Extra Laps, Much less Banking: What To Know About INDYCAR Race At Mid-Ohio

As INDYCAR heads to a different highway course, it goes to the highway course that has been on the circuit’s schedule on-and-off since 1980.

The Mid-Ohio Sports activities Automotive Course is nestled within the fields simply west of Lexington, Ohio (assume midway between Columbus and Akron). It is a 2.258-mile, 13-turn highway course and is used for the whole lot from sports activities vehicles to open-wheel vehicles to bikes and inventory vehicles. NASCAR’s Xfinity Series ran there from 2013-2021 and the vehicles raced there from 2022-2023.

Right here’s some data and insights to get followers prepared for the race weekend, with INDY NXT race set for a ten:36 a.m. ET inexperienced flag on Sunday for 35 laps (or 55 minutes) on FS1 after which the NTT INDYCAR race with a inexperienced flag of 1:22 p.m. ET on FOX for 90 laps.

Is the race 90 laps this 12 months?

Sure. It has been 80 laps the final 4 years however goes again to 90 laps (the space of the race from 2013 to 2019) for 2025. The rationale? It ought to imply that each driver should make three pit stops throughout the race, because the gas window is round 26 to twenty-eight laps.

However what if it goes inexperienced a lot of the means?

If issues labored out completely with sufficient cautions, it may nonetheless be a two-stop race. However banking on a number of laps of warning is not one thing to gamble on at Mid-Ohio. Final 12 months, there was only one warning and that was early within the race. The 12 months earlier than, there have been six warning flags for 17 laps. However that was an anomaly. In 10 of the 12 races previous to 2024, there have been not more than two cautions thrown throughout a Mid-Ohio race.

OK, the large query: How does Alex Palou do there?

So that you need to know if Palou will win his seventh? He received the 2023 race at Mid-Ohio and arguably ought to have received final 12 months, as he sat on the pole and appeared accountable for the race till a foul pit field the place he was gradual to launch out of his field allowed Pato O’Ward to snag the lead. O’Ward went on to win the race, and has received simply as soon as since that Mid-Ohio race in 2024. 

Who’re the opposite favorites primarily based on current Mid-Ohio outcomes?

Whereas O’Ward received at Mid-Ohio final 12 months, that was the primary 12 months that he had a stable weekend from begin to end. He began second and finally received the race. He was additionally on the pole there in 2022.

“I am excited to move again to Mid-Ohio to defend my win from final 12 months,” stated O’Ward, coming off a disappointing seventeenth at Street America. “It is a nice race observe, and I do know we’re able to coming away with one other victory right here this weekend.

“We did not have the weekend we wished in Street America, so that is the place to get again on the fitting footing and struggle close to the highest.”                         

Scott McLaughlin has a win (2022) and three consecutive top-five finishes. 

Scott Dixon has six wins on the observe (probably the most of any driver) with the final coming in 2019. He has top-five finishes in 14 of his 21 begins on the observe.

In truth, this race could have 9 former winners: O’Ward (2024), Palou (2023), McLaughlin (2022), Josef Newgarden (twice, final in 2021), Colton Herta (2020, Race 2), Will Power (2020, Race 1), Dixon (six instances, final in 2019), Alexnader Rossi (2018) and Graham Rahal (2015).

Kyle Kirkwood isn’t on this record, however he has eight wins at Mid-Ohio in numerous collection.

And when speaking about wins, each the Penske and Ganassi organizations have 12 wins apiece right here.

Is there a sentimental favourite?

Sure. With the Rahal household having its roots in Ohio and Graham Rahal having grown up about an hour from the observe, that is Rahal nation. Rahal Letterman Lanigan group co-owner, Bobby Rahal, will give the command to begin engines. And wouldn’t it’s cool if Graham Rahal may win it? His final INDYCAR victory got here in 2017 and he received at Mid-Ohio in 2015. 

And possibly not as sentimental however nonetheless price noting, that is additionally a house race for Meyer Shank Racing, which relies in Pataskala, Ohio, about 55 miles from the observe.

Is there something new in regards to the course?

Sure. Within the esses that begin in flip 4, the banking was lowered from 4 to 2 levels by eradicating 520 toes of observe floor and excavating as much as 18 inches alongside the skin edge. That meant that part was additionally repaved (all the course was repaved in October 2023). The Flip 4 runoff space was additionally reshaped.

“It appears to be like loads flatter, loads much less banking. It appears to be like slightly bit extra open, however I feel it is about the identical for everyone,” Graham Rahal stated. “We’re all going to be discovering out collectively for the primary time.

“Clearly, the observe was simply repaved, what, 18 months in the past, so now you’ve got acquired one other part that is going to be contemporary. I might anticipate it being fairly quick. My greatest hope is it does not have an effect on the racing there. On the finish of the backstraight was a fairly hard-brake zone, and if it is slightly bit extra open, it may not be a lot.”

Are there any new drivers this week?

Nope. It’s the identical 27 drivers who’ve entered all 12 months (the Indy 500 had a further seven). One change to notice is that Kyle Moyer, the previous strategist for Scott McLaughlin, will mark his first race as strategist for Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel. Moyer was group supervisor of Penske’s INDYCAR program and was dismissed after the attenuator seal difficulty at Indianapolis.

How busy is the following month in INDYCAR?

Actually, actually busy. This race begins a five-race-in-four-week stretch for the collection. After Mid-Ohio, the collection heads to the 0.875-mile oval Iowa Speedway for a doubleheader weekend with races Saturday and Sunday. It then goes to the road course (the ultimate road course of the 12 months) in Toronto after which to the highway course at Laguna Seca.

So can anybody catch Palou throughout this stretch?

Arithmetic says they will. However in actuality? It’s going to be robust. Palou, along with his six wins this 12 months, has a 93-point lead on Kyle Kirkwood (who has received the opposite three INDYCAR races this season). Palou has an 111-point lead on Pato O’Ward. No different driver is inside 150 factors.

With eight races left within the season, Kirkwood would wish to achieve 11 to 12 factors a race on Palou to catch him. O’Ward would wish to achieve 13 to 14 factors a race. That’s not not possible, however certainly one of them must go on a Palou-like stretch over the second half of the season and hope Palou has a couple of races the place he doesn’t end.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent a long time protecting motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seaside) Information-Journal. Comply with him on Twitter @bobpockrass.