The opening laps of the Honda Indy 200 were remarkably tight through the 2.258-mile scenic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and hence, green flag racing didn't last all too long.
Will Power, after starting beside Scott Dixon on the front row, had dropped to fifth right at the green. He was then run off track at the esses on Lap 3. As he rejoined, his front wing tagged the left rear tire of Charlie Kimball. Kimball's tire was cut down, causing him to spin out in the following corner, and bringing out the first yellow of the 90-lap race.
Kimball was joined by Sage Karam at the back of the field (out of position at the start), and the race got back underway.
On the restart, Dixon was immediately pressured by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 11 KSVH Racing Chevrolet as he was on the initial start, and Helio Castroneves and Luca Filippi began battling hard for third behind these two.
Between Lap 10 and 20, much of the field came in to begin a race off strategy. The only issue suffered during this round of stops, ironically, happened to the CFH Racing crew of Josef Newgarden who had a terrible pit stop last year take away their chances at a win.
The second full course yellow came soon after. Contact between Takuma Sato of A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Stefano Coletti of KV Racing Technology left debris in Turn 4. The leaders took this opportunity to come in for their first stop of the race, rejoined behind all those who had stopped just before, and the race was restarted on Lap 26.
Tristan Vautier in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing entry led the field as Justin Wilson continued to drive an impressive race, weaving the No. 25 Andretti Autosport Honda in and out of traffic, putting on a clinic while advancing positions.
Lap 40 saw the next round of pit stops take place with the leaders coming in and strategies continuing to play out. Incredibly ironically this time, Newgarden had to delay leaving his pit box as Will Power was entering his own box in front of Newgarden; had he left earlier, they would have made contact.
The final round of stops came just after Lap 60. At this time, Juan Pablo Montoya, Newgarden, and Graham Rahal had run as the top three for about 20 laps.
On Lap 66, the third caution of the race came out. Karam spun at the esses, bringing all new importance to the pit stops that had just been completed.
Karam was spun back around by the Holmatro Safety Team, and the race was restarted on Lap 70.
Graham Rahal was benefitted majorly by the yellow, and he led the field to the green. Simon Pagenaud and Justin Wilson immediately took to pressuring him for the lead - but to no avail.
Just two laps in to the restart, Charlie Kimball spun off in the esses after contact with Ryan Briscoe; also going off were Stefano Coletti and a Coyne entry.
Just a short while later, Coletti suffered another off-track excursion in the No. 4 KV Racing Technology entry. After a bit of a battle down the backstraight with Rodolfo Gonzalez, he slid of the track again at the esses, drifted the car back parallel with the track, and slid right back on - almost hitting the Coyne car in the process.
With just 10 laps remaining, Charlie Kimball's frustrating race would continue to bring out the fourth caution of the race. After contact with a Coyne car, Kimball went sliding off into the grass and gravel at the esses, bringing out the yellow and ending Rahal's comfortable lead over Justin Wilson with just a handful of laps remaining.
The restart came with seven to go. Wilson and Rahal went into Turn 4 after the restart attempting to out-brake each other. Wilson temporarily held the lead, but with the inside line, Rahal remained in control of the race in its latest stages.
Rahal went on clicking off near perfect laps, pulling away from Wilson and Pagenaud who rounded out the top three.
The hometown boy held on, putting more and more of a gap between he and Wilson in second - taking his second win of this 2015 season and doing exactly what he said he needed to do to stay in the title race: win another race.
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Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.