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Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Preview

Jul 22, 2007 - 10:49 AM

July 22, 2007 
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 
Lexington, Ohio 
Race 12 of 17 in the 2007 IndyCar Series season

TV: ABC, 1:30 p.m. EDT

Length: 85 laps 
Race length: 191.93 miles 
Track length: 2.4-mile road course


DRIVERS TO WATCH
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Helio Castroneves 
Team: Marlboro Team Penske 
2007 Earnings: $1,266,503

Started and finished sixth to remain sixth in the standings, 149
points behind leader Dario Franchitti; has just one victory
this year despite winning a circuit-leading five poles,
including the Indianapolis 500 over in 11 starts; took the
checkered flag at St. Petersburg on April 1 to collect his 12th
career win; posted back-to-back third place finishes at Kansas
and Indianapolis; prior to last week, finished out of the top-10
for two consecutive races, at Richmond and Watkins Glen.


Scott Dixon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,609,317

Took the checkered flag for the second week in a row at
Nashville after starting on the pole, claiming his eighth career
IndyCar Series victory; became the first repeat winner at
Nashville; won two weeks ago at Watkins Glen; chopped 13 points
off Franchitti's lead and stands just 34 behind the Scotsman in
the standings; has finished out of the top-10 just once this
season with a 12th at Texas, and had been in the top-five for
nine of 11 starts; has been a runner-up four times this year;
earned his only other pole of the season at Iowa Speedway last
month, but finished 10th.


Dario Franchitti 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $2,553,483

Finished second to Dixon last week at Nashville and maintained
the top spot in the standings; only leads Dixon by 34 points
after losing 13 points to the New Zealander; leads the circuit
with three wins this season - Richmond, Iowa and the Indy 500;
has been runner-up three times this year and has finished in the
top five in 10 of 11 starts; only finish out of the top five
was a seventh-place showing in the first race of the year at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.


Danica Patrick 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $845,205

Matched her career-best IndyCar Series finish by taking third at
Nashville for her second top-five of the season; she also
finished third at Texas on June 9; after the race at Nashville
complained that lapped cars kept her from a shot at the win;
moved up to seventh in the standings, but remains 167 behind
Franchitti; has started no better than sixth in her last eight
races; has just six top-five finishes in 40 career starts.


Sam Hornish Jr. 
Team: Marlboro Team Penske 
2007 Earnings: $1,025,839

IndyCar's defending champion finished fourth last week on the
heels of a second at Watkins Glen; remains fifth in the
standings, 105 off Franchitti's pace; is the only driver among
the current top five who has yet to earn a pole this year; lone
win this season was at Texas Motor Speedway last month; made
headlines at Watkins Glen with a post-race altercation with Tony
Kanaan. After the two bumped cars during the competition,
Hornish confronted Kanaan at the end of the race, resulting in a
skirmish that involved Hornish's father, among others.


Dan Wheldon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,039,605

Started fifth, but wound up eighth at Nashville; has placed in
the top-five just once over the past five races with a third at
Richmond; stands third in the standings, 97 behind Franchitti;
has two wins this season, starting and finishing from the pole
in the season opener at Homestead; also won at Kansas; finished
second at Japan, and finished third at both Milwaukee and
Richmond.