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Preview – 2017 Honda Indy 200 At Mid-Ohio

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By Dylan Reynolds, The Open Wheel

The INDYCAR season continues this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Verizon IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200 At Mid-Ohio and the Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda. The Open Wheel will be on-site covering the action all weekend so stay tuned to this site and our Twitter page @openwh33l for all of the latest news.

Preview - 2017 Honda Indy 200 At Mid-Ohio - Mid Ohio 2016 14

Photo by Parker Hall/The Open Wheel

Weekend Schedule – Entry List – Spotter Guide – Circuit Map – Tickets

Indy Lights Preview: Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Powered by Mazda (Entry List), Race 1 – Saturday, July 29, 2017 3:35PM (ET) & Race 2 – Sunday, July 30, 2017 1:20PM (ET) – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has dominated Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in recent years and last year was no different as Santi Urrutia won both Race 1 and Race 2 in 2016. Of course SPM is no longer officially involved in the series but they do have a relationship with Urrutia’s new team, Belardi Auto Racing, making the Uruguayan one of the favorites this weekend. Carlin has yet to win at Mid-Ohio so it will be interesting to see if Matheus Leist can reignite his title charge. I expect Colton Herta to have a strong weekend after winning at Barber earlier this season and Dean Stoneman’s double-podium last year for Andretti Autosport. Championship leader Kyle Kaiser may struggle this weekend based off his P9 & P6 finishes at Mid-Ohio last year but he did manage back-to-back P2 finishes at a similar circuit in Barber earlier this year. My picks to win: Santi Urrutia & Colton Herta

Verizon IndyCar Series Preview: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Sunday, July 30, 2017 3:00PM (ET) CNBC – Previous driver experience shows 5 former winners at Mid-Ohio in the field in Scott Dixon (5), Helio Castroneves (2), Charlie Kimball (1), Simon Pagenaud (1), and Graham Rahal (1). The Top 5 in laps led at Mid-Ohio racing this weekend are Dixon (223), Castroneves (147), Power (90), Kimball (46), and Pagenaud (37). Looking at the box scores 2016 and 2015, Pagenaud and Rahal have finished in the Top 5 in each of the last two years. If that’s expanded to the Top 10, those two are joined by only Carlos Munoz. My pick to win: Scott Dixon – Dixon is THE man at Mid-Ohio and figures to be due for another win after missing out the last two years. His record at the course is phenomenal.  He has 2 poles, 8 Top 10 starts, 2 wins, 9 Top 5’s, and 10 Top 10’s in just 12 starts.

My fantasy.indycar.com picks: Scott Dixon, Will Power, Graham Rahal, and Spencer Pigot – You know my thoughts on Dixon. This is a rare track where Power hasn’t won but he does have 2 poles, 5 Top 5’s, and 6 Top 10’s in just 8 starts. Rahal will be extremely motivated to produce another great result in his home state of Ohio and he’s delivered in recent years. He won in 2015 and has back-to-back Top 4 finishes. Pigot should be a great value choice at $15. He finished P7 at Mid-Ohio last year and has shown much-improved speed and race-craft so far this season.