2007 Mid-Ohio race winner and recent Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon sits atop the Series' driver point standings, 63 points ahead of Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. Dixon, last year's IndyCar Series Championship runner-up, has secured four race wins and five poles and will look to increase his lead not only over Castroneves, but also Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon who sits in third, and Andretti Green Racing's foursome of Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti.
"As always I look forward to going to road courses during the season and more so when it is a race that we won last year," said Scott Dixon. "Mid-Ohio is a very challenging track and requires a lot of emphasis on qualifying well. I hope to improve on our qualifying from last year. We tested for a few hours just recently and I believe we found a few things. So all in all I can't wait to get back this weekend and try to defend our title."
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course may be the great equalizer in the field of 27, as all of the drivers who moved to the IndyCar Series in 2008 have a strong road racing background. Both Enrique Bernoldi and Justin Wilson have experience competing in Formula One while Mario Dominguez, Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Will Power and Graham Rahal all participated in Champ Car. E.J. Viso competed in GP2 and Mario Moraes in the British Formula 3 championship. Look for the top five to be challenged up front by these experienced road racers during the 85-lap race.
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. ABC HD will televise the race live beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20, while XM Satellite Radio will air the race at 1:30 p.m. ET on XM Satellite Channel 145.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 10, 2008)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon survived the drama of Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and qualified 1-2, respectively, for the 92nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon, who was fifth on the starting grid mid-afternoon, pulled his qualified time from his first attempt and put in another four-lap effort around the historic 2.5-mile oval. Minutes later, he had taken the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by AutoZone from the grasp of Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe with a 226.366 mph average. Dixon held the $100,000 check aloft.
“It hasn't really sunk in yet,” said Dixon, who has two poles and one victory in 2008. “It means a lot. It's not just for me, though. I think a lot of it, and I think (team owner) Chip (Ganassi) and probably (team managing director) Mike (Hull) and (chief mechanic) Ricky (Davis) have touched on it already, but it's the hard work that goes into it. Indy, for our team, I think our development and working toward this race started well early in the winter. I think Chip Ganassi and Mike and all the guys in the team are adamant on putting up a strong fight for this year's 500."
Wheldon had earned the third starting position on the grid, but at 5:38 p.m., he waved it off to challenge Dixon for the pole. Although he fell short of the pole, Wheldon took second, knocking Briscoe to the outside of Row 1.
"It's a real tribute to the team," said team owner Ganassi, who celebrated his third pole start at Indianapolis (Bruno Junqueira in 2002 are Arie Luyendyk in 1993). "Every team works hard in the off-season to get better, and you're charged with making your team better than the other guys who make their team better. T his is the payoff."
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