By INDYCAR
A wild and chaotic day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course wasn’t enough to derail Scott McLaughlin, who scored his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the season Sunday in The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2023 Civic Type R.
Driving the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, McLaughlin held off reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda over the final 17 laps, beating him to the finish line by 0.5512 seconds.
It was the second time this season these two drivers have finished first and second in that order — the first was in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida when McLaughlin won his first series race.
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“This is amazing,” McLaughlin said. “I’m really proud of the (Team Penske crew). The car they gave me was a little hard to drive toward the end. I would love to make it a little bit easier for myself, but I’m super proud of them.
“You’re thinking about fuel (at the end of the race), but thankfully Chevy gave us great fuel mileage and drivability off the restarts that allowed me to get a bit of a gap from Palou.”
2014 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Will Power rallied from the 21st starting spot and a Lap 1 spin in Turn 9 to finish third for his fourth podium finish of the season in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay finished fourth in the No. 21 Bitcoin Chevrolet, and six-time Mid-Ohio race winner Scott Dixon rounded out the top five in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
The 80-lap race was a treacherous affair compared to past NTT INDYCAR SERIES races on the permanent road course in Lexington, Ohio. Amid wheel-to-wheel contact aplenty, there were six cautions for 17 laps, which is more than the last five Mid-Ohio NTT INDYCAR SERIES races combined. The 2021 race and Race 2 of the 2020 doubleheader each featured two cautions, while Race 1 of the 2020 doubleheader and the events in 2019 and 2018 were held without cautions.
The first stoppage came on Lap 1 for a waved-off start, and the second was on Lap 10 for a mechanical failure on the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist, who was running third when his car started hitting the rev limiter in Turn 2 and then billowed smoke.
It was an ominous sign for NTT P1 Award winner Pato O’Ward, who started first and led the first 28 laps in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren…
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