IndyCar
Pato O’Ward Wins Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, OH (July 7, 2024) Smart strategy and a fast race car helped Pato O’Ward in winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Honda Indy 200 presented by the 2025 Civic Hybrid at a packed Mid Ohio Sports Car Complex.
O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren team called O’Ward to pit road ahead of then-leader Alex Palou, known in racing circles as the ‘undercut’, and a fast race No. 5 Chevy kept the two-time and reigning series Champion behind him the rest of the way to score his second victory of the season.
“If I had a chance to get by him, it was going to be either on the out lap of him with new tires or on the pit stop sequence,” said O’Ward. “We ultimately ended up getting him kind of halfway between both.”
“It’s become so tough to get by people, and when you’re up at the front and you don’t really have much of an advantage to another car, you can’t get by them,” O’Ward added.
The victory was O’Ward’s sixth career victory and despite it being his second of the year, the affable driver said it didn’t feel like that.
“No, this feels like the first win of the season,” said O’Ward. “I know St. Pete we were P2 and ultimately ended up getting the win because Penske cheated.”
Palou led a race-high 53-laps in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda and looked at the positives after the race.
“It was honestly a good day for the 10 car,” said Palou. “It feels a bit worse when you know that you had the car and everything that you needed to win, but still, it was a good podium day.”
Palou said his car was stout on the black sidewall primary Firestone tires but didn’t like the red sidewall alternate tires.
“Ran really good in the first stint on primaries,” said Palou, who built a 5-second lead at one point. “I think really strong on the primaries, a bit more than we anticipated, and we were a bit worse than we anticipated on the alternates. Couldn’t really have the pace I wanted. I was trying to baby those tires, and they didn’t like me. I had big blisters on the front tires, and the 5 started catching us.”
“I saw him coming to me pretty aggressively at the end of the second stint, and I just saw the doors open to an opportunity, and I was like, we have to take it,” said O’Ward. “I knew if I got in front of him, it was going to be a battle to the end, but it’s a lot better to battle to the end and you be in front than having to pass him because at that point you just can’t get by anybody.
O’Ward closed the gap to Palou in the fight for the Championship too.
“That 10 car has been the car to beat, and it still is the car to beat all year. They’ve been very, very strong, very strong driver with extremely strong team. That’s who we’re chasing at the moment.”
WASHINGTON D.C. (August 22, 2026) – Alex Palou’s blistering lap of 56.8993 seconds in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda puts the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion on the pole position for Sunday’s Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington D.C.
“Incredible,” said Palou. “My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood lines up second after a lap of 57.4661 in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
“P1 both first and second group, and the last one Alex Palou is just a legend and goes faster on his one-lap dash than he did the whole rest of the run, I think,” Kirkwood said. “He made us look silly out there.”
Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party up front, putting the No. 3 PPG Chevrolet third on the grid after a fast lap of 57.4200.
Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson did not fare as well as their teammate.
Dixon was on a lap that would have allowed him to transfer into the next round of qualifying, when Simpson hit the wall, triggering a red flag which cancelled Dixon’s lap. The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda will start 14th.
Bringing out the red flag penalized Simpson of his two fastest laps so the No. 8 Sunoco Honda will start last in 25th.
Coverage of the Freedom 250 starts at 11:30 a.m. on Fox and IndyCar Radio with the green flag waving in our nation’s capital at 1 p.m.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401). Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension. Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.
Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule. NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.
“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”
Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.
“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today. Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”
“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us. The attendance and support were overwhelming.”
The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
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Palou quickest in first Markham practice
