The ninth round of 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will run at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as the Honda 200 marks the first of four races in a 15-day period. Over the next three weeks, IndyCar will compete on a road course, oval and a street course, with one of those weekends being a doubleheader. IndyCar will surpass the halfway point of the season once it hits lap 41 of this weekend's race. With 486 points remaining on the table, every driver, even those who have yet to participate, has a mathematical chance at the championship. In what will be the 1,751st race in IndyCar history, this weekend marks a historic moment in American open-wheel racing.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 7 with green flag scheduled for 1:45 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Georgia Henneberry and Charlie Kimball will work pit lane.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Georgia Henneberry and Charlie Kimball will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 3:20 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 10:50 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:25 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:45 p.m. ET (80 laps)
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:25 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:45 p.m. ET (80 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
IndyCar's Hybrid Debut
Mid-Ohio marks the long-awaited debut of IndyCar's hybrid system. First announced in 2019, the hybrid system was originally scheduled to debut in 2022, but was delayed during the pandemic. It was meant to be run at the start of the 2024 season, but last December it was decided the system would not be used until after the Indianapolis 500 as a number of teams had yet to have sufficient testing time with the system.
On May 14, it was decided Mid-Ohio would be the introductory race for the hybrid system.
The hybrid system consists of a Motor Generator Unit and Energy Storage System, located inside the bellhousing of the car, between the engine and gearbox. Drivers will be able to regenerate energy through braking or throttle position while also being able to manually regenerate energy via paddles. The 48-volt MGU will build up the energy, which will be stored in the ESS that consists of 20 supercapacitors.
Deployment of the hybrid energy will be similar to that of push to pass and can be used in combination with push to pass at road and street course races. Push to pass will still have a restriction on amount of time per use and total time used in each race. The combination of push to pass and the hybrid system will offer an additional 120 horsepower. The hybrid session will also allow for drivers restart the cars in case of a spin without needing assistance from safety workers.
Hybrid testing began in August 2023 at Sebring International Raceway. In the first seven months, 23,518 miles were completed among 28 drivers. Team Penske, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global were the primary testing teams over the initial development of the hybrid system. The remaining teams did not get to test the hybrid system until March 28-29 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The first field hybrid test took place on June 11 at the Milwaukee Mile, though Chip Ganassi Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing were not present due to driver commitments to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. An additional 3,563 miles were completed at the Milwaukee test. Will Power led the way with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin making it a 1-2-3 for Team Penske at the test. Colton Herta was the top Honda in fourth. The manufacturers evenly split the top ten at the test, but Patricio O'Ward made it four Chevrolets in the top five. The top ten were covered by 0.5169 seconds.
The Team Penske drivers were also first, second and third in laps completed while Dale Coyne Racing's two entries completed the fewest laps. Penske's drivers ran 523 laps while Coyne had Jack Harvey and Katherine Legge complete a total 161 laps.
An additional test took place at Iowa Speedway on June 27, as the 27 teams also tested out the new surface at the 0.875-mile oval. Herta led that test session with McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson following him in the unofficial results. Graham Rahal and Patricio O'Ward rounded out the top five with Scott Dixon in sixth.
Is Dixon Due?
For over a decade now, Mid-Ohio has been known as Scott Dixon’s house. Dixon has won six times in 20 starts at the 2.258-mile road course. The only other driver who has won more than twice at Mid-Ohio is Emerson Fittipaldi with three victories. Only one active driver has won multiple times at the circuit. Dixon has 14 top five finishes and 18 top ten finishes. He has led 263 laps, the most all-time at Mid-Ohio.
Though he has won 30% of his Mid-Ohio starts, an argument could be made Dixon is due. He has not won in any of his last five Mid-Ohio starts, his longest drought at the track. Though he hasn’t won, Dixon has been competing at the front. He has three consecutive top five finishes, including a runner-up finish last year to Álex Palou. This is a part of a longer eight-race run of consecutive top ten finishes. Since 2007, Dixon has 17 top ten finishes in 18 Mid-Ohio starts.
The lone blemish was 22nd in 2017 after contact with Hélio Castroneves knocked Dixon out of the race. The 2017 race is the only time Dixon has finished off the lead lap at Mid-Ohio.
Dixon has been at the front, but he hasn’t necessarily had race victories slip from his grasp in recent years at Mid-Ohio. He led two laps last year, his first laps led at the circuit since his most recent Mid-Ohio victory in 2019. The 2019 race and last year’s race are the only times Dixon has led in the last nine races at the circuit.
His starting position is nearly as good as his finishing positions. In the last four races, Dixon has started on one of the first three rows, and he has started sixth or better in 13 of the last 18 Mid-Ohio races. However, he has only started on the front row twice at Mid-Ohio, both pole positions coming in 2011 and 2015. Starting position has not been a significant hurdle to success. Dixon’s last two Mid-Ohio victories have come from 22nd and eighth on the grid.
Seven of 40 Mid-Ohio races have been won from a starting position outside the top five. Dixon is responsible for three of them, having also won from sixth in 2007.
A man with many accomplishments, Dixon still finds a way to do something he has never done before. Take last year, where Dixon was runner-up to Álex Palou at Mid-Ohio. It was the first time Dixon has finished second at the track. Palou led 48 laps from fourth starting position to take what was the Catalan driver’s third consecutive victory in the 2023 season. It was Dixon’s 50th runner-up finish in his career, second all-time to Mario Andretti’s record of 56 runner-up results. It was the 26th different circuit where Dixon has finished second.
Dixon is accustomed to being in exclusive company in IndyCar’s history book. A victory this weekend would make Dixon only the sixth driver in IndyCar history to have seven victories at one circuit. The only other driver with seven victories at a road or street course is Michael Andretti, who won seven times at Toronto.
Trading Victories
We enter Mid-Ohio with an unusual pattern in IndyCar: Neither manufacturer has won consecutive races this season. Add the 2023 season finale and we are on a nine-race run without a manufacturer winning consecutive races. Since engine competition returned to IndyCar in 2012, this is the longest we have gone without an engine make winning consecutive races.
If the pattern were to continue at Mid-Ohio, we should be expecting a Chevrolet victory. Chevrolet has won three of the last five Mid-Ohio races and six of 13 Mid-Ohio races since 2012.
As much as this can be pinned down as Chevrolet and Honda trading victories, it is really Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Over this nine-race stretch, these two teams combine for eight victories. A Penske or Ganassi car has finished first on the road in all eight races plus the exhibition race at Thermal Club in March. Josef Newgarden’s disqualification at St. Petersburg handed the victory, and kept this pattern going, to fellow Chevrolet driver Patricio O’Ward.
In the last 16 races, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing have combined for 13 victories. No other team has won multiple times in that span with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Andretti Global and Arrow McLaren having each won once.
Penske and Ganassi have combined to win the last three Mid-Ohio races and five of the last six.
Along with Dixon’s outstanding record, Will Power is not far off Dixon’s output at Mid-Ohio. Though Power has only won once at the track, he has eight podium finishes in 16 starts. He has 11 top five finishes and 13 top ten finishes. Power’s 206 laps led are third all-time at Mid-Ohio behind only Dixon and Michael Andretti. Power also has five pole positions and nine front row starts.
Josef Newgarden is the only other active driver with multiple Mid-Ohio victories, having won in 2017 and 2021. On both occasions, he led exactly 73 laps. In 13 starts, he has completed 1,102 of 1,105 laps. Though he has multiple victories, Newgarden has had more bad days than good days in Lexington, Ohio. He has finished outside the top ten at Mid-Ohio six times, including finishing 12th last year.
All three Penske drivers have won at Mid-Ohio. Scott McLaughlin won the 2022 race from second starting position. McLaughlin was fifth in last year’s race and he was 12th on his first visit to the track in 2021.
Álex Palou enters as the defending Mid-Ohio winner, and he has finished on the podium in three consecutive years at Mid-Ohio. This is despite Palou having never started better than fourth at the track. Palou is not only looking for his second consecutive victory of the season, but his second consecutive Mid-Ohio victory. He would become the eighth driver with consecutive Mid- Ohio victories.
For the non-Penske Chevrolet teams hoping to continue the pattern and the non-Ganassi Honda teams hoping to break the pattern, history is not in their favor. The only other team to win in the last nine Mid-Ohio races is Andretti Global, which won twice. You must go back to Graham Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s victory in 2015 for the last time one of the non-Big Three teams won at Mid-Ohio.
Arrow McLaren has failed to have a top five finisher in the last six Mid-Ohio races. This organization’s three podium finishes at the circuit were third in 2012 with Simon Pagenaud, second in 2013 with Pagenaud and second in 2018 with Robert Wickens.
Since its 2015 victory, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has had a top five finisher in four of the last nine Mid-Ohio races, but the only podium finish was third in 2017 with Graham Rahal.
RLLR isn’t the only home team at Mid-Ohio. Meyer Shank Racing heads to its home race having its best season since 2021. Historically, MSR does better at home. In seven Mid-Ohio appearances, MSR has had a top ten finisher in three of them, including a double top ten day in 2022, the team’s most recent double top ten day.
Americans
With Mid-Ohio falling on the de facto Independence Day weekend, it is a good time to spotlight the American talent in the IndyCar series. A third of the grid is comprised of American drivers.
It has been a trying season for the American drivers. Only one of the first eight races has had an American winner. That was Josef Newgarden in the Indianapolis 500. Last year, American drivers combined for three victories, and the year before that Americans won four of the first eight races. However, only three years ago, American drivers only combined for only one victory in the first eight races before winning four of the final seven races.
Colton Herta enters the holiday as the top American driver in the championship, fourth on 217 points. Herta is coming off a runner-up result at Laguna Seca, and he has three podium finishes this season. It has been 37 races since Herta's most recent victory. Mid-Ohio might not be the place Herta was hoping to come to. While he has a victory at the circuit, Herta has not finished in the top ten in the last three Mid-Ohio races, and he has an average finish of 13th over that time, this is despite starting no worse than third in the last four Mid-Ohio races.
Seven points behind Herta is his Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood. Kirkwood has yet to finish worse than 11th this season, and he enters riding a wave of three consecutive top five finishes, four consecutive top ten finishes and he has led a lap in four consecutive races. He has not been on the podium since his victory at Nashville last year.
Seventh in the championship in the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet is Alexander Rossi, 12 points off Kirkwood. Rossi will not have many more races in the #7 Chevrolet, nine to be specific. It was announced on Tuesday Rossi would not return to Arrow McLaren in 2025 with Christian Lundgaard taking over the seat. In 25 races with McLaren, Rossi has only two podium finishes and nine top five finishes.
Josef Newgarden has been the top American in the championship for five consecutive seasons and in seven of the last eight seasons. Through eight races in 2024, Newgarden sits ninth in the championship, 104 points off the championship lead, and he is the fourth-best American. While he has three top five finishes, Newgarden has finished outside the top fifteen in the other five races. He has not had a finish between sixth and tenth since he was tenth at Detroit in 2023.
Santino Ferrucci is a surprise 12th in the championship with five top ten finishes this season, including three top ten results in the last four races. At the moment, Ferrucci is trending for the best championship finish for an A.J. Foyt Racing driver since Vitor Meira was 12th in 2010. In five Mid-Ohio starts, Ferrucci's best finish is ninth with an average of 14.6.
Graham Rahal returns to his home race 16th in the championship. He has two top ten finishes, but this is Rahal's worst championship position through eight races since he was 19th through eight races in 2014. However, this is the third consecutive season Rahal is outside the top ten in the championship through eight races.
At Laguna Seca, Sting Ray Robb hit the quarter-century point in his career, as it was his 25th career start. Robb's average finish over his first 25 starts is 21.64. He has only one finish in the top fifteen in his career and nine top twenty finishes. He has finished in the top twenty in three of the last four races.
Nolan Siegel will be back for his fourth career start, his second with Arrow McLaren. Siegel went from 23rd to 12th at Laguna Seca two weeks ago, the top rookie finisher. Through eight races, five different drivers have been the best finishing rookie this season.
David Malukas is back for his second start of the season in the #66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. Malukas was 16th in his debut for the 2024 season. Malukas has finished in the top ten in both of his Mid-Ohio starts.
It has been four seasons since the most recent American champion in IndyCar. There has not been a five-year drought since 2007 through 2011 when Dario Franchitti won four times and Scott Dixon won the other, and Sébastien Bourdais won the 2007 Champ Car championship. Ohioan Sam Hornish, Jr. won the 2006 Indy Racing League championship, and the next American champion was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.
Road to Indy
All three Road to Indy Series are in action this weekend, one of which is holding a triple-header, and two of the series will only have two weekends left after Mid-Ohio.
Louis Foster has taken the championship lead in Indy Lights. Sweeping the Laguna Seca doubleheader has Foster on 345 points and 35 points clear of Jacob Abel. Foster has won four of the last five races and he has been on the podium in all five of those events. During that span, Abel has three podium finishes, but he was 11th in the second race of the Laguna Seca weekend.
Caio Collet was runner-up in both Laguna Seca races, and with three runner-up finishes in the last four races, Collet sits on 261 points in third. Despite having finished outside the top five in the last three races, including two results of 19th and 17th, Myles Rowe remains fourth in the championship on 192 points, one point ahead of Jamie Chadwick.
Callum Hedge is three points outside the top five with Reece Gold a further four points back. Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel is still eighth in the championship on 177 points, ten points ahead of Salvador de Alba. James Roe, Jr. rounds out the top ten on 163 points.
Indy Lights will hold its 35-lap race at 11:15 a.m. ET on Sunday July 7.
Lochie Hughes swept the Road America triple-header in USF Pro 2000 and Hughes now leaders the championship on 271 points, 50 points clear of Jace Denmark, who is still looking for his first victory of the season.
Since his disqualification in the second race from the Indianapolis Motors Speedway road course, Nikita Johnson has dropped to third in the championship, 56 points off Hughes, and Johnson has only one podium finish over the last five races. He opened the season with four victories in the first six races and no finishes worse than fourth. His average finish in the last five races is ninth after being 1.667 through the first six races.
Christian Brooks is fourth in the championship on 207 points. Brooks was runner-up in the final two Road America races. Liam Sceats rounds out the top five on 202 points. There is a 38-point gap between Sceats and Danny Dyszelski in sixth. Ohio's Braden Eves is seventh on 157 points.
The absent Hunter Yeany and Simon Sikes are tied on 148 points while Frankie Mossma rounds out the top ten on 142 points.
Both Indy Pro 2000 races will be on Saturday July 6. The first 30-lap race will be at 8:25 a.m. ET and the second all be at 4:50 p.m. ET.
It is a triple-header weekend for U.S. F2000, the second of three triple-header weekends this season for the series.
Marc Garcia has not finished on the podium in the last three races, but Garcia remains the championship leader on 241 points. Thirty-six points back is Sam Corry, who won the first race at Road America. Evagoras Papasavvas is still looking for his first victory of the season, despite having six podium finishes in ten races. Papasavvas is third in the championship, 46 points off Garcia.
Max Taylor won the second Road America race and he sits on 182 points, 22 points clear of Joey Brienza in fifth. Elliot Cox has 146 points in sixth while Hudson Schwarts has scored 121 points. Michael Costello was runner-up to Taylor and that has Costello up to eighth in the championship with 118 points, five points clear of Nicolas Giaffone and Ayrton Houk, who are tied for ninth.
U.S. F2000 will run on each day of the weekend at Mid-Ohio. The first race is at 4:55 p.m. ET on Friday July 5. Race two will be Saturday July 6 at 1:05 p.m. The final race is Sunday July 7 at 9:15 a.m. ET. All three races are 20 laps.
Fast Facts
This will be the eight IndyCar race to take place on July 7 and the first since Scott Dixon won at Pocono in 2013. Dixon lead a Chip Ganassi Racing sweep of the podium ahead of Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti.
Twice has IndyCar raced in Ohio before on July 7. Both those races took place at Cleveland. Al Unser, Jr. won there on July 7, 1985 and Michael Andretti won there on July 7, 1991.
Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske each leads have 12 Mid-Ohio victories.
Americans have won six of the last 12 Mid-Ohio races. American drivers had not won any of the 14 Mid-Ohio races prior to this stretch.
There have been seven different winners in the last seven Mid-Ohio races. This is the longest streak of different winners in the history of Mid-Ohio.
Last year, Álex Palou became the second Mid-Ohio winner to go on and win the IndyCar championship since Mid-Ohio returned to the IndyCar calendar in 2007. The other was Josef Newgarden in 2017.
Toby Sowery will make his IndyCar debut this weekend at Mid-Ohio driving the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Sowery will become the seventh driver for Dale Coyne Racing in 2024, and he is the fourth driver to make his IndyCar debut driving for DCR this season.
With Sowery joining Jack Harvey at Dale Coyne Racing, this is the first time a pair of British drivers have been teammates in an IndyCar race outside of the Indianapolis 500 since the 2013 Fontana season finale where Justin Wilson and Pippa Mann were Dale Coyne Racing teammate. In that interim, Wilson and Mann were teammates at DCR in the 2014 Indianapolis 500, and last year, Harvey and Katherine Legge were Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates in the Indianapolis 500.
The only driver to pick up a first career victory at Mid-Ohio was Charlie Kimball in 2013.
The fewest laps led for a Mid-Ohio winner is ten by Bobby Rahal in 1986. In only four Mid-Ohio races has the winner led fewer than 20 laps (Johnny Rutherford 1980, Rahal 1986, Roberto Guerrero 1997 and Al Unser, Jr. 1995).
In eight consecutive Mid-Ohio races, the final lead change has occurred with over 20 laps remaining.
In only five Mid-Ohio races has the final lead change occurred with ten laps or fewer remaining (1986 - ten laps to go, 1987 - ten laps to go, 1995 - four laps to go, 2007 - nine laps to go, 2016 - six laps to go).
Seven different drivers have scored fastest lap through the first eight races in 2024. At Laguna Seca, Marcus Ericsson became the first repeat driver to score fastest lap this season.
The average starting position for a Mid-Ohio winner is 3.435 with a median of second.
Seven of the last nine Mid-Ohio races have been won from the front row.
Sixteen of 40 Mid-Ohio races have been won from pole position. Twenty-four Mid-Ohio races have been won from the front row.
The average number of lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race is 4.725 with a median of five.
Every Mid-Ohio race has had at least one lead change.
The average number of cautions for a Mid-Ohio race is 1.923 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.282 with a median of seven.
Seven Mid-Ohio races have been caution-free. Another nine Mid-Ohio races have had only one caution, including last year's race.
Predictions
Scott Dixon ushers in the hybrid-era with a victory that requires a bit of fuel conservation. Álex Palou is not far behind in second. Something will go wrong for Josef Newgarden. Something will go wrong for Alexander Rossi. Christian Lundgaard will have a good day, as will Graham Rahal. Romain Grosjean's top ten streak ends. Toby Sowery will start outside the top 22, but he will finish at least four spots better than where he started. David Malukas will qualify and finish ahead of Nolan Siegel. There will be a spin where a car is off-track but gets going, and we will see it in a double box and there will be universal praise for the hybrid system preventing what certainly would have been a caution without the system. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.
