Morning Warm-Up: Toronto 2023

Through a dry-to-wet-to-dry qualifying session, Christian Lundgaard picked up his second career pole position with a lap of 64.1567 seconds during the final round of qualifying on the streets of Toronto. Lundgaard picked up his first career pole position at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. The Dane is attempting to pick up his third consecutive top ten finish. Lundgaard has had four previous chances for a third consecutive top ten finish, and he finished 26th (Iowa II 2022), 19th (Gateway 2022), 19th (Texas 2023) and 19th (2023 Indianapolis 500) in those events. This will be Lundgaard's 28th career start. Only two drivers have won their first race in their 28th career start: Gary Bettenhausen at Phoenix in November 1968 and Carlos Muñoz at Belle Isle in June 2015.

Despite having a spin in the final round of qualifying and seemingly impeding multiple drivers, Scott McLaughlin kept his second-place qualifying effort, 0.3223 seconds off Lundgaard, and it is McLaughlin's second front row start this season. He started second at Detroit. The New Zealander has three consecutive top ten finishes for the first time this season and for the first time since he ended the 2022 season with six top ten finishes on the spin. 

Patricio O'Ward was only 0.071 seconds shy of a front row starting position, but third is O'Ward's seventh top five starting position this season. O'Ward has finished outside the top ten in four of the last five street course races. Since 2021, O'Ward has finished outside the top ten in eight of 13 street course races. O'Ward was 11th in his Toronto debut last year.

For the first time since Long Beach, Marcus Ericsson is the best Chip Ganassi Racing starter, as Ericsson finds himself fourth on the grid. Ericsson is coming off a 27th-place result at Mid-Ohio, his first non-top ten finish of the season. Ericsson has not had consecutive races outside the top ten since Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park last season. 

Felix Rosenqvist ends up starting a position behind his fellow Swede Ericsson for the second consecutive race. This time Rosenqvist is in fifth position. Rosenqvist has finished 20th and 25th in the last two races. Rosenqvist has not had three consecutive results outside the top ten since a six-race slump from the final two 2021 races through the first four races of 2022.

Will Power made it to the Fast Six for the first time this season, guaranteeing his best starting position of the season. However, all Power could do was qualify sixth. This is the fourth time in the last five seasons Power enters the tenth race of the season without a victory. Power had won one of the first nine races in ten of his first 12 full seasons in IndyCar. The Australian has never won a race from sixth starting position in his career, but he did win from seventh at Toronto in 2007. 

Scott Dixon fell just over a tenth of a second short of advancing to the final round, and Dixon will start seventh. Dixon enters Toronto this weekend having not won one of the first nine races. Last year, Dixon did not win any of the first nine races and then won the tenth race of the season at Toronto. Dixon was second at Mid-Ohio. He has not had consecutive podium finishes since he was third in the 2020 St. Petersburg season finale and then was third in the 2021 season opener at Barber Motorsports Park.

Kyle Kirkwood is the top Andretti Autosport starter in eighth position, his third consecutive top ten start. This is the fourth time this season Andretti Autosport has failed to have a top five starter, but it is the first time it has happened on a street course. Kirkwood won at Toronto in three of his four Road to Indy starts. His only top five finish in IndyCar remains his Long Beach victory earlier this season. 

Romain Grosjean takes ninth on the grid. Grosjean has finished outside the top ten in five consecutive races, the longest slump of his IndyCar career. Grosjean was fifth in the championship, 25 points off the lead after Barber Motorsports Park in April. He is now 12th in the championship, 110 points off the championship lead.

Marcus Armstrong qualified tenth, his second top ten start in the last three races. This is the sixth consecutive race Chip Ganassi Racing has had at least three cars start in the top ten, and Ganassi has had at least three top ten starters in nine of ten races this season. Armstrong has finished eighth in his last two street course starts and he has not finished worse than 11th on a street course in his brief IndyCar career. 

Josef Newgarden ended up 11th on the grid. This is the fifth time Newgarden has started outside the top ten this season. He started outside the top ten only three times over the entire 2022 season. He has finished on the podium in the tenth race of the season in seven of the last eight seasons. Newgarden was tenth in the tenth race last year at Toronto. Newgarden won the 2015 Toronto race from 11th on the grid.

Rinus VeeKay made it to the second round of qualifying for the first time since the Indianapolis 500, and VeeKay will start 12th. It was his first second round appearance on a road/street courses since Barber Motorsports Park in April. The Dutchman has not had a top ten finish on a street course since he was sixth in the 2022 St. Petersburg season opener. 

Hélio Castroneves scored his best starting position of the season in 13th, partially due to the rain that occurred late in the group one session in the first round of qualifying. Castroneves was 0.0674 seconds off advancing to the second round. The Brazilian has never won the tenth race of a season in his IndyCar career. Only three times has Castroneves finished on the podium in the tenth race of the season. In 21 starts in the tenth race of the season, his average finish is 13.476.

Colton Herta was 0.0213 seconds shy of advancing from group two, as that group ran entirely in the wet. Herta has finished seventh and second in his two Toronto starts. Five times has a driver finished second at Toronto and then won the next Toronto race. Those occasions are Michael Andretti in 1990 and 1991, Alex Zanardi in 1996 and 1997, Dario Franchitti in 2010 and 2011, Simon Pagenaud in 2018 and 2019 and Dixon in 2019 and last year. 

The rain caught out Álex Palou in the first round of qualifying, and Palou will start 15th, his worst starting position of the season, and his worst since he started 22nd in this race at Toronto last year. Along with going for his fourth consecutive victory, Palou is attempting to become the first driver to open a season with ten consecutive top ten finishes since Dario Franchitti in 2007. Franchitti opened the 2007 season with 12 consecutive top ten results, three of which were victories with nine podium finishes and his worst result in that stretch was seventh. 

Callum Ilott joins Palou on row eight after Ilott was 0.0616 seconds off advancing. Ilott started 16th at Belle Isle last month and failed to complete a lap. Ilott opened the season with finishes of fifth and ninth. Ilott's average finish in the seven races since is 17.571. 

David Malukas lost his fastest two laps after impeding Scott Dixon during the group one qualifying session, and this means Malukas will start 17th. Malukas has finished 20th or worse in five of eight career street course starts.

Agustín Canapino scored his best starting position in his young IndyCar career with Canapino taking 18th. The Argentine driver has finished inside the top fifteen in two of his three street course starts, and Canapino was the top finishing rookie at Detroit in 14th. 

Jack Harvey is 19th on the grid. This is the ninth time in ten races Harvey has started outside the top ten. He has finished outside the top fifteen in six consecutive races. Since becoming a full-time driver in 2020, Harvey has finished outside the top fifteen in 29 of 55 starts. 

Tom Blomqvist makes his IndyCar debut from 20th on the grid. Blomqvist will become the sixth driver to make his IndyCar debut at Tornto. The first driver to do it was Jon Beekhuis in 1989. The other drivers to do were Bertand Gachot in 1993, Mimmo Schiattarella in 1994, Alex Sperafico in 2003 and Ryan Dalziel in 2005.

Ryan Hunter-Reay rolls off from 21st position. Hunter-Reay won the 2012 Toronto race. In Hunter-Reay's nine Toronto starts since that victory he has one top ten finish and had an average finish of 15.667. Hunter-Reay does not have a top ten finish in his last six starts, a slump which dates back to the 2021 season. He has not gone seven consecutive starts without a top ten result since the 2010 Homestead season finale through the first race of the 2011 Texas doubleheader.

Devlin DeFrancesco finds himself in 22nd on the grid for his home race in Canada. DeFrancesco has finished inside the top fifteen in three of the last four races. DeFrancesco had three top fifteen finishes in his first 22 starts. He didn't have top fifteen result until the 12th race last year. 

Sting Ray Robb occupies 23rd on the grid. Robb has finished 22nd in three consecutive races. He has finished outside the top twenty in six consecutive races. Robb made four starts at Toronto in Indy Pro 2000. He had finishes of fifth, seventh and 11th twice. 

Santino Ferrucci qualified 24th, Ferrucci's worst starting position on a street course this season. Ferrucci has an average finish of 18.667 on street courses this season. His average finish over the full season is 18.111.

Benjamin Pedersen starts 25th. This is Pedersen's worst starting position since starting 25th at Barber Motorsports Park. This is Pedersen's first visit to Toronto, as Indy Lights did not compete at Exhibition Place during his two seasons in that series. 

Electrical issues knocked Alexander Rossi out in round one, and Rossi will start 26th, his worst start ever on a road/street course and only the second time he has started outside the top 25 in his career. The other was starting 32nd in the 2018 Indianapolis 500. The American has six consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since an eight-race stretch during the 2019 season. That eight-race run went from the sixth round at the Indianapolis 500 to the 13th round at Mid-Ohio. Rossi won the tenth round that season, which was at Road America. 

Graham Rahal rounds out the grid in 27th after hitting the barrier during qualifying. This is the send time this season Rahal will be starting dead last. He started 27th at Detroit. Rahal has three top ten finishes in the last four Toronto races and four top ten finishes in the last six. 

Peacock's coverage of the Honda Indy Toronto begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps. 

Track Walk: Toronto 2023

The tenth round of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season takes IndyCar to Toronto and the streets winding in and around Exhibition Place in Canada's largest city. Over the span of 28 days, IndyCar will contest five races, two street course races, two oval race and a permanent road course. At the end of this stretch, only three races will remain in the season. With a maximum 432 remaining on the table for all drivers, time is ticking on a number of championship hopes, and over the course of the next few races, dreams of a title will be extinguished. Anyone without a point will be eliminated this weekend. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 16 with green flag scheduled for 1:53 p.m. ET.
Channel: Peacock
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 10:35 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:50 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:15 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:53 p.m. ET (85 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Do We Hear Four?

Outside of a misfortunate day in late May, Álex Palou has been near unstoppable for two months. 

Palou has three consecutive victories. In those three races, Palou has led 132 of 235 laps, 56.17% of the laps run. He has eight consecutive top five finishes, the longest streak since Scott Dixon had an eight-race streak spread over the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Palou has started on one of the first two rows in seven consecutive races. The Catalan driver has not started worse than seventh this season, and he has not finished worse than eighth this season.

Naturally, Palou's form has him the top average starting position at 3.5556 and the top average finish at 3.222. However, Palou has a chance to do something that has not done in over 17 years. 

A victory in Toronto would Palou's fourth consecutive and he would become the first driver to win four consecutive races since Sébastien Bourdais won the first four races of the 2006 Champ Car season. 

In IndyCar history, there have been 12 occasions where a driver has won four consecutive races. The only other time it happened in 21st century was with Cristiano da Matta during the 2002 CART season. Da Matta won at Laguna Seca, Portland, Chicago Motor Speedway and his four-race winning streak was capped off with a Toronto victory. 

The only Chip Ganassi Racing driver to win four consecutive races was Alex Zanardi in 1998. Zanardi's first victory was at Belle Isle. The Italian then won at Portland, Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio and Zanardi finished the streak with a victory in Toronto. 

It should be noted Palou's streak began in Detroit, he then won at Road America but followed it with a victory in the Buckeye State at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

The only other four-race winning streak in the last 50 years was Al Unser, Jr. in 1990 when Unser, Jr. won at Toronto, Michigan, Denver and Vancouver. 

Al Unser is the only driver to win at least four consecutive races on multiple occasions in IndyCar history, and both times Unser did it, he won five consecutive races, first accomplishing it in 1968 with a victory at Nazareth before two doubleheader sweeps on the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course and then at Langhorne. The second time was in 1970 with victories at DuQuoin, Indiana State Fairgrounds, Sedalia, Trenton and Sacramento. 

Bobby Unser also won four consecutive races in 1968, starting at Stardust Raceway, a three-mile road course in Las Vegas, Nevada before winning at Phoenix, Trenton and the Indianapolis 500 to top it all off. 

Mario Andretti had four consecutive victories in the 1967 season at the IRP road course, Langhorne and a doubleheader sweep at Mont-Tremblant. A.J. Foyt famously opened the 1964 season with seven consecutive victories. Jimmy Bryan closed the 1954 season with four consecutive victories. 

In 1922, Jimmy Murphy won four consecutive races, starting at the 1.25-mile board oval in Cotati, California, including his Indianapolis 500 victory and then victories on the board ovals in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and Tacoma, Washington. 

The first driver to win at least four consecutive races was Ralph DePalma. In 1918, DePalma won five consecutive races. Two were held on July 18 on the two-mile Speedway Park board oval in Chicago. The other three were on August 17 around the two-mile Sheepshead Bay Speedway board oval in New York. 

Twice has a driver won four consecutive races in a season and not won the championship. Andretti could not close out the 1967 season, and Foyt took the title by 80 points after a dramatic Riverside season finale. 

Al Unser did not win the 1968 championship despite his summer hot streak, but his brother Bobby did win the title that season with his four consecutive victories early providing the backbone for a tight championship battle that saw Bobby Unser hold off Andretti by 11 points to win the title.

How Do Streaks End?

While Palou is on a historic tear and is hoping for the history to continue in Canada, eventually, history stops being made. More three-race winning streaks did not become four than did. The last nine three-race winning streaks went no further. So what happened? 

The previous three-race winning streak belonged to Scott Dixon at the start of the 2020 season. Dixon won the first three races, beginning at Texas, continuing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and concluding at the first race of a doubleheader weekend at Road America. The third victory for Dixon was rather fortunate as Josef Newgarden stalled on a pit stop and Dixon overtook Will Power during the final round of pit stops. In the next race, Dixon had a bad break of his own, stalling twice and finishing 12th.

Prior to Dixon, Simon Pagenaud won three consecutive races early in the 2016 season, Long Beach, Barber Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Pagenaud had finished second in the first two races of that season as well. The next race was the 100th Indianapolis 500. Sadly, an engine issue knocked Pagenaud out of contention and an unsafe pit release did not help his hopes. The Frenchman settled for 19th. 

Will Power had a three-race winning streak spanning two seasons. Power won at Houston and in Fontana at the end of 2013 and then Power won the 2014 St. Petersburg season opener. In the next race at Long Beach, Power qualified 14th but he fought his way forward only to finish second to Mike Conway. 

Earlier in the 2013 season, Dixon won three consecutive races at Pocono and over the Toronto doubleheader weekend. That streak lifted Dixon from seventh in the championship, 92 points off the lead, to second, 29 points back. The next race was Mid-Ohio. Dixon qualified third, but the two-stop strategy saw him fall backward while Chip Ganassi racing teammate Charlie Kimball used three stops to beat Simon Pagenaud for the victory. Dixon settled for seventh. 

There were two three-race winning streaks during the 2012 season. The first was Power, who won at Barber, Long Beach and São Paulo, and then was caught in an accident in the Indianapolis 500 when Mike Conway spun with front wing damage. Power was 29th. Later that season, Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Milwaukee, Iowa and Toronto on the spin. Hunter-Reay qualified on pole position for the next race at Edmonton, but Hunter-Reay had to serve a ten-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. From 11th, all the American to get was seventh in Canada. 

Dixon's first three-race winning streak occurred in the 2007 Indy Racing League season. He won at Watkins Glen, Nashville and Mid-Ohio. At Michigan, Dixon was running second when he and Dario Franchitti got together on the back straightaway and had an accident. Dixon ended up finishing tenth.

After opening the 2007 Champ Car season with an accident in the Las Vegas street race, Sébastien Bourdais responded with victories at Long Beach, Houston and Portland. At Cleveland, Bourdais started on pole position and led the first 27 laps. Bourdais lost the lead to Power during the first pit cycle and an ignition issue ended Bourdais' race after 67 laps, placing him 12th.

A.J. Allmendinger won his first three races for Forsythe Racing during the 2006 Champ Car season. Allmendinger won at Portland, Cleveland and Toronto. Allmendinger went from fifth in the championship, 67 points behind Bourdais to second, 23 points back after that streak. At Edmonton, Allmendinger was third, one position behind Bourdais with Justin Wilson taking the victory. 

In summation, the last nine three-race winning streaks ended with only two podium finishes, four top ten finishes and three retirements. The average finish of the streak ending races is 11.222.

Honda is Running the Streets

Toronto is the fourth of five street course races this season, and Honda has started 2023 going three-for-three, winning all three street events this year. Dating back to last season, Honda has won five consecutive street course events, a streak that started at Toronto with Scott Dixon's 52nd career victory. 

Along with Dixon's 52nd career victory, the New Zealander was responsible for Honda's next street course victory, this his 53rd career victory, putting Dixon ahead of Mario Andretti record book, occurred at Nashville. Chip Ganassi Racing made it three consecutive street course victories when Marcus Ericsson pounced on Patricio O'Ward's plenum event caused O'Ward to lose power exiting the final corner and saw Ericsson blast through to the lead with four laps remaining. 

Kyle Kirkwood kept Honda's streak alive at Long Beach, leading a Honda 1-2-3 with Romain Grosjean and Ericsson rounding out the podium. Álex Palou's first victory of this three-race streak on the first race on the new Detroit street course brought this streak to five races in June. 

During this five race streak, Honda entries have led 285 of 450 laps, claimed ten of 15 podium finishers and 17 of 25 top five finishes. A Honda driver has started on pole position in four of the last five street course races.

Chip Ganassi Racing will look to keep up its form, and it enters as the defending Toronto race winners. Dixon's victory last season was Ganassi's eighth Toronto triumph, and it broke a tie with Newman-Haas Racing for most victories in event history. Dixon is responsible for half of the team's victories here. Last year, Palou was sixth after starting 22nd in what was his Toronto debut. Marcus Ericsson went from ninth to fifth in what was his second Toronto start. 

Andretti Autosport has been quick on street courses, but the results do not always go the team's way. While Kirkwood won at Long Beach and led an Andretti 1-2, victory slipped out of its grasp at St. Petersburg when Grosjean was knocked out of the race after contact with McLaughlin. At Detroit, Grosjean qualified third but slipped back before colliding with the barrier and ending his race. Kirkwood suffered damage on lap one and went on the drive of his career to finish sixth while Colton Herta had front wing damage cost him spots late and drop Herta to 11th in the final result, one spot ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco.

Prior to this streak, Team Penske had won three consecutive street course races, one for each driver with Scott McLaughlin winning at St. Petersburg in February 2022, Josef Newgarden winning at Long Beach that April 2022 and Will Power winning the final Belle Isle race in June 2022, which remains Power's most recent victory to date. Team Penske has won three of the last five Toronto races. 

Honda enters this weekend having won three consecutive races, all thanks to Álex Palou. Honda has not won four consecutive races since Herta won the 2019 season finale at Laguna Seca and then Chip Ganassi Racing opened the season with four consecutive victories, three for Dixon and then the first career victory for Felix Rosenqvist at Road America. 

Toronto is Not Known For Variety

Of the 14 Toronto races held since reunification, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing has combined to win ten times. The only other team with multiple victories during that span is Ed Carpenter Racing, which won the second race of the 2014 doubleheader with Mike Conway and then Josef Newgarden won in 2015 when the team was branded as CFH Racing after merging with the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing organization.

The other two races were won by Andretti Autosport in 2012 with Ryan Hunter-Reay, and the first race of the 2014 doubleheader with Sébastien Bourdais taking victory for KV Racing, a team that has been defunct since 2016. 

Last year, Felix Rosenqvist had McLaren third at Toronto, and the McLaren organization has finished third in four of the last five Toronto races, dating back to the team's time as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Patricio O'Ward was 11th last year in his Toronto IndyCar debut. Alexander Rossi had finished in the top ten in three consecutive Toronto races before contact with Rosenqvist took Rossi out of the race last year and left Rossi with a 23rd-place classification. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is coming off a double top ten finish day at the most recent race at Mid-Ohio. Last year, RLLR had a double top ten day in Toronto with Graham Rahal finishing fourth and Christian Lundgaard ending up eighth. RLLR has not had a podium finish on a street course since Takuma Sato was third in the first Belle Isle race in 2019. 

Toronto has not been a kind place to Dale Coyne Racing. Since 2015, the team has one top ten finish out of 12 possible top ten finishes. DCR's average finish in this race during that time is 15.5883. The team has two combined top five finishes in the team's history at Toronto, both were fifth-place results, the first coming with Bruno Junqueira in 2007 and the other with Justin Wilson in 2009. 

Meyer Shank Racing is making a driver change this weekend. After Simon Pagenaud was not cleared to return to competition after his practice accident at Mid-Ohio, MSR has drafted in its sports car driver Tom Blomqvist to run the #60 Honda this weekend at Toronto. Blomqvist has spent the last two seasons driving for MSR in IMSA, where he has won four races, the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, Petit Le Mans and Mosport last week. He has also made 23 starts in Formula E. Blomqvist was second in the 2014 Formula Three championship behind Esteban Ocon and ahead of Max Verstappen.

Hélio Castroneves remains in the #06 Honda for MSR this weekend. Castroneves has never won in Toronto despite having made 16 starts. He has finished second three times at Exhibition Place plus a third. All four of those results came in a five-race span. Castroneves has only seven top ten finishes in the Queen City.

A.J. Foyt Racing was third in the 2012 Toronto race with Mike Conway, and the team has some good history at the track. From 2011 through 2016, Foyt had a top five finisher in four of eight Toronto races. However, in the last four Toronto races, the team has one top ten finish and an average finish of 16.875.

Juncos Hollinger Racing will only be making its third Toronto appearance this weekend. Its first trip to the Queen City was with René Binder in 2018 and Binder finished 17th, two laps down. Last year, Callum Ilott qualified seventh, but dropped to 14th, completing all 85 laps. 

Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport have combined to win 22 of 24 street course races run since the introduction to the universal aero kit ahead of the 2018 season. The only races one of these three teams did win was the first race with the universal aero kit when Sébastien Bourdais won at St. Petersburg with Dale Coyne Racing in 2018. The other was O'Ward and McLaren winning the second Belle Isle race in 2021. 

Road to Indy

The lower two series in the Road to Indy will join IndyCar on the trip to Canada.

USF Pro 2000 has seven races remaining and after Toronto the series has a six-week break before competing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas at the end of August. 

Myles Rowe scored his first victory since March in the second Mid-Ohio race earlier this month and that has Rowe's championship lead up to 251 points. Rowe has finished in the top five in nine of 11 races this season, and it has given him a 64-point gap over Kiko Porto in second. 

Porto has yet to win in 2023, but he has four runner-up finishes this season. However, the Brazilian has finished outside the top five in six races this season. Joel Granfors is two points behind Porto, and Granfors has finished outside the top five in seven races. 

Salvador de Alba is fourth on 173 points, two ahead of Francesco Pizzi. De Alba has three top five finishes all season, while Pizzi has five, but Pizzi is coming off finishing 15th and 17th at Mid-Ohio. Michael d'Orlando has found form in the last two weekends with three podium finishes in four races, including two victories. It has d'Orlando up to sixth on 169 points. 

Jace Denmark is three points behind d'Orlando after he had a double top-five weekend at Mid-Ohio and Denmark was second in the first Mid-Ohio race to d'Orlando. Jonathan Browne is done to eighth on 152 points, five points ahead of Jack William Miller and Lirimi Zendeli rounds out the top ten on 142 points, two more than Reece Ushijima. 

St. Petersburg season opener winner Christian Brooks returns to competition this weekend driving for Turn3 Motorsport. Brooks won with the team at St. Petersburg.

USF Pro 2000 will race at 11:50 a.m. ET on Saturday July 15 and at 11:05 a.m. ET on Sunday July 16. Both races will be 25 laps with a 45-minute time limit on Saturday and 40-minute limit on Sunday. 

Toronto is the penultimate weekend of the U.S. F2000 weekend, and only five races remain this season. 

Simon Sikes leads the championship by 40 points over Lochie Hughes and Nikita Johnson after Sikes finished second, 17th and first at Mid-Ohio while Hughes was fourth, 19th and 22nd. Hughes had the car breakdown on the grid for the final Mid-Ohio race after being in an incident the previous race with Sikes. Johnson has nine consecutive top five finishes and 11 top five finishes from 13 races. 

Sikes and Hughes has both won four times this season. The only other driver with multiple victories is Mac Clark, who is fourth in the championship on 246 points. Clark has four consecutive podium finishes. No driver has had five consecutive podium finishes this season. Evagoras Papasavvas rounds out the top five in the championship on 235 points. 

Chase Gardner is the top driver in the championship without a victory this season. Gardner is sixth on 176 points, 12 points ahead of Sam Corry. The final driver mathematically eligible for the championship is Jorge Garciarce on 160 points.

After this weekend, a driver must be within 99 points of the championship lead to be mathematically alive of the championship at the Portland season finale over the weekend of September 2-3.

U.S. F2000 will race at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday July 15 with the second race at 8:10 a.m. ET on Sunday July 16. Both races will be 20 laps with a 45-minute time limit on Saturday and 40-minute limit on Sunday. 

Fast Facts

This will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on July 16 and the first since Josef Newgarden won at Toronto in 2017. 

Three Toronto races have taken place on July 16. Michael Andretti won the other two on July 16, 1995 and July 16, 2000. 

This year's Toronto race falls on the 34th anniversary of Bobby Rahal winning the Marlboro Grand Prix at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was Bobby Rahal's first victory after the birth of his son Graham Rahal on January 4 that year. 

Bobby and Graham Rahal have never won a race on the same day. 

Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O'Ward are the only drivers entered at Toronto that has won at the track in Indy Lights. The only driver to win in Indy Lights and IndyCar at Toronto is Paul Tracy.

The only driver to win at Toronto in Atlantics and IndyCar is A.J. Allmendinger.

No rookie has ever won at Toronto.

Adrián Fernández and Justin Wilson are the only two drivers to pick up their first career victory at Toronto.

The average starting position for a Toronto winner is 3.7778 with a median of third.

Seventeen Toronto races have been won from the front row and 27 Toronto races have been won from inside the top five. 

Three Toronto races have been won from outside the top ten (Michael Andretti from 13th in 2001, Mike Conway from 11th in 2014 race two and Josef Newgarden from 11th in 2015). 

The average number of lead changes in a Toronto race is 4.228 with a median of four. 

Last year's race had seven lead changes. It was the eighth time a Toronto race had at least seven lead changes. Three of the last five Toronto races have had at least seven lead changes.

Five times has a Toronto winner led every lap (Michael Andretti 1991-92, Dario Franchitti 1999, Cristiano da Matta 2002 and Paul Tracy 2003).

The average number of cautions in a Toronto race is 3.542 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 14.228 with a median of 12.

There has never been a caution-free race at Toronto.

The last Toronto race to have only one caution was in 1992.

Only one of the last ten Toronto races has had more than four caution periods. That one race was the second race of the 2014 doubleheader, a race that was shortened due to the Saturday race being postponed to Sunday, and then ended early due to a time limit due to the race taking place in wet conditions. 

Predictions

Colton Herta makes it six consecutive street course victories for Honda, and he leads another Honda 1-2-3 with Álex Palou extending his championship lead. Arrow McLaren will have the most Chevrolet entries in the top ten. Will Power does make the Fast Six, but he does not finish in the top six. Tom Blomqvist ends up finishing ahead of Hélio Castroneves. Jack Harvey has his best finish of the season. Sting Ray Robb does not finish 22nd. There will not be an incident on the opening lap. At least one car will suffer significant damage from contact on pit lane. Marcus Armstrong increases his lead in the rookie of the year battle by at least 12 points. Sleeper: Callum Ilott.

Musings From the Weekend: Who is SRX For? Volume II

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Max Verstappen has won six consecutive races, and he could tie the Formula One record at Zandvoort. Red Bull has won 11 consecutive races, matching the record McLaren set in 1988. The British drivers had a good home weekend. The party was spoiled in Italy. Corvette should be rather happy. Cadillac had another big accident. Mosport has some questionable barrier placement. Shane van Gisbergen returned home. There were some night races in Atlanta, and some rain. However, there are is another night race later this weekend that are on my mind.

Who is SRX For? Volume II

The 2023 Superstar Racing Experience season starts a little later than the first two seasons, but year three sees a host of changes to the short track series. A brainchild of Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham and others, SRX was introduced as an all-star series competing at local short tracks across the United States with a national television presentation. 

That continues into 2023, but this year the series moves from Saturday night events broadcasted at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CBS to Thursday night races broadcasted at 9:0 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Those aren't the only notable changes to the series. 

SRX began in 2021 with a dash of skepticism that it would work. In year one, it gained traction and respectable viewing numbers, and it had a few wonderful stories where overlooked or up-and-coming drivers such as Doug Coby, Ernie Francis, Jr., Kody Swanson and Luke Fenhaus were able to display their skills to a much larger audience and became the story of the night over NASCAR Cup champions and Indianapolis 500 winners. 

However, year three is seeing SRX shift significantly from what was celebrated in year one and became a calling card for the series. Two years after it was about to debut at Stafford Spring Speedway in Connecticut, I ask again, less than a week from the 2023 Stafford season opener, who is SRX for?

At that time, I was wondering if the appetite was there to watch what was mostly retired drivers compete against a handful of active drivers and some guests. The "retirement tour" nature of the series only continues into year three. 

Stewart continues as a driver, as does Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy, but this season will see Ken Schrader, who last started a NASCAR Cup Series race in 2013, also compete full-time. Along with those three are the part-timer national series drivers of Ryan Newman, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay. 

Hailie Deegan returns as a full-time competitor after being part-time the previous two seasons. Deegan will run full-time simultaneously with her full-time NASCAR Truck Series commitments, and Deegan isn't the only full-time NASCAR driver signed up for all six races. Brad Keselowski will run the entire SRX slate, becoming the first active NASCAR Cup Series driver to attempt a full SRX season. 

The full-time grid is a little more balanced in terms of where drivers are in their careers, but the part-time drivers are nearly all active guests from NASCAR and IndyCar.

Stafford sees Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Kanaan on the guest list. 

Kanaan will also be attending the Thunder Road International SpeedBowl date in Barrie, Vermont along with Greg Biffle, Daniel Suárez and Kenny Wallace.

Bowyer returns for Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Fairlawn, Virginia but will have four-time Indianapolis 500 Hélio Castroneves, 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden, and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch joining the bill.

Castroneves and Busch stick around for the Berlin Raceway event in Marne, Michigan with Harvck returning and Kasey Kahne joining the fun. 

Eldora Speedway is the first of two dirt races, and the penultimate round of the season, and the guests that weekend will be Kanaan returning for his third race, Matt Kenseth, Austin Dillon and NHRA champion Ron Capps. 

Lucas Oil Speedway, a 3/8th-mile dirt oval in Wheatland, Missouri, hosts the finale and the final guests of the season will be Castroneves, Bowyer, Wallace and a returning Francis, Jr.

Those are all notable names, all with national recognition. In year three, there is no more room for the unsung hero, one of the selling points for the series in the previous two seasons. 

It is understandable what SRX is doing. It must generate viewership, and bringing in drivers with national recognition will help with viewership and keep the series alive. The series is also leaning into nostalgia with the move to ESPN and the races taking place on Thursday night, essentially reviving Thursday Night Thunder, a weekly showcase of motorsports on the ESPN platform in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Not to forget mentioning the series is almost literally riding NASCAR's coattails. 

Stafford opens the season in July 13, three days before the NASCAR Cup Series races at Loudon, New Hampshire. Four days after the Loudon Cup race, SRX is in Barre, Vermont, which is three days before NASCAR runs at Pocono. Pulaski County in Virginia kicks off the Richmond NASCAR weekend. Berlin is three days before NASCAR's only trip to Michigan International Speedway. Eldora, which is a stone throw's from the Ohio-Indiana border, is a few days before the IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The season finale in Missouri is the only trip out of the way, taking place between the Indianapolis and Watkins Glen rounds. It is a good strategy to attract the drivers. They will be in the area and will not have to go out of the way to run SRX. Accommodating the guests is always appreciated. 

People like comparing SRX to IROC. It has similarities, but IROC took drivers at their highest level and it was an exclusive group that competed in every race. Of the 24 drivers scheduled to compete in SRX this year, 11 are not full-time in one of the premier North American series. The average age of the scheduled participants is 44.5 years old.

There is going to be an audience excited for short track racing and seeing some of these places on the national stage. It is exhilarating thinking ThunderRoad will get to host one of these races. The races could be quite good with the drivers have been brought in, but SRX was a chance to show there were quality drivers competing throughout this country that are not running in NASCAR or IndyCar. It was a chance for the little guy to get his or her shot. Moving away from that betrays the short track roots SRX claims to care about. 

The drivers brought in for season three should produce good races, and we will likely have a few memorable battles that can only be seen in SRX. Nowhere else this season will Kyle Busch be on the same track as Josef Newgarden, but the series does rely too much on Stewart's rolodex to fill the grid when it should save a few seats for the drivers that are busting their backsides and are just looking for an opportunity. If the wish for this to be an IROC-esque series then invite the champions from USAC, World of Outlaws, NASCAR Modifieds and other top tier short track drivers as well as the millionaires regularly on our television screens every weekend.

However, it is a business. 

Though the first two seasons went rather well, SRX is still trying to keep the lights on. It is dependent on drawing sponsors and covering the costs. Running any race car is not cheap, even those that only run six weekends a year exclusively on short tracks. The first two years might have had features we loved and separated it from other series, but SRX is not a charity. Profit is the bottom line.

Recognition plus nostalgia could be the recipe to greater success, but the series is forfeiting some of its identity in that chase.

Champions From the Weekend

The #33 Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Varrone clinched the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-AM drivers with a fourth-place finish at Monza despite there being two races remaining. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Max Verstappen, but did you know...

The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López won the 6 Hours of Monza, its third victory of the season. The #28 Jota Oreca-Nissan of Pietro Fittipaldi, David Heinemeier Hansson and Oliver Rasmussen won in LMP2. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen and Julien Andluaer won in GTE-Am.

William Byron won the rain-shortened NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, his fourth victory of the season. John Hunter Nemechek won Grand National Series, his third victory of the season. Corey Heim won the Truck race at Mid-Ohio, his second victory of the season.

The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun won the IMSA race from Mosport, its second victory of the season. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson won in LMP3, its third consecutive victory. The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor won in GTD Pro. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won in GTD, its third victory of the season.

Frederik Vesti (sprint) and Victor Martins (feature) split the Formula Two races from Silverstone. Franco Colapinto (sprint) and Oliver Goethe (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Sheldon van der Linde and Thomas Preining split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters from Norisring.

Will Brown and Anton de Pasquale split the Supercars races from Townsville.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar makes its summer trip to Toronto. 

Formula E has its penultimate round, a doubleheader in Rome.

NASCAR moves north to Loudon, New Hampshire.

SRX operns its season at Stafford.

Super Formula is back in Fuji.

After a three-month break, the European Le Mans Series finally contests its second round of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard.

After a two-month break, the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup finally contests its second round of the season at Misano.

2023 Road to Indy Catch-Up

We focus a lot on IndyCar and where that championship stands, especially now as we just crossed the halfway point in the season and the championship could be claimed shortly. Too often we ignore the Road to Indy series when it comes to those championships until those three series are at the very end. 

Some of those series are beyond the halfway point and only have two or three race weekends left. The end of those championships can sneak up on you if you are unprepared. Instead of being surprised come the end of summer, this down time allows us to inspect those championships before it is too late. 

Indy Lights

Exactly at the halfway point of the 2023 season, Indy Lights opened with five different winners in the first five races, the first time that has happened since 2016. There was a repeat winner but we have seen six winners through seven races, and 12 drivers have stood on the podium this season. 

Seven races remain over six race weekends and we will see the only two oval races of the season occur in the second half of the season. Iowa leads off the second half of the season before back-to-back races at Nashville and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Gateway, Portland and a Laguna Seca doubleheader round out the season.

What is the championship picture?

With seven races and 378 points left on the table, everybody is still mathematically alive for the championship, including you. There is still time to find the budget and organize an entry to win an Indy Lights championship this season. 

Of the drivers with points, Nolan Siegel leads with 244 points, 16 points clear of Christian Rasmussen. Andretti Autosport teammates Hunter McElrea and Louis Foster are on 205 points and 202 points respectively. Jacob Abel sits on 196 points in fifth, 11 points more than Reece Gold. 

Danial Frost is in seventh on 177 points, 12 points ahead of James Roe, Jr. with Kyffin Simpson in ninth on 162 points. Enaam Ahmed rounds out the top ten with 150 points, two clear of Ernie Francis, Jr., who is two points ahead of Matteo Nannini. Jagger Jones is 13th on 135 points. 

Christian Boggle has 130 points, seven more than Colin Kaminsky. Josh Green and Jamie Chadwick are tied on 119 points, one point ahead of Rasmus Lindh. Toby Sowery and Josh Pierson, who are sharing the #14 HMD Motorsports entry, are tied on 65 points. 

Who has been impressive? 

Siegel is the only driver with multiple victories this season and I would not have guessed he would have been the first driver to win twice this season. He looked good in testing and was respectable moving up the ladder system, but nothing suggested he would be the driver to beat, especially since there were some good drivers returning this Indy Lights season. 

Outside of Siegel, it is tough to find anyone else down the order because there have been some fluky results. Reece Gold won the first Detroit race after Siegel's gearbox failed in the final corner of the race. Gold has no other podium finishes this season and that was his only top five result through the first five races. Matteo Nannini won the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race and that is his only top ten finish this season. 

Rasmussen is second in the championship, and he has five top five finishes. The Dane has improved from his rookie season. His accident at Road America is the only blemish on his season.

Whose results do not match the pace?

Foster retired from three of the first four races, and two of those were from pole position. He was looking set on a podium in St. Petersburg and then got into the barrier. Barber Motorsports Park was not going that well, but he was running in the top ten when an accident took out his race. He didn't even complete a lap at Detroit when teammate Hunter McElrea ran over Foster at the start. 

We really cannot say what Detroit would have produced, but if you gave Foster at least 30 points for what he lost in each race, he is second in the championship and within touching distance of Siegel's championship lead. 

How will the remainder of the season play out?

This championship is still up for grabs. There is plenty of time for someone to step up and turn the championship upside down. 

Siegel and Rasmussen will hold on and likely be in the fight until the wire. However, if Foster hits his stride and his race results match his qualifying pace, we could see him come from behind and pull out a championship that would have been considered a stunner in at the start of June. 

It does feel like Siegel, Rasmussen, McElrea and Foster are the legitimate title contenders. Nobody outside the top four appear capable of piecing together a championship run.

USF Pro 2000

With seven races remaining in USF Pro 2000, no driver one driver has dominated, which has allowed one driver to pull clear of the field. Seven different drivers have won in the first 11 races. Of those seven winners, for three of them the victory is their only podium finish of the season. The winner of the season opener has not returned for any other race weekends. Only two drivers have won multiple times and one of those drivers has finished outside the top ten in six races. 

The final seven races are split over three rounds, a doubleheader in Toronto, a doubleheader at Circuit of the Americas at the end of August, and a triple-header at Portland. 

What is the championship picture?

Twenty-one of the 22 drivers to have started a USF Pro 2000 race this year are alive for the championship, but the herd will thin out rather quickly over the coming weeks. 

Myles Rowe has won four races and has finished in the top five in nine of 11 events, giving Rowe 251 points and a 64-point lead over Kiko Porto, who has not won this season. Joel Granfors has one victory and is two points behind Porto. Salvador de Alba and Francesco Pizzi round out the top five in the championship on 173 points and 171 points respectively.

Despite opening the season with no top ten finishes in the first four races and finishes outside the top ten in five of the first six races, two victories in the last four races has Michael d'Orlando up to sixth on 169 points, three more than Jace Denmark. Jonathan Browne is on 152 points while Jack William Miller has 147 points. Lirim Zendeli rounds out the top ten on 142 points, two ahead of Reece Ushijima.

Ricardo Escotto won the first IMS road course race, but Escotto's next best finish is eighth and he has 110 points, four more than Christian Weir and nine points more than Yuven Sundaramoorthy. Jordan Missig rounds out the top fifteen on 98 points, four more than Bijoy Garg.

Jackson Lee (84 points), Nicholas Monteiro (68 points), Lindsay Brewer (65 points), St. Petersburg season opener winner Christian Brooks (47 points) and Louka St-Jean (45 points) round out the mathematically championship eligible drivers.

Who has been impressive? 

Rowe has picked up where he left off in U.S. F2000, and while it is not a thrashing in USF Pro 2000, Rowe is leading this championship through avoiding mistakes. He regularly has speed and can be at the front, but he isn't over-driving the car. He had a habit of getting into accidents, especially early in races and that has not been the case in USF Pro 2000.

Porto has improved from his rookie season in this series last year, though victory continues to elude the Brazilian. Granfors has adjusted well after racing in Europe. De Alba has taken a big step forward from last season, which was a stellar year in itself. Pizzi had a bad weekend at Mid-Ohio, but his season has been strong considering his struggled in the Formula Regional European Championship and Formula Three.

Whose results do not match the pace?

Michael d'Orlando has started inside the top five of eight of 11 races this season, including eight of the last nine, but early incidents and accidents have cost him dearly. He let races get away from him early in the season. Things have settled down. He won the first Road America race and then had misfortune cost him in the second, but he bounced back with a victory and a third at Mid-Ohio. 

Jace Denmark has three races between Sebring and Indianapolis Raceway Park that are dragging his championship down. Denmark's average finish in the seven races outside of the second Sebring race through IRP: 4.857. Denmark's average finish in the other four races: 13.5. Woof. That brings a season down mightily. 

It has been a feast or famine season for Lirim Zendeli. He has three top five finishes, but he has finished tenth or worse in five races and he skipped the IRP round. He was fourth in the championship after Sebring.

How will the remainder of the season play out?

Toronto is such a kooky round. It feels like every year a Road to Indy championship is completely flipped upside down in Toronto. Ask me after Toronto and I will have a better idea. 

If Rowe survives Toronto, I think the championship is his. Austin should be a favorable round and he learned a lot from Portland last year. The American driver already has a healthy lead. It is too early to play prevent defense, but the one notable thing from this season is even on the weekends Rowe only looks good but not great, he has extended his lead. There aren't many years in this series were a driver can fail to win six consecutive races and stand on the podium only once in that time and yet still have a lead greater than 30 points in the championship. 

Rowe's toughest rival at the moment appears to be d'Orlando, and d'Orlando is 82 points back. Porto has been good, but each time there is an opening Porto cannot capitalize. Granfors has finished ahead of Rowe in only three races all season. De Alba hasn't been close to Rowe's level. Pizzi has been missing that final 2% to get a victory and a terrible Mid-Ohio round has kind of knocked the Italian out of the picture. 

I don't see Rowe stumbling and the only driver I see capable of grabbing the championship by the throat is d'Orlando, but considering d'Orlando's deficit, a seven-race hot streak likely will not be enough to take the title.

U.S. F2000

It has been a rather back-and-forth fight in U.S. F2000 this season. Unfortunately, a series of accidents has inflated that championship gap to much greater than it has truly been through the first 13 races. Two drivers combine for nearly two-thirds of the victories. There have been six winners this season, but only eight drivers have stood on the podium out of 31 participants. 

The U.S. F2000 season is coming down the stretch. There will be a doubleheader at Toronto later this month but then six weeks off before the Portland triple-header closes out the season.

What is the championship picture?

Things were blown open and not in a good way at Mid-Ohio when Lochie Hughes was unable to start the final race of the weekend due to a mechanical issue after the team had to significantly repair from damage suffered the race before after contact with championship rival Simon Sikes. Hughes' absence allowed Sikes to win the final Mid-Ohio race virtually uncontested, his fourth victory of the season, and Sikes' increased his championship lead to 40 points over Hughes with five races remaining. 

Hughes is now tied with Nikita Johnson, who has been a distant third the entire season but has been comfortably in third for most of that time. Mac Clark has two victories and five podium finishes in the last six races and that has Clark up to fourth on 246 points. Evagoras Papasavvas rounds out the top five on 235 points. 

There is a 59-point drop from Papasavvas in fifth and Chase Gardner in sixth. Sam Corry is seventh on 164 points, four ahead of Jorge Garciarce, who is the final driver mathematically alive for the championship, as only 146 points remain up for grabs.

Who has been impressive? 

The back-and-forth between Sikes and Hughes has been the most impressive. Look at their results:

St. Petersburg 1: Hughes - 1st, Sikes - 4th

St. Petersburg 2: Sikes - 2nd, Hughes - 3rd

Sebring 1: Hughes - 1st, Sikes - 2nd

Sebring 2: Sikes - 1st, Hughes 4th

IMS 1: Hughes - 2nd, Sikes - 13th

IMS 2: Sikes - 1st, Hughes - 2nd

IMS 3: Sikes 3rd, Hughes 1st

IRP: Sikes - 3rd, Hughes - 6th

Road America 1: Sikes - 1st, Hughes 12th

Road America 2: Hughes - 1st, Sikes - 10th

Mid-Ohio 1: Sikes - 2nd, Hughes - 4th

Mid-Ohio 2: Sikes - 17th, Hughes - 19th

Mid-Ohio 3: Sikes - 1st, Hughes - 22nd (Did not start)

If this was a golf game where low score wins it would be rather tight, though Mid-Ohio put Sikes firmly ahead. Entering the Mid-Ohio weekend, Hughes' combined score was 33 and Sikes wasn't that far off at 40. They have been the two best drivers by far. 

Whose results do not match the pace?

This one isn't necessarily for a driver who has been quick but had bad results, but I think the rest of the top five deserve recognition.

Nikita Johnson has seven podium finishes and 11 top five finishes this year. Johnson has more top five finishes than Sikes and Hughes. Johnson has as many podium finishes as Hughes. Mid-Ohio is the only reason those two drivers are tied, but Johnson has been one of the best driver this season.

Mac Clark grabbed our attention last year at Portland when he won on his debut weekend. This season started slower and the 19-year-old had some growing pains, but he has found his stride and is now a regular contender for victories. 

This is Evagoras Papasavvas' second year in car racing. Papasavvas is 15 years old. He is by far exceeding expectations with a victory, five podium finishes and seven top five finishes. He had a rough patch in May, but he has rose from that slump splendidly. 

How will the remainder of the season play out?

It feels like if Sikes survives Toronto the championship will be his. The most points a driver can earn in one race is 33 points. It isn't impossible for Hughes to come back or for Johnson to pull this out, however, if Sikes is going into Portland with a 40-point lead or greater, he just has to keep his nose clean. 

Consider it this way, if Sikes' championship lead remains 40 points entering Portland, he will only need to score 60 points over three races to clinch the title. If he finishes third in every race that weekend he would accomplish that. His average finish at the moment is 4.615, and that is including a 17th in the second Mid-Ohio race. 

At the only other street course round this season, Hughes won a race and was third in the other. Sikes was fourth and second. Johnson was third and first. All three drivers should feel confident, however, Sikes is on serve and in control. 

Clark and Papasavvas are both just a little too far back to factor, however, either driver could take points away from the contenders and make the final five races fascinating. 

Musings From the Weekend: We Must Talk About Max

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Formula Regional European driver Dilano van 't Hoff was fatally injured in a race at Spa-Francorchamps, and there were a few hair-raising accidents this weekend. The Spa 24 Hours did take place and there was a familiar group of winners. NASCAR had an exhausting inaugural Chicago street race weekend, and Shane van Gisbergen won on his Cup Series debut. An American won in Austria. A winning streak ended. Another few continued. Álex Palou is on fire, but it is another dominant driver that is on my mind.

We Must Talk About Max

He isn't quite a popular driver, but Max Verstappen requires some attention. 

You may be thinking Verstappen doesn't need any more. After all, he just won the Austrian Grand Prix and the sprint race to boot, he has won two consecutive World Drivers' Championship and has won 70.96% of the Formula One races since the start of the 2022 season. He gets enough attention, but I don't think we are truly digesting what Verstappen is accomplishing. 

He has 42 grand prix victories, surpassing Ayrton Senna for fifth all-time at Austria. Senna's final victory came when the Brazilian was 33 years, seven months and 17 days old. Verstappen has reached 41 victories at 25 years, eight months and 19 days old. Senna did reach 41 victories in 158 starts, 13 starts fewer than Verstappen, but the number of starts are semantics at this point. Verstappen is fifth all-time in Formula One victories and doesn't turn 30 years old for another five years. 

Motorsports has significantly changed since Senna's final grand prix, Formula One included. Drivers are getting starting younger and getting higher opportunities at younger ages, partially because there are no restrictions from tobaccos sponsorship. A driver doesn't wait until he or she is 18 to even participant in a junior series race, let alone in the biggest series on the planet.

Many changes have occurred that allow Verstappen to be in year nine of his Formula One career at this age. However, the success is not only because of Verstappen's longevity and talent but finding the right situation at the right time. Verstappen has developed into an exceptional race car driver and wound up in possibly one of the best race cars ever built at the same time. That is what has allowed him to win 21 races in an 18-month span. 

Things would be much different in 2023 if Verstappen joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2014. If Verstappen joined the FDA, he probably isn't running Friday practice sessions at the end of 2014 nor in a race seat at the start of 2015. He likely isn't scoring his first career victory in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. We will never know what Verstappen's career would have looked like if he was swayed into the Scuderia's arms almost a decade ago, but it likely would not look like this. 

We also are going through a polarizing time in Formula One. Verstappen and Red Bull are not a celebrated group, not in the way Senna was with McLaren or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari or even Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes. Some of this stems from the conclusion of the 2021 season and how Verstappen won his first time. Another part of it is from Red Bull's cost cap violation. Then there is the dominance. 

For as much as Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton and even Alain Prost won races, they all had segments of the crowd that rooted against them. Verstappen is in the same boat, but I am not sure a driver this successful has ever had this slim of the fan base in his corner. 

Because of that lack of popularity, we aren't wrapping our heads around the numbers. The day Verstappen was born, 41 victories was second all-time. Only ten drivers had won more than 20 grand prix. Three drivers have since surpassed Prost's then-record of 51 victories. 

When Schumacher was climbing up the record book, it was monumental, especially since he was immediately following Prost and Senna. When Vettel was on his tear, it was something special and kind of unexpected because we didn't think we would see Schumacher-esque dominance again, let alone only a few years later. Then Hamilton and Mercedes smashed the record books, and Hamilton surpassed the century-mark in victories. 

Verstappen isn't getting any type of buzz. There is no difference between what Verstappen is doing with a superior car than what Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton did, but the celebration isn't there. Verstappen could also be suffering from record book fatigue. For the better part of 23 years we have been watching the Formula One record book be re-written. It is nothing new. Verstappen doing it is just the fourth guy in line, and it is expected at this point. 

Regardless of whether it is expected or not, Verstappen is still doing it and when his career is over he is likely going to be in the top three all-time in victories. He could be third before this season is over. He is changing how future generations will look at the series, and there is great chance he will be the second to 100 victories and eventually surpass Hamilton for the top spot. He isn't even halfway to Hamilton, but nothing suggests Verstappen will slow down anytime soon. Even if Verstappen does, he could have a three-year slump and still have ten seasons to make up for it. 

The Dutchman isn't going anywhere anytime soon, despite how much he talks about leaving Formula One. This conversation is going to carry on for probably the next decade, and he has already placed himself right at the top of the record book.

It doesn't help that Verstappen is racing during a more critical time. Plenty of people have seen the spells of Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton and are wondering what it means to be a great driver. Credit to Verstappen for winning the races, but if the general belief is nine out of ten drivers would dominate at the same or similar rate in that car, is it that impressive? Should the driver receive a bulk of the glory in that case? 

Record books mean something. It is the standard every competitor measures himself or herself up to. We don't put much nuance into comparing any competitors from different eras. We generally just take the bigger number and let that settle it, but it isn't that easy. 

Humanity, in general, is not becoming more thoughtful, but in the world of Formula One where more people are less impressed with the achievements of the winner, we are seeing people really take stock of what the numbers mean. Is it a coincidence this reflection is occurring as Verstappen and Red Bull dominates? No, it isn't, but seeing how Verstappen and Red Bull are received in the moment will change how this combination is perceived for years to come. There aren't many celebrating this group. Ferrari and Schumacher received fanfare from dominance, as did Red Bull with Vettel and Mercedes with Hamilton.

The good news is people will generally conceded to the numbers. They want an easy argument, but if the present is any indication of the future, the reverence for Verstappen will not be there 20 years after he is retired like it was for Prost, Senna, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, and so on. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Álex Palou, Shane van Gisbergen and Max Verstappen, but did you know...

The #98 ROWE Racing BMW of Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly won the Spa 24 Hours. Eng became the 11th driver with three Spa 24 Hours victories.

Cole Custer won the rain-shortened NASCAR Grand National Series race. 

Louis Foster won the Indy Lights race from Mid-Ohio, his first career Indy Lights victory. Michael d'Orlando and Myles Rowe split the USF Pro 2000 races. Evagoras Papasavvas, Mac Clark and Simon Sikes split the U.S. F2000 races.

Jak Crawford (sprint) and Richard Verschoor (feature) split the Formula Two races from Austria. Paul Aron (sprint) and Zak O'Sullivan (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Álvaro Bautista (races one and two) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (SuperPole race) split the World Superbike races from Donington Park. Nicolò Bulege swept the World Supersport races.

Coming Up This Weekend

The British Grand Prix from Silverstone.

The FIA World Endurance Championship has its antepenultimate round at Monza.

NASCAR returns to an oval and moves to Atlanta.

IMSA treks to Mosport.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has its premier event at the Norisring.

Shane van Gisbergen has a busy return to Australia as he joins the Supercars group at Townsville.

First Impressions: Mid-Ohio 2023

1. It's over. The 2023 IndyCar championship will go to Álex Palou. It is just a matter of are we handing over the Astor Cup at Gateway or Portland? Forget Laguna Seca. We are about to see something that has not happened in the reunification era of IndyCar. If Palou is winning this race and has a 44.444% winning percentage with eight races to go, it is over. Palou thrashed everybody today and many other drivers were on their game. 

But we have seen this race before. Palou is almost coasting at the start, just keeping touch and then he puts himself in position behind the leaders as the first round of pit stops is about to begin. Suddenly, Palou moves from third to first after the pit cycle and that is it. Done and dusted. This is a common race we see from Álex Palou. 

Credit to the pit crew because they nail every pit stop. One bobble, one issue connecting the fuel nozzle, and Palou is not inheriting the lead after the first pit stop today. If that happens, Palou is finishing third, but everyone on the #10 team is on their game at every race, and the team now has three consecutive victories, four total on the season. 

On top of Palou's success, every one of his championship rivals stumbled today. Marcus Ericsson had an opening lap accident with Felix Rosenqvist. Josef Newgarden was struggling to break 12th today. Patricio O'Ward had to start at the back and rolled the dice on a three-stop strategy. Palou winning never would help any of those guys, but they all helped Palou having nightmares of their own. 

It is over. We should start talking about Palou's legacy in IndyCar. He isn't going to be around much longer. Someone in Formula One will bite. McLaren, Red Bull. There is always an international driver that stomps IndyCar that grabs their attention. Palou is the latest one. Let's get through the next few races and then we will talk, but appreciate what Palou is doing. He might not be here much longer.

2. Scott Dixon must be feeling old. Dixon drove a superb race. He had better tire life on the alternate tire than almost everyone in the field. He made up time and didn't lose grip. Not long ago, this is a race Dixon steals. Instead, his younger teammate Palou ran away with this one. Everybody has a day when they realize they are no longer on top. Dixon would never admit it, but this must be the race that has him wondering what else he must do to be the top Ganassi driver let alone with a race. 

This was only good enough for second, and it wasn't a close second. Dixon still has it, but races haven't been this tough for Dixon to win in quite sometime and he hasn't lost to a teammate like this since the days of Dario Franchitti. 

If you go for the king, you better not miss? Palou hasn't. Dixon must know it.

3. I don't know how Will Power finished third. This is the fourth or fifth race this season I could say that. He drove smart. The team had a good strategy. Power didn't make any mistakes. Power ended up third. Ok. That's it. That's the review. Did Power do anything special? Nope. Still good enough for third. Sounds about right.

4. Christian Lundgaard is having one of the best seasons in IndyCar. Lundgaard spent the entire race in the top five, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing saw a surge this weekend, but for a team that has otherwise been in the middle of the field, Lundgaard is consistently in the top ten and mixing it up with Penske drivers, Ganassi drivers, McLaren drivers and Andretti drivers. 

Lundgaard is putting these cars three or four positions further up the order in every race. If Palou does leave, Chip Ganassi should call Christian Lundgaard. If he is doing this for RLLR, he is ready to be a race winner in IndyCar. Things would only get easier for the Dane. And RLLR should do all it can to keep him, because things will only become more difficult if Lundgaard were to leave now. 

5. Take everything I wrote for Power and it applies for Scott McLaughlin finishing fifth. All I can add is the primary-alternate-primary strategy was the correct choice today. Palou, Dixon, Power and McLaughlin all used that strategy and they all finished in the top five. 

Which only makes Christian Lundgaard look better because he started fifth and finished fourth on the alternate-primary-primary strategy while the top three all finished outside the top five. 

6. Who had David Malukas gaining six positions and finishing ahead of two RLLR drivers, all three McLaren drivers and all four Andretti drivers? Malukas does well at Mid-Ohio. The team has a good history here. Things clicked this weekend, and the team needed it. The problem is Dale Coyne Racing has been buried in the field most other weekends. The last six races were so dreadful that there is no reason to believe this mean the ship has been righted. Nope. Let's see what this group can do at Toronto.

7. If you offered Graham Rahal seventh at the start of the weekend, he wouldn't have hesitated to take it. However, Rahal started second today and lost time on each pit stop. He wrestled the car on the alternate tire at the end of the first stint and Rahal was always going to be leaped in the pit order by Palou, but the team couldn't get the fuel nozzle connected the first time. It wasn't a massive time loss, but enough. 

Then on the final stop the left rear tire wasn't secured and the team had to lift the car a second time on the jack to get the tire secure. It cost Rahal a top five finish. As a driver, Rahal didn't put a wheel wrong. It is brutal throwing a pit crew under the bus, but Rahal probably should have been fourth ahead of Lundgaard or fifth directly behind him. This should have been a double top five day for RLLR. 

8. Patricio O'Ward had one choice and that was to adopt a three-stop strategy. It worked. It was likely not going to win O'Ward the race, but if O'Ward does a two-stopper, he might finish inside the top fifteen. A three-stopper got him eighth. I may look it up later, but there is no doubt in my mind O'Ward ran more laps in the 68-second bracket in this race than anyone else in the field. More than the other 26 drivers combined? Maybe that too. That is worth investigating. 

We have seen a handful of drives like this at Mid-Ohio before. Simon Pagenaud and Sébastien Bourdais come to mind. Add O'Ward to that list.

9. Marcus Armstrong finished ninth. This is where Armstrong lives and he is a rookie. If Álex Palou wasn't his teammate, I could see Armstrong sneaking out a victory in a surprise race later this season, but that's not going to happen. However, we have to think the podium is within reach for Armstrong.

10. Alexander Rossi went from 13th to tenth in this race, but it could have been better and I question the strategy having Rossi stretch the fuel tank for 30 laps in the final stint. I don't think Brian Barnhart is a good strategist. It feels like Rossi constantly gets put on a bad strategy, and this goes beyond Barnhart. This has trailed Rossi really since 2018. This should have been an eighth-place finish today. He ended up behind his teammate on a three-stopper. No silver linings from this one. 

11. I am not sure what Colton Herta is shooting at anymore, because all of his toes are gone. I am not sure he has feet left. Herta lost out on the tire strategy. That happens. He should have put the car on the podium, though. A speeding penalty entering for the final stop cost him that. The limiter didn't click when he hit. That is a tough break, but my goodness, this is another good result thrown away. 

Andretti Autosport had two cars start in the top three today and neither finished in the top ten. None of the four cars finished in the top ten! This is a four-car team, one that has won multiple championships and Indianapolis 500s and it cannot put one car in the top ten? Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing couldn't put four cars in the top 33 qualifiers for the Indianapolis 500 and it had two cars in the top seven today. 

This is the second time this season Andretti Autosport has failed to get a top ten finisher and in both cases it had multiple cars start in the top three. At St. Petersburg, it had three cars start in the top five and none finish in the top ten. This is the sixth race in nine the team didn't have a top five finisher. And the team has won four pole positions! What is going on at Andretti Autosport?

12. Twelfth was the best Josef Newgarden was going to do today and that is stunning to see. Newgarden tried something different from this teammates. He started on the alternate tire. That didn't work. We will talk about Mid-Ohio in a moment, but with this shorter distance of 80 laps, three pit stops is almost never going to win you the race, but if you are starting 15th, why not try it? It will likely get some you something better than 12th. 

Historically, Mid-Ohio is one caution, maybe two. Today, the only caution was early. 

O'Ward started 25th. Three pit stops made sense for him. But why not do it from 15th? The tire degradation wasn't that great to think someone could make up 14 spots on their own, especially in a two-stop race. Palou is running away with this championship. If you are Newgarden starting 15th, there must be a point where everyone says, "fuck it" and the team swings for the fences.

13. Andretti Autosport two-fer here. Romain Grosjean did not do much today and was 13th. Devlin DeFrancesco made up ground and ended up 14th. DeFrancesco has been impressive this season. He isn't quite fighting for top ten finishes, but he is spending more time in the top fifteen. He isn't great but he has made progress. 

14. Let's run through some drivers here. Rinus VeeKay is maxing out Ed Carpenter Racing's capabilities finishing 15th. The honeymoon is over for Junco Hollinger Racing. Callum Ilott in 16th feels like the limit and that sucks because they showed good speed at points last year, and Ilott isn't finding it anywhere at the moment. 

15. Kyle Kirkwood had the early spin after running side-by-side with Álex Palou into turn four. Kirkwood came in early after that spin and I thought he was switching to a three-stopper. No! That team did two stops. Why do two stops when stopping that early? Put Kirkwood on a strategy where he can go all out. Kirkwood only lost six spots after that spin. It only dropped him to ninth, but he stopped only a few laps after O'Ward's first stop. Two stops was a foolish decision. Kirkwood wasn't going to make up any extra ground running slower to make it on two stops. 

Too many of these teams are handcuffed to analysis. At some point, just tell a driver to go 100%. No saving. No worries. Just go and live with the result. I don't think Kirkwood would have finished worse than 17th today on a three-stop strategy. 

16. Another race where all three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing made the second round of qualifying, two cars ended up in the top ten at the checkered flag and Jack Harvey was outside the top fifteen. It was 18th today. It is difficult to see how Harvey continues for a third season with this team. It already shook up its engineers. One driver wouldn't be a drastic decision. It is hard to see how results would get worse. 

17. It was Ryan Hunter-Reay, Conor Daly in a late substitution role for Simon Pagenaud and Hélio Castroneves taking 19th, 20th and 21st. Hunter-Reay is driving for a lost team. Meyer Shank Racing is no better than ECR, and Daly stepped in and got a 20th out of it, at least beating his teammate for the day. Talk about capturing a storyline in three consecutive finishing positions. 

 

18. Sting Ray Robb was 22nd, which is as good as it gets. Agustín Canapino didn't do anything wrong but he is still learning and he was 23rd. I don't think Santino Ferrucci was mentioned once on the television broadcast, but the radio broadcast mentioned he may have had an off course moment. Either way, Ferrucci was 24th, and somehow the best A.J. Foyt Racing finisher.  

19. Felix Rosenqvist was 25th after being caught in an opening lap accident with Marcus Ericsson and Rosenqvist spent the entire race one lap down. Despite never being on the lead lap, outside of a handful of corners, Rosenqvist ended ahead of Benjamin Pedersen, who never had a spin or possibly never put a wheel off the racetrack, but is just as slow as they come. 

It has been a while since a back-marker has drawn this much vocal criticism after a race from his fellow drivers. 

Pedersen shouldn't be in IndyCar. I know we like to praise the Road to Indy system but a driver who was fourth and fifth in his two Indy Lights seasons isn't good enough for IndyCar. Indy Lights isn't some hotbed of young talent, and it definitely wasn't that in 2022. 

IndyCar isn't going to do anything. To be fair, Pedersen has driven well in a few races, but boy does he have some blunders. See St. Petersburg. 

20. As for Rosenqvist, can he catch a break at Mid-Ohio? He has shown promising speed only for someone to take him out or an engine to fail him for four years now. The Swedish-on-Swedish violence made it worse. Marcus Ericsson hasn't made a mistake in a long time, possibly not since his rookie season in IndyCar. It wasn't even a major mistake. He had some oversteer in turn seven and climbed over Rosenqvist. Oversteer happens.

It also likely ended the IndyCar championship, but that is just how 2023 is going to play out.

21. I mentioned it the last two years and I will mention it again, this race should be 90 laps. One, it is the "Honda 200" and this was only 180 miles. A 90-lap race is 202.5 miles. Heck, 89 laps is 200.25 miles. What are we doing here? Two, Mid-Ohio was a blast when it was almost even between two or three stops. Go watch the 2019 race if you need a reminder. Those ten laps make a massive difference. 

22. We must talk about the Simon Pagenaud accident. Pagenaud lost his brakes entering turn four during the Saturday morning practice. Pagenaud's car spun across the track and barrel rolled six and a half times before landing upside down in the runoff area. Pagenaud walked away and was fine but was not cleared to drive today. 

When Green Savoree Promotions took over the track over a decade ago it said it would make a number of renovations and even hinted at moving the paddock area to modernize it and create a new pit lane as well. None of that has happened. The other thing that hasn't happened during that time is significant safety improvements to the track. 

That is a fluky accident, but part of the reason why Pagenaud rolled is because turn four is on a banked hill. The edge of the circuit is at the top and all the runoff area is downhill on the other side. It is a phenomenal corner and section of the circuit because of the undulations, but we cannot ignore that played into Pagenaud's accident. 

I know it isn't practical for GSP to fill in that part of the Earth and create a flat transition to the runoff, but when they show a flashback to Michael Andretti's accident there 25 years ago and it is nearly identical to what Pagenaud experience, you have to ask if there is anything the track could do to make sure that doesn't happen again. 

Fluky accidents will always happen. Fast cars do crazy things when something break, but if you look closer at that Andretti accident, you notice a lot of other things haven't change since 1998. Many things have come a long way in 25 years, safety being a notable one, and it just feels like Mid-Ohio still hasn't entered the 21st century. 

23. Now we get a holiday and a weekend off before Toronto. Does Álex Palou extend his lead to more than 130 points? We will find out in two weeks. 

Morning Warm-Up: Mid-Ohio 2023

On the final lap of qualifying, Colton Herta took pole position with a lap of 66.3096 seconds, Herta's second consecutive pole position and the 11th pole position of his career. This is the second time Herta has had consecutive pole positions in his career. The other time was the end of his rookie season when he started first at Portland and Laguna Seca. Herta was fourth at Portland and then won at Laguna Seca. He was fifth at Road America two weeks ago. The American led 33 laps in the most recent race at Road America. Herta had only led five laps over the previous 11 races. He has not led in consecutive races since last season at Mid-Ohio and Toronto. 

Graham Rahal fell 0.0432 seconds short of his first pole position since Belle Isle in 2017, but Rahal will start on the front row for the first time since Barber Motorsports Park in 2019. This is Rahal's first top five start in 27 races when he started fifth at Portland. Rahal has an average finish of 5.7 over the last ten Mid-Ohio races. Rahal has made 98 starts since his most recent victory, the second race of the 2017 Belle Isle doubleheader. Rahal holds the record for longest winless streak broken when he won at Fontana in 2015, 124 starts after he won at St. Petersburg in 2008. 

Kyle Kirkwood makes it an all-American top three, as Kirkwood was 0.0597 seconds off his teammate Colton Herta. This is the third time this season Andretti Autosport has had multiple drivers qualify in the top three. It happened at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. Kirkwood is aiming for his third consecutive top ten finish. Only once did Kirkwood had three consecutive top twenty finishes last season. 

Álex Palou was 0.1070 seconds off pole position and will start fourth. Palou is attempting to become the first driver to win three consecutive races since Scott Dixon won the first three races of the 2020 season at Texas, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Road America. Chip Ganassi Racing has had one driver win three consecutive races on seven different occasions. Palou could join Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dixon as the only drivers to do it with the Ganassi organization. 

Christian Lundgaard takes fifth position, ending up 0.3181 seconds off Herta's time. Lundgaard has finished better than or equal to his starting position in seven of eight races this season. The only time he didn't was when he started on pole position at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and finished fourth, his best result so far.

Scott Dixon rolls off from sixth position. Dixon has finished fourth in the last two races. Dixon has had at least one stretch of three consecutive top five finishes in each of the last six seasons. On race day, it will have been 329 days since Scott Dixon's most recent IndyCar victory. On average, Dixon's first 53 IndyCar victories came 147.528 days apart. This would only be the 11th time Dixon has had more than 300 days between victories. 

Will Power again fell short of making it to the final round of qualifying, this time, Power was 0.1276 seconds off and Power will start seventh for second time in three races. Power has finished third in the ninth race of the season in each of the last three years, and Power has done it at three different tracks (Gateway, Road America and Mid-Ohio). 

Scott McLaughlin is looking to become the eighth driver to win consecutive Mid-Ohio races, but McLaughlin will have to do it from eighth on the grid. A Mid-Ohio winner has started eighth on three occasions, Al Unser, Jr. in 1995, Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999 and Scott Dixon in 2019. The drivers that have won consecutive Mid-Ohio races are Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser, Jr., Alex Zanardi, Hélio Castroneves and Scott Dixon. 

 

For the second consecutive race, Marcus Ericsson occupies ninth on the grid. Ericsson is aiming for his tenth consecutive top ten finish. It would be the longest top ten finish streak of his career. Ericsson hasn't finished outside the top fifteen in the last 23 races. 

Felix Rosenqvist rounds out the top ten on the grid and the all-Swedish row five. Rosenqvist has started in the top ten in eight of nine races this season. Unfortunately, Rosenqvist has an average finish of 24th over his last three Mid-Ohio starts after finishing in the top six in his first two starts here.

Jack Harvey is situated in 11th on the grid. This is Harvey's best starting position at Mid-Ohio since he started fifth in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader weekend. He had started 19th or worse in the last three visits to Lexington, Ohio. Harvey has finished on the lead lap in five consecutive Mid-Ohio starts.

David Malukas ended up 12th, Malukas' best starting position since he started ninth at Texas in April. This is the first time Malukas has advanced to the second round of qualifying this season. The Illinois-native has finished outside the top twenty in four consecutive races. Malukas had two finishes outside the top twenty through the entire 2022 season. 

Alexander Rossi missed out on the second round of qualifying by 0.0389 seconds and Rossi will start 13th. Among tracks where Rossi has made at least three starts, Mid-Ohio ranks second in average finish at 6.875. The only track where he has a better average finish is Portland, where Rossi's average is a fifth-place finish. 

Romain Grosjean missed out on advancing to the second round by 0.1564 seconds and Grosjean will join his former Andretti Autosport teammate Rossi on row seven. This will be Grosjean's best starting position at Mid-Ohio. Grosjean has not finished on the lead lap in the last three races, the longest stretch without a lead lap finish in his IndyCar career.

Josef Newgarden ended up 0.0686 seconds shy of advancing from group one, and Newgarden will start 15th. This is the second consecutive year Newgarden has failed to advance to the second round of qualifying at Mid-Ohio. He started 14th last year and finished seventh. Newgarden has won the ninth race of the season twice before in his career, but Newgarden has not finished in the top five in the nine other occasions he has run the ninth race in a season. 

Rinus VeeKay joins Newgarden on row eighth. VeeKay had started 11th in the last three Mid-Ohio races. Among the tracks where VeeKay has made at least three starts, Mid-Ohio has his second-best average finish at 9.75, behind only Barber Motorsports Park at 8.333. He was fourth in this race last year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified 17th, his career worst starting position at Mid-Ohio. His previous worst was 15th in 2008. Hunter-Reay matched his career worst Mid-Ohio finish in his most recent appearance in 2021. Hunter-Reay was caught in an opening lap incident. He was able to continue, but he finished two laps down in 24th. 

Marcus Armstrong takes 18th on the grid, Armstrong's worst starting position since a penalty knocked him down to 26th at Barber. He had made the second round of qualifying in four of his last five appearances. Armstrong is coming off his worst IndyCar finish after ending up 24th at Road America, but Armstrong did lead five laps in that race, his first laps led in IndyCar. 

Hélio Castroneves will start 19th, his best starting position since he started 16th at Long Beach in April. Castroneves has five podium finishes in 14 Mid-Ohio starts, but his most recent podium at the track was a third in 2010. 

Callum Ilott rounds out the top twenty. Ilott had not made it out of the first round of qualifying yet this season. Ilott started tenth in this race last year, his second top ten starting position of the season in 2022. The Briton has finished outside the top fifteen in three of the last four races.

Agustín Canapino rolls off from the 21st position for the second consecutive race. Canapino has completed 922 laps through the first eight races. That is the eighth most the season ahead of the likes of Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward, Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, Callum Ilott, Hélio Castroneves, Romain Grosjean, Simon Pagenaud and Felix Rosenqvist. That is also 75 laps more than the next closest rookie, Benjamin Pedersen. 

Sting Ray Robb has finished 22nd in the last two races, and Robb will start this one from 22nd position. Robb hasn't had a top twenty finish since he was 18th at Long Beach. He won twice at Mid-Ohio during his 2020 Indy Pro 2000 championship season. 

Benjamin Pedersen finds himself 23rd on the grid. Pedersen had started in the top twenty in three consecuitv eraces entering this weekend. The Dane had finishes of seventh, eighth and sixth in three Indy Lights starts at Mid-Ohio.

Devlin DeFrancesco ended up 24th in qualifying, his worst starting position on a road/street course this season. DeFrancesco had started in the top twenty in every road/street course prior to this weekend. Since retiring from the first two races of the season, DeFrancesco has completed 614 of 615 laps. 

After causing a red flag in the first round of qualifying, Patricio O'Ward will start 25th. O'Ward was fastest in his group when he spun and stalled exiting the keyhole. He had started every previous race in the top ten this season. O'Ward was third at Road America. Every time O'Ward has finished third in his career, he has been on the podium in the next race. He was third in the first race of the Gateway doubleheader in 2020 and finished second in the second race. In 2021, he was third in the first Texas race and then won the second race in the doubleheader weekend. Later that season, he was third in the first Belle Isle race and then won the second Belle Isle race.

Santino Ferrucci starts 26th. This is the third time Ferrucci is starting outside the top 25 this season. He has finished better than his starting position in five of eight races this season. However, Ferrucci has started outside the top fifteen in four of those races and outside the top twenty in three. 

Due to a violent accident that sent Simon Pagenaud barrel rolling over six times in the turn five run-off during the second practice on Saturday, Pagenaud was unable to participate in qualifying and the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda will start 27th. Pagenaud was checked and released from the medical center but was not allowed to drive for the rest of Saturday. Pagenaud will be checked this morning and must be approved to race. Conor Daly is on standby to substitute for the Frenchman. Pagenaud has finished in the top fifteen in the last two races after having only one top fifteen result through the first six events. Pagenaud has completed every lap in 13 Mid-Ohio starts. He has finished off the lead lap in four of eight races this year. 

Update (8:37 a.m. ET): Conor Daly will drive the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in place of Simon Pagenaud. 

USA's coverage of the Honda Indy 200 from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:53 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 80 laps.