi 71, Colton Herta 66, Simon Pagenaud 37, Graham Rahal 27, Takuma Sato 16, Felix Rosenqvist 15 and Marcus Ericsson 3).
· Team Penske has 12 wins at the track with Emerson Fittipaldi (1992, 1993), Al Unser Jr. (1994, 1995), Helio Castroneves (2000, 2001), Ryan Briscoe (2008), Simon Pagenaud (2016), Josef Newgarden (2017, 2021), Will Power (2020-Race 1) and Scott McLaughlin (2022).
· Chip Ganassi Racing has won 11 times at Mid-Ohio, including eight of the 17 races sanctioned by INDYCAR at the track. Ganassi’s winning drivers are Alex Zanardi (1996, 1997), Juan Pablo Montoya (1999), Scott Dixon (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2019), Dario Franchitti (2010) and Charlie Kimball (2013).
· Scott Dixon has finished in the top five in 13 of his 19 starts at Mid-Ohio, including six wins between 2007 and 2020 … Will Power has finished in the top five in 10 of his 15 starts at Mid-Ohio … Simon Pagenaud has finished on the podium four times in his previous 13 starts … Kyle Kirkwood won eight of nine development series starts from 2018-2021.
· Milestones: Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 314th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history … Graham Rahal will attempt to make his 251st INDYCAR SERIES start with Honda power, tying him with Tony Kanaan for the most Honda-powered starts in INDYCAR SERIES racing.