LEXINGTON, Ohio. — Drivers will get back on the grind this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after taking a weekend off following a wild finish at Road America Jun. 20.
The championship standings are the closest they’ve been in recent memory at this juncture of the season with seven races left to be run. The top five drivers in the standings are separated by less than 100 points combined with Alex Palou having regained the points lead in Wisconsin.
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is a home race for the Jack Harvey and the Meyer Shank Racing team, who are based a little over an hour away in Pataskala, Ohio just outside Columbus.
Harvey said now is the time to capitalize on a good result ahead of the summer break.
“I mean, I don’t see any reason not to start the weekend on the front foot and just try and progress and get better and better throughout the weekend,” Harvey said. “Obviously with it being the summer break, it would be nice to go into that with a great result because everyone in the team is working so hard.”
Harvey has finished inside the top ten only twice this season as the only full-time entry for MSR. On Monday he also expressed his hope that the team will keep its technical partnership with Andretti Autosport for next season.
“Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a really great relationship,” he said. “One that I know that everyone at Meyer Shank Racing hopes will continue for a few more years yet to come.”
Colton Herta is one of the Andretti drivers that Harvey shares data with as part of that partnership. After a strong start to the season with a win at St. Petersburg, Herta is also hoping for a good result heading into the break. He won the second race of a double-header at Mid-Ohio last year.
“I’m hoping we can come with the same car and do it all again. We had a good basis off last year,” Herta said. “Got to start winning more races. My goal is to win two more races by the end of the year.”
Will Power won the first race of last year’s pandemic planned doubleheader at Mid-Ohio. Team Penske is pushing for their first win of the season from any of their three drivers, as they try to snap the team’s longest losing streak since the 1999 CART season when they were winless.
Alex Palou holds a 16-point lead on second place Pato O’Ward in the points coming off his win at Road America.
