THE LINE - AUGUST 7, 2013

(Photo by Chris Jones/INDYCAR)
Charlie Kimball (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara) slipped past Simon Pagenaud at the end of the long backstretch on Lap 73 of 90 and went on to win the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio for his first IZOD IndyCar Series victory. The Camarillo, Calif., native is the ninth different winner in 14 races this season and the fourth first-time winner.

(Photo by John Cote/INDYCAR)          
"It's nice when the team gives you such a great car," said Kimball, who started fifth on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. "All I needed to do was to hit the lap times they needed me to." Kimball led a field-high 46 laps in the caution-free race (the first since Mid-Ohio last year). Through his previous 44 starts, he led a total of 15 laps (12 this season).

(Photo by John Cote/INDYCAR)
Simon Pagenaud (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda/Dallara) was 5.533 seconds behind Kimball to record his first podium finish since winning Race 2 of the Detroit doubleheader weekend in early June. "I've got to say, Charlie (Kimball) did a fantastic job today," Pagenaud commented after the race. "I gave it all.  Just him and Ganassi were stronger.  Charlie was bold enough to stick it on the inside and I didn't think he would make it but he did so congrats to him.  Congrats to Honda.  It's 1-2-3.  It's a Honda track so it's important for us to bring a 1-2-3 home.  But I've got to say, congrats to Charlie because I gave him hell."

(Photo by John Cote/INDYCAR)
Dario Franchitti (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing GE Honda/Dallara) finished third to provide Honda a podium sweep. Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet/Dallara) finished fourth and pole sitter Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 1 Andretti Autosport DHL Chevrolet/Dallara) was fifth.

(Photo by Chris Jones/INDYCAR)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske PPG Chevrolet/Dallara) finished sixth - three-tenths of a second ahead of Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara) - to increase his championship points lead over the two-time series champion to 31 with five races remaining. Hunter-Reay is third (65 points back) heading to the Aug. 25 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.

(Photo by John Cote/INDYCAR)
Also on Aug. 4 at Mid-Ohio, pole sitter Gabby Chaves (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian) led all 40 laps to win the Firestone Indy Lights Mid-Ohio 100 for his first victory in the series. Chaves had three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes in the eight previous races. Peter Dempsey finished second in the No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing car.

(Rusty Jarrett for Chevrolet)
Kasey Kahne (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS) won Sunday in the GoBowling 400 at Pocono Raceway in Pocono, Pennsylvania. He blew by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon going into Turn 1 with two laps left and pulled away for the win. Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS) was second and Kurt Busch (No. 78 Furnitute Row Racing - Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS) was third in another excellent performance for the limited-budget team. Watch the NASCAR videos from the Pocono race weekend here.

(Acura)
Acura trotted out a prototype of its NSX sports car at the Mid-Ohio INDYCAR event over the weekend in Lexington, Ohio. The car turned laps just prior to the running of the Honda Indy 200. The Acura NSX prototype lapped the 2.4-mile winding road course, driven by a member of the Ohio-based engineering development team. The NSX prototype sported custom graphics that "speak to Acura's intention to go racing with the new NSX," according to the Acura release. We don't know how draping the car in butt ugly clown car graphics speaks to racing it, but whatever. The Acura NSX will be powered by a mid-mounted, direct-injected V-6 engine mated to Acura's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD® (Super Handling All-Wheel Drive) system. Acura says that its Sport Hybrid SH-AWD® is an all-new, three-motor high-performance hybrid system that combines torque vectoring all-wheel drive with advanced hybrid efficiency through the use of three electric motors – one motor integrated with the V-6 engine and its all-new dual-clutch transmission (DCT) driving the rear wheels, and two independent motors driving the front wheels. The system enables instant delivery of negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering "to achieve a new level of driving performance unparalleled by current AWD systems," according to Acura's PR minions. We'll see about that, won't we? Global development of the NSX is being led by engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc., in Raymond, Ohio. The next-generation Acura sports car will be produced in nearby Marysville, Ohio, using domestic and globally sourced parts, at the newly established, state-of-the-art Performance Manufacturing Center, now under construction.

(Audi Motorsport)
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) finished one-two at the first Russian DTM race in history over the weekend at Moscow Raceway, the new DTM race track around 80 kilometers north-west of Moscow. With his second win of the season Rockenfeller extends his lead in the overall standings to 27 points.

(Ford Racing)
Toomas “Topi” Heikkinen (Bluebeam OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST) landed his fourth consecutive series victory to win gold while Tanner Foust (Rockstar Energy OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST) claimed silver at X Games Los Angeles on Sunday as Ford Racing clinched the Global Rallycross manufacturers’ championship. Heikkinen became the first driver in X Games history to win two RallyCross gold medals while also increasing his lead in the championship point standings. Foust took home the gold medal on Saturday night in the inaugural Gymkhana Grid competition and followed it up with another strong effort in the RallyCross race. The track at Irwindale Speedway was slightly different from other GRC courses in that it did not include a jump in the joker lap, which is a shortcut all drivers can use once per race.

(Ford Racing)

Editor-n-Chief's Note: Check out Nico Rosberg driving the Mercedes-Benz W196 racer at the Nordschleife. here. - PMD