Scott Dixon claimed victory at the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. For a long time, it looked like Alex Palou would take his seventh win of the year, but the championship leader went off track with six laps to go. After a thrilling finish, Dixon crossed the line just four-tenths of a second ahead of Palou, with Christian Lundgaard completing the podium in third. Rinus VeeKay used a smart strategy to secure ninth place.

Problems for Josef Newgarden at the start

At the wave of the green flag, polesitter Alex Palou immediately came under heavy pressure from Christian Lundgaard, who had started second. Palou managed to hold onto the lead, while teammate Kyffin Simpson got past Lundgaard to take over second place.
Further back, things went completely wrong for Josef Newgarden. As he braked into Turn 4, he locked up his rear tires, hit the wall, and spun into the gravel trap. Graham Rahal was also caught up in the incident, damaging his front wing. Newgarden was forced to retire immediately, while Rahal was able to continue after being pulled from the gravel.


After just eleven laps, the drama for Team Penske continued: Will Power had to retire his car with apparent engine issues. That meant the team lost two of its three cars within the opening eleven laps.

Before the race, there was uncertainty about whether it would be a two- or three-stop strategy. Many drivers opted for a three-stop approach and pitted between laps 15 and 25 for their first stop. Palou built up a gap of several seconds to Lundgaard, who pitted on lap 25. Palou followed suit two laps later.

Christian Rasmussen causes second caution

Christian Rasmussen was one of the last drivers to make his first pit stop. Due to an issue in the pits, no fuel was added to his car, and the Dane came to a stop the next lap due to fuel starvation. Race control waited to call the caution until the final drivers — Scott Dixon and Rinus VeeKay — had completed their first stops.
During the caution period, drivers who had stopped early came in again for their second stop. Others — particularly the front-runners — chose to stay out, knowing they would still need to pit twice more.

Palou under pressure due to extra pit stop

Knowing he needed one more stop than Dixon, Palou pushed hard after the restart and quickly built up another lead.
Simpson had made his first stop just before the caution, but by saving a lot of fuel, the Ganassi Racing driver found himself on the same strategy as Dixon and VeeKay. However, Simpson lost a shot at a strong finish by stalling his engine after his final stop. To make matters worse, he also hit one of VeeKay’s crew members, earning him a drive-through penalty.

On lap 73, Palou believed his 26-second lead would be enough to rejoin ahead of Dixon after his pit stop. With a clean stop, he did indeed return to the track in front of his teammate with a 1.7-second margin. At that point, it looked like Palou could cruise to victory.

Palou mistake brings late-race drama

Despite not being under immediate pressure, the championship leader continued pushing to the limit. Having already gone off track earlier in the race, Palou made another mistake in Turn 6 with just six laps remaining. As he rejoined the track, Dixon swept past to take the lead.
Palou immediately launched an attack on his teammate, aided by having eleven-lap fresher tires. Dixon had to use all his skill and experience to hold him off. The battle remained intense until the final lap, but Palou was unable to make a move. With that, Dixon secured his first win of the season — and his seventh career victory at Mid-Ohio.

Full results of the race on Mid-Ohio