2019 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

After the IndyCar drivers race around the oval in Iowa in which saw Josef Newgarden in the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet claim victory, he has extended his lead in the standings over Alexander Rossi in the #27 Andretti Autosport Honda car with now having a 29 point lead in the standings. With now only 5 races to go and 58 points separating Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, and Simon Pagenaud for the IndyCar championship, any possible factor that prevails in any of these drivers winning a race or having a bad result will essentially be a determining factor. This Sunday’s IndyCar race is at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio as Newgarden looks to race to victory lane in which would be not only be his fourth win of the year, but 3 race wins in the last 5 races as he looks to extend his lead even further. Of course though like Newgarden, both Rossi and Pagenaud also know how to race to victory lane as all 3 drivers have claimed victory this year and combined these 3 drivers have won 8 of the 12 races this year already. Even though James Hinchcliffe driving the #5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda car is far from Newgarden in the standings as he is 208 points back, the Canadian will be looking for another great result as he has finished in the top 10 in the last 3 races, including a 3^rd place finish in Iowa and a 6^th place finish on home soil at the Honda Indy Toronto. Another driver who is also far back from Newgarden in the standings is Scott Dixon, driving the Chip Ganassi #9 Honda and has had great results in recent races as he has finished in the top 5 in the last 3 races and finished 2^nd in the last 2 races. With only 98 points back in the standings, if Dixon can continue these great results in the final 5 races and see a few lucky breaks go Dixon’s way, like a couple poor results from Newgarden and Rossi, it maybe a 4 way race to the championship title in California in late September. Here below are my predictions on who I think will finish in the top 10 at this weekend’s race. Look forward to your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments section.

Photo courtesy of TSN

#	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi	Honda
27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda
30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
5	James Hinchcliffe	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda
88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda
22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet
21	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
14	Tony Kanaan	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet