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| IndyCar looks to pack the hillsides at Mid-Ohio |
Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 29th with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: CNBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt and Robin Miller will work pit lane.
Note: NBCSN will re-air the race at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 29th.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 11:00 a.m. ET (45-minute session)
Second Practice: 2:35 p.m. ET (45-minute session)
Saturday:
Third Practice: 10:00 a.m. ET (45-minute session)
Qualifying: 1:35 p.m. ET (NBCSN will have live coverage)
Sunday:
Race: 3:30 p.m. ET (90 laps)
Scott Dixon's 300th Start
The New Zealander will become the ninth driver to make 300 IndyCar starts. He joins Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Tony Kanaan, Hélio Castroneves, Al Unser, Jr., Al Unser, Michael Andretti and Johnny Rutherford to reach the milestone.
Dixon ranks third all-time in IndyCar victories with 44 and his most recent victory came in the last race at Toronto. His Toronto victory was the 102 podium finish of his career, a category where he ranks third all-time and it was his 149th top five finish of his career, tying him with Foyt for second all-time. His 39 runner-up finishes are third most all-time. He ranks sixth all-time in laps led with 5,239 laps led. He has been victorious at 23 different racetracks, third most in IndyCar history behind only Mario Andretti and Dario Franchitti.
His consistency has been outstanding with Dixon having won a race in 16 seasons, tied with Mario Andretti for second most seasons with a victory trailing only Foyt, who won a race in 18 seasons. Dixon has the record for most consecutive seasons with a victory with 2018 being the 14 consecutive year he has stood on the top step of the podium at least once. This will be his 237th consecutive start. Dixon's consistency extends into the championship with Dixon having finished in the top three of the championship 11 of the last 12 years and his worst championship finish in the last 13 years is sixth.
If there is one category Dixon is slacking in it is pole positions with his 26 pole positions ranking him only 11th all-time but he has won from pole position 12 times in his career, which has him in a three-way tie for seventh with Michael Andretti and Castroneves. Dixon does have a reputation of winning from the back of the field as well with Dixon being one of four drivers to have won four races from outside the top ten on the grid. Along with Dixon, Al Unser, Jr., Dan Wheldon and Sébastien Bourdais have accomplished the feat but Dixon holds the distinction as being the only driver in IndyCar history to have won multiple times after starting outside the top twenty.
His first career victory came from 23rd on the grid in his third career start at Nazareth in 2001 and he won from 22nd at Mid-Ohio in 2014.
It is only fitting Dixon's 300th start should come at the track he is most synonymous with. His five Mid-Ohio victories is the all-time track record. His average finishing position of 5.538 is second best among active drivers with Dixon having nine top five finishes and 11 top ten finishes in 13 starts. He is tied with Bobby Rahal and Al Unser, Jr. for most top five finishes and top ten finishes at Mid-Ohio. Dixon has led 223 laps at Mid-Ohio, only Michael Andretti has led more and if Dixon leads 24 laps on Sunday, he will pass Andretti in that category.
While Dixon is always penciled in for victory here, he has only won one of the last five Mid-Ohio races and he has started outside the top five in three of the last four races at this track, albeit one of those was his victory from 22nd. He suffered his first retirement at the track two years ago after contact with Hélio Castroneves broke his suspension entering turn two. Last year, Dixon finished ninth, his third worst Mid-Ohio result.
Dixon could become the first driver to finish in the top five in a 300th start. Hélio Castroneves holds the best finish for a driver in a 300th start after he finished sixth in the 2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Johnny Rutherford is the only other driver to finish in the top ten in a 300th start when he finished seventh at Portland in 1987.
Will Power's 200th Start
On the other side of the Chip Ganassi Racing New Zealander coin, Team Penske's Australian driver will make his 200th start and become the 23rd driver to reach that milestone.
Through 199 starts, Power's 34 victories has him tied with Al Unser, Jr. for eighth all-time. His 66 podium finishes have him 14th all-time ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford, Sébastien Bourdais, Tom Sneva and Gil de Ferran. He is 16th in top five finishes with 90 of them and he has 128 top ten finishes, third most among active drivers behind only Kanaan and Dixon.
What Power has become more known for in his career is his ability to qualify at the front of the grid and with 51 pole positions he is third all-time in that category and only two behind Foyt for second. Power has been in top qualifying form for the last few seasons. He has started no worse than sixth this season with his average starting position being 2.667. He has started in the top ten in 22 consecutive races and he has started in the top ten in 28 of the last 29 starts dating back to the start of last year with his worst starting position being 11th. He has qualified in the top ten in 44 of 45 races dating back to the start of 2016. Power scored his 16th victory from pole position this season, tying him with Bobby Unser for fourth most victories from pole position in IndyCar history. This is the tenth consecutive season Power has led over 100 laps in a season and he has led 3,737 laps in his career.
While Dixon has dominated Mid-Ohio, it has been a track Power has not quite been able to breakthrough. In nine starts, Power has finished runner-up four times including the last two years. He has started on the front row six times and three of those have been pole positions. He has made it to the final round of qualifying in eight consecutive Mid-Ohio appearances with his worst starting position at the track being 12th. He has completed all 790 laps in his nine starts.
Power has won a race in 12 consecutive seasons, the second longest streak in IndyCar history. A victory at Mid-Ohio would be his 20th different track he would have won at and he would be the sixth different driver to win at 20 different tracks.
Like Dixon, Power could become the first driver to win in a 200th start. On three occasions has a driver finished runner-up in a 200th start. The first to do it was Gordon Johncock at Atlanta in 1979 when he finished second to Rick Mears. Al Unser, Jr. finished second in his 200th start at Michigan in 1995 in a photo finish after a back-and-forth last lap battle with Scott Pruett. Paul Tracy became the third driver to fall short of celebrating a 200th start from the top step of the podium when he finished second to Adrián Fernández at Portland in 2003.
Tale of the Tape: Dixon vs. Power
For the last decade Scott Dixon and Will Power have been the crème of the crop in IndyCar. Both have won championships, both have won the Indianapolis 500 but it is deeper than that.
Since the start of 2008, Dixon and Power have competed in 170 races together. Dixon holds the advantage, finishing ahead of Power 89 times to Power's 81 times. In that time frame, Power has won 31 races to Dixon's 28 but Dixon has 95 top five finishes to Power's 79 and Dixon leads Power in top ten finishes 127-109. In the 170 races, Dixon's average finish is 7.2, nearly two position better than Power's average finish of 9.1.
Dixon and Power have finished 1-2 ten times with Power holding the advantage 7-3 including coming out on top in the last three times they have finished 1-2. The most recent occurrence was when Power won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May with Dixon coming in second.
Entering this race Dixon leads the championship with 464 points. Power is fifth in the championship on 371 points.
How Does Power Compare to Dixon at 200?
Will Power heads into his 200th start with 34 victories, 66 podium finishes, 90 top five finishes, 128 top ten finishes, 51 pole positions and he has led 3,737 laps. He has one Indianapolis 500 victory and one championship. He has won 16 times from pole position and he has four 500-mile race victories, tied for sixth most in IndyCar history.
At 200 starts, Scott Dixon had 29 victories, 70 podium finishes, 97 top five finishes, 140 top ten finishes, 18 pole positions and he had led 3,964 laps. Dixon had one Indianapolis 500 victory and he was a two-time champion. He had won 10 times from pole position. To date, Dixon's 2008 Indianapolis 500 victory is his only 500-mile race victory.
Rest of the Field
Josef Newgarden heads to Mid-Ohio as the defending race winner and he will be looking to become the eighth driver to win this race in consecutive years. Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser, Jr., Alex Zanardi, Hélio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are the previous seven drivers to win this race in consecutive seasons. Fittipaldi, Unser, Jr. and Castroneves were all driving for Team Penske when they won consecutive Mid-Ohio races. Before last year's race Newgarden's best Mid-Ohio finish was tenth. Despite having three consecutive top ten finishes, Newgarden trails Dixon in the championship by 62 points.
Alexander Rossi is third in the championship, 70 points behind Dixon and Rossi has not had a top five finish in the last three races. Rossi started ninth and finished sixth in last year's Mid-Ohio race, career bests for him in both categories at the track.
Ryan Hunter-Reay is 91 points behind Dixon after finishes of 19th and 16th in the last two races. He had five consecutive top five finishes prior to his summer slump. Last year, Hunter-Reay finished eighth, his tenth career top ten finish at Mid-Ohio but he has only four top five finishes at the track in 12 career starts and he has finished third twice at the track. His third place finish in 2003 was his first career podium finish and he finished third in 2011.
Robert Wickens enters his 13th IndyCar race coming off his third career podium finish and his third consecutive top five finish. He has six top five finishes this season and nine top ten finishes but the Canadian trails Dixon by 125 points. The only driver to pick up a first career victory at Mid-Ohio is Charlie Kimball, who did it in 2013. It remains Kimball's only career victory.
Simon Pagenaud finished second at Toronto and Pagenaud has the best average finish at Mid-Ohio amongst active drivers at 5.0. Pagenaud has six consecutive top ten finishes at the track including five top five finishes in the last six years. He has completed all 620 laps in his seven starts.
Graham Rahal heads to his home race looking for his first victory of the season. He is coming off a 21st place finish at Toronto after an accident in turn one severely hampered his race. Rahal has four consecutive top five finishes at Mid-Ohio and he is looking to match his father Bobby as a two-time winner at the track.
James Hinchcliffe has four consecutive top ten finishes including three top five finishes in that span. Last year's 11th place finish at Mid-Ohio ended a streak of four consecutive top ten finishes at the track for the Canadian. Hinchcliffe has never made it to the Fast Six session at Mid-Ohio.
Marco Andretti rounds out the top ten in the championship and he finished tenth in the last race at Toronto. It was Andretti's sixth top ten finishes of the season. He is one of five drivers to be running at the finish of every race this season.
Sébastien Bourdais has dropped out of the top ten in the championship for the first time this season. The Frenchman has finished outside the top ten in six of the last seven races. Bourdais is one point behind Andretti in the championship.
Takuma Sato's streak of three consecutive top ten finishes ended at Toronto when the Japanese driver retired after hitting the barrier. Sato has finished in the top ten the last two years at Mid-Ohio after having only one top ten finish in his first six trips to the track. Last year, he matched his best Mid-Ohio starting position by starting third.
Ed Jones is five points behind Sato in the championship after Jones finished 13th and 12th in the last two races. Mid-Ohio has been a bit of a house of horrors for Jones in IndyCar and Indy Lights. Last year, Jones finished two laps down in last place in his first IndyCar start at the track. In four Indy Lights starts Jones had contact in three of them, finished a lap down once with one retirement and his best finish was sixth.
Spencer Pigot's resurgence hit a snag at Toronto but he is still 14th in the championship, the highest he has been all season. Last year, Pigot suffered an accident in the morning warm-up prior to the Mid-Ohio race and he finished 19th in the race. He did finish seventh the year prior. Pigot won at Mid-Ohio in U.S. F2000 in 2012.
Tony Kanaan is seven points behind Pigot in the championship. Kanaan has finished outside the top ten in five of his last six Mid-Ohio starts. He has failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying in six of the last eight Mid-Ohio races. In 16 starts at the track, Kanaan has never finished on the podium.
Charlie Kimball is coming off his best finish of the season after his fifth place result at Toronto gave Carlin its first top five finish in an IndyCar race. It was Kimball's first top five finish in 38 races with his previous top five result being fifth in the 2016 Indianapolis 500.
Zach Veach's seventh place finish at Toronto was the first time Veach was the top Andretti Autosport finisher in an IndyCar race. It also snapped a streak of eight consecutive races where he was the worst Andretti Autosport finisher. The Ohioan finished in the top five in all five of his Indy Lights starts at Mid-Ohio including a runner-up finisher in 2014 driving for Andretti Autosport.
Matheus Leist made the second round of qualifying for the second time in his career at Toronto but he finished 15th in the race, the final car on the lead lap. Leist has finished better than his starting position in only four races this season. Leist started 12th and 13th last year at Mid-Ohio in Indy Lights with finishes of 11th and tenth.
Max Chilton is coming off his third finish outside the top twenty this season after he retired in a turn one incident at Toronto where he was hit from behind by Graham Rahal. Chilton finished 15th in last year's Mid-Ohio race from 18th on the grid.
Musical Chairs
Five unfamiliar faces will be on the grid this weekend.
One not-so-unfamiliar face is Conor Daly, who will be back for his second consecutive race with Harding Racing. He started 11th and finished 13th at Toronto. Daly has finished in the top ten in both his Mid-Ohio starts, including a drive from 22nd to sixth in 2016.
Pietro Fittipaldi is back for his long-awaited second career IndyCar start. The Brazilian made his debut at Phoenix in April and his race ended after he brushed the wall exiting turn four and he only completed 40 laps. Fittipaldi broke both his legs in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps at the beginning of May.
Jordan King has scored his best career finishes in his last two races after he finished 12th at Road America and he finished 11th at Toronto. However, King did make contact with the barrier during the Toronto weekend making Road America the only weekend where he has not had an off-track excursion or contact with a wall.
Jack Harvey and Meyer Shank Racing are back for the first time since the Indianapolis 500. This is Meyer Shank Racing's home race as the team is based in Pataskala, Ohio. Harvey swept the Indy Lights races at Mid-Ohio in 2014 but he finished 11th and tenth in the two races the following year. He did start on pole position in three of four of those Indy Lights races.
René Binder is back for what will be his sixth race of the season with Juncos Racing. Binder qualified inside the top twenty for the first time in his career at Toronto when he started 19th. He has finished at least two laps down in each of his five starts this season. This is the last scheduled race of the season for Juncos Racing.
Road to Indy
Mid-Ohio marks the start of the homestretch for the Road to Indy series with all three divisions sitting on five races to go entering this weekend.
In Indy Lights, Patricio O'Ward took the championship lead from teammate Colton Herta as the Mexican driver picked up a victory and a runner-up finish in Toronto while Herta suffered two retirements and an injured wrist. O'Ward sits on 331 points, 18 points clear of Herta and O'Ward got the advantage of testing last week at the track while Herta rested his wounded wrist. O'Ward made four starts at Mid-Ohio in Pro Mazda but his best finish was fourth. Last year, Herta finished second in the first Mid-Ohio race and he started on pole position for the second but dropped to a sixth place finish.
Santiago Urrutia has been a marvel at Mid-Ohio. He has won four times in six starts between Pro Mazda and Indy Lights with three of those victories being in Indy Lights and he has never finished off the podium at this track. Urrutia has started on pole position for three of his four Indy Lights starts at this track. He is coming off his second victory of the season and he is 40 points behind O'Ward in the championship.
Money issues forced Victor Franzoni to pull off early in the second Toronto race and he is on 245 points. Ryan Norman is 15 points behind Franzoni with Aaron Telitz on 222 points. Dalton Kellett sits on 211 points.
Indy Lights will race at 3:05 p.m. ET on Saturday July 28th and at 1:05 p.m. ET on Sunday July 29th.
The championship picture has tightened up in Pro Mazda. A dreadful home weekend for Canada's Parker Thompson combined with Rinus VeeKay sweeping the weekend in Toronto has Thompson's championship lead down to eight points. Prior to his pair of eighth-place finishes, Thompson had finished in the top five of every race this season. The good news for Thompson is in six U.S. F2000 starts at Mid-Ohio he never finished outside the top five and he finished on the podium in his last four starts at the track, including a victory in last year's second race. VeeKay finished third and second in last year's Mid-Ohio U.S. F2000 races.
Carlos Cunha is 38 points behind Thompson while a pair of ninth-place finishes has David Malukas 65 points behind the Canadian. Oliver Askew rounds out the top five on 195 points after he finished second in the second Toronto race. Harrison Scott will be remembered for his flight into turn three in the first Pro Mazda race but the Briton has dropped to sixth in the championship on 189 points.
Sting Ray Robb is on 160 points with Robert Megennis only three points back after Megennis picked up his third podium finish of the season at Toronto. Nikita Lastochkin finished in the top five in both Toronto races, his first top five finishes of the season and he is on 147 points. Andrés Gutiérrez and Charles Finelli both are mathematically alive for the championship with 124 points and 109 points respectively.
Pro Mazda will race at 4:10 p.m. ET on Saturday July 28th and at 11:05 a.m. ET on Sunday July 29th.
There will likely be a coronation ceremony in U.S. F2000 this weekend. Kyle Kirkwood leads the championship with 279 points and he has a 131-point lead over Kaylen Frederick with five races to go and 165 points left on the table. If Kirkwood has a 132-point lead after the first race of the weekend, he will clinch the championship. Kirkwood has made nine starts at Mid-Ohio in the Formula 4 United States Championship. He has won twice and he has seven podium finishes in those nine starts. Kirkwood has won six consecutive races this season. Last year, Frederick finished seventh and third in the U.S. F2000 races at Mid-Ohio.
Igor Fraga is three points behind Frederick after he finished second at Toronto while Rasmus Lindh is four points behind Fraga after the Swedish driver finished third at Toronto. Alexandre Baron was not at the Toronto round and he is not on the entry list for Mid-Ohio. Baron is fifth in the championship on 123 points. Lucas Kohl is the final driver mathematically eligible for the championship with 116 points.
Dakota Dickerson is back for his third round of the season. Dickerson leads the Formula 4 United States Championship and he won at Mid-Ohio on June 30th.
This is the only triple-header on the U.S. F2000 schedule with the series competing each day this weekend. Race one will be Friday July 27th at 4:30 p.m. ET. The second race will be at 12:35 p.m. ET on Saturday July 28th. The final race of the weekend is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday July 29th.
Fast Facts
This will be the seventh IndyCar race to take place on July 29th and the first since 2007 when Robert Doornbos won at San Jose. Doornbos started 15th in that race. It was the final victory of Doornbos' career and the final time San Jose hosted an IndyCar race. Neel Jani finished second in what was his third and final podium finish. Oriol Servià rounded out the podium.
Four drivers entered in this Mid-Ohio race were in the 2007 San Jose race. Will Power, Sébastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top ten.
Scott Dixon's 62-point championship lead is the largest with five races remaining since Dario Franchitti led the championship by 62 points with five races to go in 2011. However, Franchitti's lead was when six races were still scheduled but the Las Vegas season finale was abandoned.
Dixon's 62-point championship lead is the largest with five scheduled races remaining since 2005 when Dan Wheldon led Sam Hornish, Jr. by 95 points.
Since reunification, only four times has the championship leader with five races to go won the championship. Those four champions were Scott Dixon in 2008, Dario Franchitti in 2011, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012 and Simon Pagenaud in 2016.
Since the 1979, the championship leader with five races to go has won the championship in 35 of 51 seasons between USAC, CART/Champ Car, Indy Racing League and reunified IndyCar.
Since 1979, the largest championship blown with five races to go was 46 points by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015.
Since 1979, a championship lead of greater than 20 points with five races to go has been blown four times. Those four are Will Power in 2010, who had a 41-point lead; Hélio Castroneves in 2013 when he had a 31-point lead and Castroneves again in 2014 when he had a 28-point lead and Montoya in 2015.
Team Penske is attempting to win its third consecutive Mid-Ohio race. It would be the third time a team would have won three consecutive Mid-Ohio races. Team Penske won four consecutive races from 1992-1995 with Emerson Fittipaldi winning the first two and Al Unser, Jr. winning the second two. Chip Ganassi Racing won six consecutive races from 2009-2014 with Scott Dixon winning four races, Dario Franchitti winning once and Charlie Kimball winning once.
Honda has 13 Mid-Ohio victories while Chevrolet has won at the track eight times. Cosworth won nine Mid-Ohio races, the second most for an engine manufacture.
Paul Tracy is the only driver to have won at Mid-Ohio in Indy Lights and IndyCar. The only driver that could match that accomplishment this weekend is Jack Harvey.
Patrick Carpentier is the only driver who won at Mid-Ohio in IndyCar and the Atlantic Championship.
The average starting position for a Mid-Ohio winner is 3.636 with a median of two.
The last two Mid-Ohio races have been won from the front row but the two years prior were won from 22nd and 13th, the only two times Mid-Ohio has been won from outside the top ten.
The average number of lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race is 4.636 with a median of five.
Last year's race had eight lead changes, tying the record for most lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race with 1988 and 2007.
The average number of cautions in a Mid-Ohio race is two with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.84375 with a median of 8.5.
Possible Milestones:
Chip Ganassi Racing is one victory away from tying Newman-Haas Racing for second all-time in team victories in IndyCar with 107 victories.
Sébastien Bourdais is one top five finish away from 75 career top five finishes.
Marco Andretti is one top ten finish away from 100 career top ten finishes.
Sébastien Bourdais is one top five finish away from 75 career top five finishes.
Marco Andretti is one top ten finish away from 100 career top ten finishes.
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead eight laps to surpass Tomas Scheckter for 31st all-time in laps led.
Takuma Sato needs to lead 23 laps to reach the 500 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 21 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Charlie Kimball needs to lead 37 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Alexander Rossi gets his first victory since Long Beach, he will jump to second in the championship and he will take at least 15 points out of Scott Dixon's championship lead. Sébastien Bourdais gets off the snide and finishes in the top five. This is the first race of the season Team Penske has two cars finish in the top five and Josef Newgarden is one of the drivers but all three Penske drivers finish in the top ten. Jack Harvey is the top finishing British driver. At least one Ed Carpenter Racing driver makes it to the second round of qualifying. Sleeper: Zach Veach.
