![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/07\/Pato-O_Wardo-o-Honda-Indy-200-at-Mid-Ohio-By_-Chris-Owens_Ref-Image-Without-Watermark_m111754-1024x683.jpg\")
Will we see Alex Palou<\/a> or Kyle Kirkwood<\/a> add another win to their list? Or will the unpredictability and chaos of the track result in an expected winner?<\/p>\n This year, IndyCar will see 90 laps compared to 80 at Mid-Ohio, adding to the already chaotic nature of the race. Mid-Ohio offers one of the more challenging tests on the IndyCar calendar. The elevation changes, tight corners, and strategic gameplay can all play into who will be standing on the top step.<\/p>\n The additional 10 laps should mean that every driver will have to make three pit stops during the race, as the fuel window is around 26 to 28 laps. You can expect most of the race will be green, as cautions are few and far between. Last year featured just a single caution, occurring early in the race. In 2023, there were six caution flags for 17 laps, but this was a definite outlier. In 10 of the 12 races before 2024, Mid-Ohio had no more than two cautions thrown.<\/p>\n This race features nine former winners: O\u2019Ward (2024), Alex Palou (2023)<\/a>, Scott McLaughlin (2022)<\/a>, Josef Newgarden (twice, last in 2021), Colton Herta (2020, Race 2), Will Power (2020, Race 1), Scott Dixon (six times, last in 2019), Alexander Rossi (2018) and Graham Rahal (2015). Could see one of these driver adding another win to their or will we see a new name joining the list?<\/p>\n The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course that offers a little of everything. It features a narrow racing ribbon some 40 feet wide, with significant elevation shifts and a mix of high-speed and technical sections. Highlights include the sweeping Esses turn 4-6, the challenging Keyhole hairpin of turn 2, and a front straight that leads into a hectic Turn 1, one of the prime passing zones.<\/p>\n This year, the banking in the esses beginning at turn four was decreased from four degrees to two by eliminating 520 feet of track surface.<\/p>\n O’Ward, the winner of last year’s Mid-Ohio race, aims to be in top form to defend his title and finally get a win on the board this year. He has nearly clinched a win a few times this year, but it seems victories are reserved for drivers named Alex Palou or Kyle Kirkwood.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old leads this season in second-place finishes in 2025 with three, two of which were at road courses. The first one was at The Thermal Club, where he started on pole and led 51 of the 65 laps. In that race, he showed his speed and skill on the tricky track conditions; he just didn’t have enough to close it out. The other second-place finish he had was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he managed to move up five spots from seventh on the grid.<\/p>\n Eventually, things will start to fall into place for a victory, so why not expect it where he’s seen success?<\/p>\n Looking at Scott Dixon’s long IndyCar career and his performances at Mid-Ohio, it’s an automatic shoo-in to be in the conversation for a win. He has won six of the 19 races held in this iteration of the sport. He has also finished second and third once each and netted a pair of poles in his almost evergreen career. His performances at this track are truly like no other. One of those performances includes a last-to-first victory in 2014.<\/p>\n But now the wins are harder to come by as he is winless in the past 20 races dating to last year\u2019s victory in Detroit. Last year at Mid-Ohio, he finished 27th and completed only 40 laps after a mechanical problem before the race\u2019s official start.<\/p>\n Now this year, Dixon will be back in the conversation with full vengeance. Dixon’s ability to create fuel\/pit strategies and make them work is unmatched; this and the 10 extra laps may be what helps him see the victory circle again.<\/p>\n Friday, July 4:<\/strong><\/p>\n Saturday, July 5:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sunday, July 6:<\/strong><\/p>\n Last Word on Motorsports will have all the coverage from the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio and the NTT IndyCar Series<\/strong><\/p>\n Main Photo:\u00a0<\/strong>James Black, Penske Entertainment<\/p>\n Recording Date: 6\/7\/2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To kick off the second half of the season, IndyCar is at Mid-Ohio this weekend. Here\u2019s some info and insights to get fans ready for the green flag on Sunday. IndyCar Round 10: Mid-Ohio Preview and Predictions The month of July will be hectic with a five-race-in-four-week stretch, and it all kicks off with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5307,"featured_media":35558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1663],"tags":[1600,25,1188,1627,169],"class_list":["post-35531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","category-ntt-indycar-series","tag-alex-palou","tag-alexander-rossi","tag-mid-ohio-sports-car-course","tag-pato-oward","tag-scott-dixon"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35531"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35559,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531\/revisions\/35559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Preview<\/h3>\n
The Track<\/h3>\n
Drivers to Watch<\/h3>\n
Pato O’Ward<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Scott Dixon<\/b><\/h4>\n
How to Watch the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio:<\/h3>\n
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