LEXINGTON, Ohio – A hot afternoon, salsa/chips and some beach volleyball on TV was the right combination for an Olympic Watch Party in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course paddock on Aug. 4.

"I've been watching a lot of the Olympics every night," said Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing rookie driver Josef Newgarden, who started ninth, ran as high as fifth early in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio and finished 12th. "It's been fun to see how our country's doing, especially since we've been knocking it out of the ballpark."

His favorite spectator sport is swimming.

"I really admire the commitment that each and every one of the swimmers have," he said. "It's been especially cool to see what Michael Phelps has achieved over his career. And now there's other people like Ryan Lochte coming up and I've been watching to see how they do at these Games. I think training for swimming is similar to racing in the total dedication you have to give to the sport in order to compete at that level."

The team displayed Olympic spirit on the No. 67 entry with “Go USA!” on its sidepods for the race weekend.

Kimball hopeful Rahal returns to team

With Graham Rahal announcing late last week that he’s free to pursue options for 2013 after an agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing couldn’t be reached by an Aug. 1 deadline, teammate Charlie Kimball is hopeful Rahal will return to the second-year team.

“Graham has been a great teammate and I really hope he finds a way to put a program together to stay because I’ve learned a lot from him and I hope our relationship between the four of us (Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti) continues to grow well into the future,” said Kimball, who sat out the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio because of an injured hand.

“I’m keeping the fingers on my left hand crossed that he’ll find a way to be back here, and if it’s not here then somewhere in the IZOD IndyCar Series because Graham Rahal needs to be in IndyCar racing.”

Novo Nordisk and Chip Ganassi Racing announced in November a multi-year extension of its agreement with Kimball driving the No. 83 car. Giorgio Pantano, who filled in for Kimball at Mid-Ohio, finished 14th.

2013 season to be between March and October

INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard reiterated his desire for 19 events for the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule to build momentum.

''We have to have a minimum of 19 races. That's very important,'' Bernard said. ''We have to be able to bring more attention to these drivers and these sponsors. We need to create more compelling storylines. The more races we have, the more exposure the drivers get, and the better opportunity we have to create those storylines.''

He’s pointing to a September release of the 2013 schedule that will fall between March and October, with the prospect of adding one or two more oval events.

The inaugural Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston will be run the first weekend in October on a temporary street course on the parking lots near Reliant Stadium. The complex played host to a Champ Car race in 2006 and ’07.

Of note

Tony Kanaan gained the most positions (12) in battling for a sixth-place finish. ... Marco Andretti scored a top-10 finish at Mid-Ohio for the fourth consecutive year, coming home eighth in the RC Cola car. ... There were no full-course cautions in the 85-lap race and only one penalty served by E.J. Viso for a pit lane speed violation. ... Oriol Servia, who had a gearbox issue at the start of the race, recorded the quickest lap at 1 minute, 07.1757 seconds on Lap 66. ... Bobby Rahal was the grand marshal.