LEXINGTON, Ohio — IndyCar drivers think it will probably take more than the push of a button to make for an exciting race at Mid-Ohio.

A week after a series of modifications — including the adoption of the "Push to Pass" button — provided some much-needed thrills at Kentucky's 1.5-mile oval, it's unclear how the new toys will work on the sprawling road course.

"It worked at the oval and hopefully it will work here," said Helio Castroneves.

Maybe, but the tight turns around Mid-Ohio provide little room for passing. There were seven lead changes at last year's race, none over the final 25 laps as Ryan Briscoe won by more than seven seconds.

The series has modified the button this week to adapt to a road race, though the drivers admit they have no idea what affect it will have on the outcome.

Last week, drivers were given 20 pushes over the course of the race, with each push providing a 12-second boost of anywhere between 5-20 horsepower depending on the fuel mixture. This week drivers will have 15 pushes lasting 20 seconds in length.

Longer boosts, however, might not bring longer position battles.

"Five horsepower is not a huge difference, but it is an experimental phase," said Scott Dixon. "It's nice to have the options and I think last week was definitely a hell of a race."

Briscoe used his boosts strategically over the final 10 laps at Kentucky, pressing the button halfway through each lap then using the extra juice to edge Ed Carpenter at the finish line.

Don't expect it to be that close at Mid-Ohio, where cars tend to string themselves out trying to negotiate a course that features 13 turns.

"It's quite tough to figure out when to use it because for right now it doesn't do a whole lot," Dixon said. "It's not like your head gets slapped in back of the head pad or anything."

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GIL'S GESTURE: Maybe the only people not surprised by Gil de Ferran's announcement that he'd like to start an IndyCar team next year are the drivers he used to compete against.

The two-time CART champion and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner announced Friday he will stop driving for his American Le Mans Series team at the end of the year so he can focus on the business side of de Ferran Motorsports.

The plan includes starting a two-car IndyCar team, perhaps as early as next season.

It's an ambitious plan in the wake of the economic downturn, but defending points champion Scott Dixon has little doubt de Ferran will pull it off.

"His resume is impeccable," Dixon said. "He's very smart and I'm sure he'll do very well."

De Ferran said Friday he's already approached several drivers about joining him, and he has a close relationship with Dixon. The two worked together during the Twelve Hours of Sebring earlier this year.

Dixon didn't rule out driving for de Ferran one day, but allowed de Ferran's team will have to go through some growing pains.

"If you're going from Ganassi to Gil, which is obviously a startup team, it does take a year or two to learn a lot," Dixon said. "It'd be a very, very tough transition, but I think he'll definitely open up some eyes too."

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SERVIA STEPS IN: Oriol Servia is back to where he once belonged.

The 35-year-old Spaniard will drive the No. 06 car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing on Saturday, his first start for the team since 2005, when it competed in Champ Car.

"It's not ideal in terms of preparation time, but the last time we did this with the same amount of notice, we ended up on the podium," Servia said, "so I don't see why that can't happen again."

Servia earned a ride with Newman/Haas in 2005 as a replacement for Bruno Junqueira, who was injured in that year's Indy 500. Servia finished third in his debut at Milwaukee that season, then picked up the only win of his Champ/IndyCar career at Montreal.

Servia raced for KV Racing last year. His only start this season came at Indy, when he finished 26th while driving for Rahal/Letterman.

"Oriol did a fabulous job when he drove for the team in 2005 and I am confident he will do as well now," Carl Haas said.

Servia will have his work cut out at Mid-Ohio. He'll start 14th in the 21-car field.

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TWEET TWEET: Tony Kanaan may not win the points championship this season, but he does have his eyes on another prize: most Twitter followers among IndyCar drivers.

The 2004 series champion has more than 27,000 people following his tweets, which often contain at least two of the four languages the affable Brazilian speaks.

There's still plenty of work to do, however, if he wants to catch Andretti Green Racing teammate Danica Patrick, who has more than 37,000 followers.

Of course, Kanaan has a plan on how to catch up.

"Sometimes I send her messages just because people can see that I sent her a message so they can follow me," he said with a laugh. "It's a way to share some of the followers."

Kanaan isn't above helping other drivers gain a bigger foothold on the wildly popular social networking platform. He posted a picture from a recent photograph session of himself with Tomas Scheckter and Helio Castroneves on his Twitter page in an effort to give their following a little boost.

"Scheckter I think gained 1,000 followers overnight and Helio got some more," Kanaan said.