Reigning Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course winner Pato O’Ward snapped the Team Penske/Chip Ganassi Racing domination on the 2.258-mile track last year by giving Arrow McLaren its first victory there.
But Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou enters this weekend as the driver to beat. The three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion is undefeated on natural road courses in 2025 with wins at The Thermal Club, Barber Motorsports Park, Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Road America. He’s also on a four-race podium streak at Mid-Ohio, including a 2023 victory and runner-up finish last year.
Can anyone stop the points leader in Sunday’s 90-lap race?
If so, it may take a village.
Typically, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has been a track that has featured organization-wide dominance; if someone tops Palou, look for their teammate to be close by.
Since 1990, a one-two team finish has occurred 138 times in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition. Mid-Ohio has produced a series-leading 16 of those occurrences, double the next best of eight at the former Belle Isle Park circuit in Detroit.
Here are the favorites and sleepers for The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport airing at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Favorites
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet)
McLaughlin has three straight top-five finishes at Mid-Ohio, including a 2022 win in which he led 45 laps. He finished third last season, the third straight year a Team Penske driver finished in that spot, with Will Power doing so in 2022 and 2023. On natural road course races this season, McLaughlin finished 27th, third, fourth and 12th, respectively, showing he’s a serious contender when the car is right.
Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)
Last year’s winner led 24 of 80 laps en route to the victory, but history isn’t on his side as no driver has gone back-to-back at Mid-Ohio since Scott Dixon in 2011-12. However, O’Ward has flashed natural road course speed this season with podiums at The Thermal Club and the IMS road course. He also earned NTT P1 Award honors and led 51 laps at The Thermal Club and finished sixth at Barber Motorsports Park.
Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Dixon has six wins in 19 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course starts. His recent finishes include fourth, fifth, second and 27th, respectively. Chip Ganassi Racing has also produced the second-place finisher each of the last four years via Marcus Ericsson (2021), Palou (2022, 2024) and Dixon (2023).
Alex Palou (No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has been a great track for Palou, who has three straight top-two finishes on the track, including a victory in 2023. There’s not much more to say for the three-time series champion, who leads second-place Kyle Kirkwood by 93 in the standings.
Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)
Power led 206 combined laps with seven top-four finishes in his last 10 Mid-Ohio starts. While he finished 11th last year, he battled a sickness that compromised his ability to push his car beyond its limits. He finished sixth this season at The Thermal Club, fifth at Barber, third on the IMS road course and 14th at Road America.
Sleepers
Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)
Lundgaard, in his last two Mid-Ohio starts driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, qualified fifth and ninth and finished fourth and seventh, respectively. This season, his first with Arrow McLaren, he has shown podium speed on natural road courses, with finishes of third and second at Thermal and Barber, before dipping to 16th and 24th at the IMS road course and Road America, respectively. Arrow McLaren proved it can win here, and Lundgaard is more than capable.
Graham Rahal (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is Rahal’s home track and is a place where he has performed well. Rahal has completed 99.7 percent of his laps (1,521 out of 1,525) and produced 10 top-10 finishes in his last 12 tries. He qualified second in 2023 and finished seventh after a slow final pit stop dropped him in the finishing order. Rahal has finished 11th, 14th, sixth and 20th on natural road courses this season.
Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Andretti Global Honda)
The only driver not named Alex Palou to win this season, with three in total, is chasing his first natural road course victory. Kirkwood is 0-for-24 on this type of track but is trending upward and improving nearly every season at like venues. At Mid-Ohio, he has finished 26th, 17th and eighth, respectively. Kirkwood finished fourth two weekends ago at Road America.
Louis Foster (No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda)
He finished first and second, respectively, at Mid-Ohio in USF Pro 2000 competition in 2022. He then earned his first career INDY NXT by Firestone victory on this track in 2023 and repeated last year during his 10-win championship season. Foster earned NTT P1 Award honors in the last race at Road America, and his best finishes during his rookie season are 11th at both the IMS and Road America road courses. He has qualified 10th, 12th, third and first, respectively, on natural road courses, too.
Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda)
Rosenqvist earned his first career podium at Mid-Ohio by finishing runner-up to Dixon in 2019. He placed runner-up in the last race, at Road America. On natural road course tracks this season, Rosenqvist has three top-10 finishes in four tries.