Lexington, Ohio (28 July 2019) – The pressure was on for the home NTT IndyCar race for Meyer Shank Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, but the team and driver both delivered as Jack Harvey brought the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda home tenth in the Honda Indy 200 on Sunday.
With a racing schedule that sees the team in competition from coast to coast, the Columbus-based crew enjoyed traveling just 50 miles north to Mid-Ohio to take part in their second IndyCar event at the circuit. Harvey laid down the ninth fastest lap during Saturday’s qualifying run to put the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM machine in a good position for Sunday’s race start.
Taking two or three pit stops was the deciding factor in terms of the team’s strategy prior to the green flag. A quick initial race pace gave the team the indicator to move forward with a three stop strategy to allow Harvey to push at an all-out pace for the entire 90 lap race.
Harvey made his first pit stop on Lap 15, opting for a fresh set of alternate Firestone tires. Shortly after returning to the track, Harvey posted his fastest lap of the race on Lap 19 with a time that was nearly one second faster than the leading cars which held for the majority of the race.
Harvey then made it up to third before pitting on Lap 40 for his second stop, going for a set of primary tires. Teetering between eighth and tenth position, Harvey had a strong pace to finish out the race following his final stop on Lap 65.
Harvey brought home a tenth place finish after 90 laps of racing at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
“It was a well deserved top ten finish,” said Harvey. “We ran between P8 and P12 all weekend so we ended the race in that same realm. There is a bit of disappointment because we have been performing so well so our expectations are rising. We all want to do a great job for AutoNation and SiriusXM and especially at Michael’s (Shank) home track. We know we can do better and while I was pushing hard – I made a mistake which let Graham (Rahal) get by. Overall, it was a very successful weekend for the Meyer Shank Racing crew.”
With his team’s second IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio in the books, Mike Shank is pleased to see the immense amount of progress the team has made as it aims to have a full season IndyCar campaign for 2020.
“Jack did a great job,” said Shank. “Today we had to adapt and make some changes once we got started, but we were able to adjust our strategy accordingly and I think it paid off. In the beginning of the season we set out to finish in the top ten. We are continuing to see the hard work pay off with results like these and we will keep pushing into our final two events this year at Portland and Laguna.”
Meyer Shank Racing will return to NTT IndyCar Series competition at Portland International Raceway on September 1st. But first, the team will head to Road America next weekend as the it looks to grow its lead in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship advantage.