Scott Dixon Capitalizes on Late Mistake from Alex Palou to Capture a Record Seventh Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Victory

In what looked like a race that was to be settled by converging pit strategies, it was actually an unforced error by the driver that had dominated the 2025 season that led to the final outcome. Alex Palou had once again put on a clinic, starting on the Pole, leading a race-high 75 laps and using the aggression of a three-stop strategy to hold the lead late in the going over his teammate Scott Dixon when pandemonium struck. With six laps remaining, Palou had a comfortable lead of roughly two seconds when his #10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda went wide into the dirt in Turn 9 and slowed him down enough to allow his teammate to get by him and hold him off in what has been a dominant season for Honda, winning every race so far this season.

Dixon, who had taken an opposing strategy than Palou, made his race on two pit stops alone, and was on more worn tires and was nursing his fuel when the unexpected happened, allowing him to drive by to pick up his first win of the season and a record seventh victory at Mid-Ohio, his first at the track since 2019. Dixon held off Palou by 0.421 seconds coming back to the line, serving as the closest finish at Mid-Ohio in six years.

Scott Dixon played his cards right at the end of the day, but knew passing his teammate would not be simple once the dust on converging strategies had settled. Dixon said, “[It] would’ve been tough. He had better tires, more fuel. It was going to be a tough situation. That’s where I was shocked that he didn’t pull away like I thought he would. I thought he would’ve been probably a second a lap quicker just because of the scenario we were in with the heavy save… He was definitely in a pretty good situation and unfortunately for him, it didn’t quite work out the way that he wanted.”

The race win served as a continued reminder of Scott Dixon’s longevity in the sport, as well as Chip Ganassi Racing’s impact as a whole in IndyCar. Dixon’s win was the 143rd all-time victory for Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar, as well as the 59th all-time in Dixon’s career, moving him to within eight races of tying A. J. Foyt as the all-time wins leader in NTT IndyCar Series history. The win also continues an impressing streak for Dixon, who has now won at least one race in each of the last 21 seasons and in 23 total seasons overall. Dixon isn’t minding the numbers too much at this stage of his career, but does note that him and his team will give it a run and see what happens. “I don’t look at it too much, honestly. Each race, I’m there to win,” Dixon said. He further noted, “Well, if you’re having a season like Alex [Palou] is having, sure. We’d be almost there. But yeah, I don’t know. We’ll keep knocking on the door. Some years are tougher than others and some years, things kind of just roll your way. Wins just come a little easier. So, we’ll see where it ends up.”

Mike Hull, the Managing Director for Chip Ganassi Racing, also was proud of Dixon’s efforts, what he continues to accomplish year in and year out and why it takes a special type of driver to find victory lane at Mid-Ohio. “I just feel that Mid-Ohio, having been here a lot, that this racetrack has always been a driver’s racetrack. The driver, the engineers, [they] can work on the car, they can tune on the car, but they can’t change the car enough for a really good driver to be fast. A driver has to be able to drive the car. The driver has to be able to change their line going into each of the corners to make the exit faster than everybody else. You cannot engineer the car to do that here. It’s the only racetrack we race on that’s like that. This is a pure driver’s track. That’s what this person [Scott Dixon] is, sitting to my left. He’s a pure race driver. He’s an old school guy that races in a modern race car and that’s what it takes here. That’s why if you look at the people that have won this race, for the most part, all of them have been exactly that,” said Hull.

With the thrill of victory, comes the agony of defeat. With victory within his sight, Palou acknowledged that given his points lead, there was some room for aggression in calling the race and that he played the what if game in his mind when it came down to strategy, but was ultimately proud of his finish at the end of the day. “Yes and no. Maybe on strategy, yes. On driving, no. Like the driving, that was not just me trying to get faster laps or anything else. It was just being too close to the limit and there was no need for that and getting the consequences, but yeah, strategy wise, we could have run a safer strategy and just do the two-stopper and try to slow everybody out and kind of put everybody on the two-stop strategy just to get track position. That would be, I would say, a lot safer, but we knew that we had a fast car and we thought that we could win on a three-stop strategy, and that’s the kind of aggressiveness that we’re able to take,” said Dixon.

At the end of the day though, it’s about perspective, and Palou noted that although some may see his mistake as giving the race away, he viewed it as making a solid recovery that prevented him from making an even bigger mistake. Palou said, “The issue was getting into the marbles and it felt like ice. Then, I got into the curb and I couldn’t get out of the curb and the RPM dropped… so it could’ve been worse… All in all, it was a good save. I can say that instead of a mistake, it was a very good save.”

Much like the INDY NXT by Firestone race that morning, the NTT IndyCar Series race was also off to a torrid start, featuring a four-car pile up on Lap 1 that ultimately ended Josef Newgarden’s day and damaged the cars of Will Power, Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco. Other than that, things remained relatively clean the rest of the day, with the only other caution for incident coming on Lap 31, where the #21 car of Christian Rasmussen went off the track in Turn 9 and became stuck.

This year’s race was particularly racy, featuring a record eight lead changes over the course of the race. The total length of the race was 01:49:41:0967 and feature an average pace of 111.166 miles per hour. Scott McLaughlin laid down the fastest lap of the race, posting a time of 66.5919 seconds (122.069 mph) on Lap 83.

Scott Dixon was the official winner of The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport, climbing eight positions from the start of the race and leading 11 laps on the day, with teammate Alex Palou finishing in the runner-up position and Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard rounding out the podium. Fellow Honda driver Colton Herta led three laps on the way to a fourth place finish, while Pato O’Ward picked up nine big spots on the day on the way to a fifth place showing.

Felix Rosenqvist also picked up nine spots on the day, rocking the Ozzy Osbourne purple #60 car for Meyer Shank Racing on the way to a sixth place finish. Rosenqvist’s teammate, Marcus Armstrong, finished one spot behind him in seventh, while Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood finished in eighth place. Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus Veekay was the biggest mover of the day, starting in 26th position on the grid and picking up a massive 17 positions on the way to a ninth place finish, while Kyffin Simpson led one lap on the day, rounding out the top 10.

The rest of the field: Nolan Siegel finished in 11th, Marcus Ericsson finished in 12th, PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott improved 12 spots to finish in 13th position, Louis Foster finished in 14th and Alexander Rossi finished in 15th position. A. J. Foyt Enterprises teammates Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas finished in 16th and 17th, respectively, while Juncos Hollinger Racing teammates Sting Ray Robb and Conor Daly finished their race in 18th and 19th, respectively. Devlin DeFrancesco finished in 20th, while rookies Robert Shwartzman and Jacob Abel finished in 21st and 22nd, the last two drivers to finish on the lead lap. Scott McLaughlin finished in 23rd position and Graham Rahal in 24th, both one lap down. Christian Rasmussen finished 54 laps off the pace in 25th after his on-track incident and Team Penske drivers Will Power and Josef Newgarden had days to forget, finishing in 26th and 27th, with Power completing just 11 laps and Newgarden not even completing one lap on the day.

With seven races remaining in the NTT IndyCar Series season, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou holds a commanding 113 point lead in the Championship Standings over fellow Honda driver Kyle Kirkwood. Pato O’Ward remains in third place, 125 points off the pace, while Scott Dixon’s victory moves him up one position to fourth in the standings, 148 points behind Palou. Christian Lundgaard’s podium finish leapfrogged him up to fifth position in the standings, 167 points behind, bumping Felix Rosenqvist out of the top five and into sixth position, 171 points off the pace.

The NTT IndyCar Series returns to the cornfields of Iowa for a doubleheader weekend at Iowa Speedway. Coverage of the Synk 275 and Farm to Finish 275 can both be seen on FOX, with the Synk 275 airing on Saturday, July 12, at 5 PM EST, while coverage of the Farm to Finish 275 can be seen on Sunday, July 13, at 1 PM EST.