LEXINGTON, Ohio — Ryan Hunter-Reay jokingly suggests that overtaking Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon for the championship with five races remaining this season might require covert subterfuge.
In this scenario of unseating a four-time series champion with a 62-point advantage, the Andretti Autosport driver would enlist the help of teammate Alexander Rossi and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.
“Josef, Alex and I were talking about breaking into Dixon's garage, doing something to his car,” Hunter-Reay joked Saturday after qualifying third for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. “That’s about what we need to do right now for points.”
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO: Race start tire selection
Rossi, 69 points behind Dixon in third, won the pole in his No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda. Team Penske’s Will Power qualified second for his 200th career start. Newgarden, the defending series champion, is second in points and will start fourth. Dixon will make his 300th career start from ninth on the grid, but his competitors are well aware he’s won this race five times.
“I don't think that ninth is anything to be comfortable (about) with Scott Dixon,” Rossi said. “As we've said before, he can start anywhere and still win a race. We just have to go out and try and win.
“It's a points game on the other people, right? Where he finishes is nothing we can control. We just have to make sure we do our job and make sure no mistakes happen and we execute the pit stops right, we can just manage the race fine.”
Dixon, driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, is trying to become only the second driver to win five Indy car series titles. The other was A.J. Foyt with seven. Dixon’s 44 career wins rank third on the all-time list behind Foyt (67) and Mario Andretti (52).
Hunter-Reay is 91 points behind Dixon in fourth place. The 2012 series champion agreed with Rossi, that they can’t concern themselves too much with what Dixon is doing on race day.
“No doubt he's going to have a good day (on Sunday),” said Hunter-Reay, starting third in the No. 28 DHL Honda. “You have to concentrate on yourself, put out the strongest effort you can forward. I don't know what you can do more than that.
“Shoot for race wins. I think all of us are looking at race wins at the moment. We're not looking at banking sixths, fourths, thirds to try to beat Scott. It's all about winning races.”
Hunter-Reay and Rossi each have one victory this season. Newgarden, like Dixon, has won three races.
“This championship evolves crazy fast,” said Newgarden, driving the No 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. “I mean, within two races it could be a totally different outlook, so I don't know. I think we just need to focus on what we normally do.
“The only thing that does change is you have to be aware and mindful of how people race as they get towards the end of the season: Who has more to lose, who has more to gain. That does change a little bit.”
Power, the 2014 series champion, has two wins this season. He’s fifth in the points, 93 behind Dixon. The driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet has finished second at Mid-Ohio three times, including each of the past two years.
“Want to get back in the game, you know?” Power said. “Nothing worse than turning up to the last race of the season not being in contention. Yep, need to be aggressive.”
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID OHIO
Race 13 of 17 on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule
Track: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course in Lexington, Ohio, that has hosted 33 previous Indy car races dating to 1980
Race distance: 90 laps/203.22 miles
Fuel: 75 gallons of Sunoco E85 ethanol for each car
Full fuel stint: 28-32 laps
Push-to-pass: Each car receives 200 seconds of overtake activation for the race, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation. Push-to-pass provides added engine turbocharger boost that supplies an approximate increase of 50 horsepower
Tire requirements: Each car that completes the race must use at least one set of Firestone primary specification (black-sidewall) tires and one new set of Firestone alternate (red-sidewall) tires in the race, each for at least two laps
Television: CNBC, 3 p.m. ET (same-day encore telecast at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network (network affiliates, Sirius 216, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com, INDYCAR Mobile app), 3 p.m. ET