Palou’s incredible roll continues with win at Mid-Ohio

Just when it seemed Chip Ganassi Racing’s (CGR) Alex Palou couldn’t look any more dominant, he did. And the result was another win in the No. 10 American Legion Honda.

In Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, it was again Palou controlling the end of the race, to the point where the television broadcast was more focused on closer battles for positions eight and lower. He wound up finishing 5.0242 seconds head of CGR teammate Scott Dixon, leading the final 24 laps of the race.

It was Palou’s third straight win and fourth in five NTT INDYCAR SERIES races – three of those in Legion’s Be the One No. 10. Only twice since 2016 has a driver won three straight races in the series, with the last being Dixon in 2020.

"Third win in a row for the No. 10 car, super special to do it here at Mid-Ohio where we've been good in the past,” Palou said via CGR media. “We needed that win, and it's a special weekend for Honda. We had all the power and fuel mileage we needed to make our strategy work. We went long and just ran really fast lap times to get to Victory Lane. We did it and we're going to keep it going with The American Legion."

Palou took his first lead on lap 28, led again laps 31-53, and then took his final lead on lap 53 after passing polesitter Colton Herta and No. 2 qualifier Graham Rahal. His lead grew to as many as eight seconds the rest of the way.

“I had a good car and good strategy, honestly,” Palou said. “We’ve got a really fast car, (but) we knew we needed to try something different to the guys starting up front – that’s why we started on primary (tires). Everything went well. The strategy, the pit stops and our pace was pretty good.”

Palou’s lead in the INDYCAR SERIES points standings ballooned to 110 points over the second-place Dixon. Also worth noting is the past three times an INDYCAR driver won three races in a row – Dixon in 2013 and 2020, and Simon Pagenaud in 2016 – they went on to take the series championship.

“I know we can have some good couple of races coming up now, and we’ll still try and maximize (points), do the best we can and win when we can,” Palou said. “So, yeah, try and get (the car) on top.”

Rookie Marcus Armstrong had another strong weekend while carrying American Legion branding on his No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda. After qualifying 18th, he was able to move up nine spots by the close of the race, increasing his lead in the INDYCAR SERIES rookie points race.

"It was a good race,” Armstrong said. “In the end, we made up a lot of track position there by just staying out and doing fast laps. We did that for the rest of the day, that same strategy, and it paid off. The team did a great job in pit lane. Blair, Eric, and the rest of the crew did a great job on pit wall. I just drove as fast as I could, it turned out well, but we can do better next time."

Also carrying American Legion branding was Marcus Ericsson, who entered the race second in the points standings. But Ericsson was involved in an on-track incident with Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap of the race that forced the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda back to the garage for repairs. After briefly returning to the race track at the halfway mark, the No. 8 car was forced to retire as a result of the damage sustained in the first lap crash, leading to a 27th-place finish. Ericsson still sits at fourth in the series championship.

"At the start, I thought I had more grip there, but bumped into Felix's tire and went over his car,” Ericsson said. “It's very disappointing for the No. 8 car and crew, as well as Felix. It was never my intention, obviously, so I feel really bad for him. Congrats to the team on the 1-2 finish.”

In the INDY NXT race earlier in the day, Chip Ganassi Racing developmental driver Kyffin Simpson recorded his best finish of the season and put together maybe his best overall weekend behind the wheel of the No. 21 HMD Motorsports/Ridgeline Lubricants featuring American Legion branding. After topping the weekend’s second practice session, Simpson was able to qualify third for the Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.

Simpson ran near the top of the field the entire race and then used a late restart to pass Christian Rasmussen and score a second-place finish behind Louis Foster. The performance moved Simpson from 13th to ninth in the INDY NXT points standings.  

"The HMD crew gave me a great car this weekend,” Simpson posted on Instagram. “I felt comfortable from the first lap and even with all the safety cars, rain and the pressure from behind, we didn’t make any mistakes. Hard but fair racing all round and I gave it everything chasing Louis down for the win. Didn’t quite have enough laps to get there… P2.”

Next up for CGR and the rest of INDYCAR is the Honda Indy Toronto street course on Sunday, July 16.