TORONTO, ON – As the NTT INDYCAR series’ drivers take on the challenge of the Toronto Honda Indy’s unforgiving street course at Exhibition Place, the results will have a major impact on the championship battle. After eleven races, Alex Palou, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, has 379 points and a 35-point lead over Team Penske’s Will Power. Pato O’Ward, driving for Arrow McLaren, is currently ranked third, 52 points behind. Scott Dixon is fourth in the standings with a 57-point deficit to his teammate, Palou. All four drivers from these three teams have each won two races.
“I feel fortunate and lucky to be a part of Team Penske because there are only two teams that win championships in this series,“ said Power, following his Sunday victory at the Iowa double header short oval on the heels of his teammate, Scott McLaughlin’s Saturday night win. “It’s a team that works hard. It’s amazing the results that keep coming until you see how hard they work. They don’t waste money in any area but run very lean and extremely efficiently.”
Team Penske has earned 17 titles and 241 wins in over 50 seasons compared to Chip Ganassi Racing with 15 titles and 136 wins in 35 seasons. The next closest team is Andretti Global, having earned four titles and 72 wins in 21 seasons.
There are still 324 points possible since a driver can earn 50 points for a win, 40 points for second place, 35 for third, then 32, 30, 28, etc. with 25 – 27th each worth 5 points. Additionally at each race, there is a point earned for the pole and leading a lap, and two points for leading the most laps. So, a maximum of 54 points can be earned per race.
With 65% of the season complete, Toronto is the final street course of four on the calendar. Still to be contested are the four remaining ovals: St. Louis’ World Wide Technology Raceway, the Milwaukee double header, and the season finale in Nashville. Only one permanent road course remains in Portland.
As a team, Chip Ganassi Racing has won on two street courses and two permanent road courses this season. Even its two rookie drivers, Linus Lundqvist (156 points) and Kyffin Simpson (125 points) are the highest ranking among nine fighting for Rookie of the Year.
Team Penske has earned five wins to date this season, including Josef Newgarden’s sole Indy 500 victory. In spite of Newgarden’s dominance on ovals, it is unlikely he can catch Palou (ranked 9th with 247 points). But as often happens when a team is really strong, the teammates end up taking the points away from each other through a good result. As a team, the Penske drivers win on all types of tracks: ovals, road and street courses. There are no weaknesses.
Arrow McLaren could contend for the title if Pato O’Ward continues to finish well. Teammate Alexander Rossi ranks 8th with 235 points. But the third entry has had three different drivers filling in for David Malukas, who was released from his contract at the end of April, while recovering from a pre-season mountain bike left wrist injury.
Andretti Global drivers Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood sit sixth and seventh in the points table, respectively. But Marcus Ericsson, having switched after four seasons at Ganassi, has struggled for results and is 12th overall.
Other teams working hard to earn a win this season include AJ Foyt Racing with driver Santino Ferrucci’s best result of sixth, Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey with a highest finish of 13th, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay’s top outcome in fifth place, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean’s fourth place team high, Meyer Shank Racing’s best result of fourth place scored by Felix Rosenqvist, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard’s greatest finish of third.
The ultimate challenge the INDYCAR series offers drivers is the diversity of its tracks. Drivers must master street and road courses and ovals of various lengths.
After his first oval victory at Iowa, McLaughlin (314 points, ranked 5th) feels he can finally say he is an INDYCAR driver.
“I never raced on ovals until I came here to America and raced in INDYCAR,” explained McLaughlin, in his fourth season with Team Penske, having won three Australian V8 Supercar titles. “It’s a hell of a step up from what I was doing. Just trying to understand and trust it takes a while. This year I’m in a position where it’s really clicked. I’ve been a sponge taking any bit of advice from my teammates. Simon Pagenaud is a good teacher and gives me everything. You should see the notes which I get every morning before I go on track. I don’t even have time to read it sometimes. They are essays, which I treasure and will never give to anyone else because they’re just that good. It’s crazy.
“I feel really strong for the end of the season. A couple ovals as well so it’s anyone’s game.”
Will Power is the closest to Palou who has yet to win on an oval. It took Power a number of years before he learned to love oval racing. There are four coming up.
“I had a tough year last year personally,” revealed Power, having earned 43 wins to Dixon’s 58. “My head wasn’t in the game. I was even considering if I should be racing at all because my wife was sick. It was just a throw-away year.
“I’m back to the form of 2022 (won title), and I’m fighting for the championship. We have a great chance. I definitely give credit to the pit crew. I know if I hit my marks, it’s going to be an extremely fast stop. Fast in-lap, fast out-lap, fast pit stops, good strategy, and a good car. That’s how you win in this series. And, every now and then catch a Scott Dixon yellow. I need another 15 of them to catch up over the years. Colton Herta said to me, ‘Dude, if you didn’t get caught out by yellows early in your career, you would have another 10 or 15 wins’.”
The championship is still up for grabs with six races left. Could someone new be crowned? The Toronto Honda Dealer’s Indy will definitely clarify the picture of what will be a highly contested title fight.
