Today's question: Aside from Josef Newgarden winning the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, what was a moment from the 2023 season that will stay with you longer than most?

Curt Cavin: I’m going to cheat and list a few, and the first two are individual moments. I’m still shocked at how well Agustin Canapino, who had zero open-wheel experience, began his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with consecutive 12th-place finishes to start the season, with one of those being at Texas Motor Speedway! The stirring moment of the season, aside from Newgarden holding off Marcus Ericsson at Indy, was Santino Ferrucci nearly delivering AJ Foyt Racing another win at the Speedway. That was a magical run to finish third. More broadly, I’d note Newgarden dominating the oval races – he won four of the five – and Scott Dixon extending his record streak of consecutive winning seasons with three wins in the final four races. But the most impactful stretch of the season was Palou winning four of five midseason races and Indy’s pole to take command of the point standings. In that stretch he absorbed pit road contact at Indy from Rinus VeeKay, fell to 28th in the 33-car field and rallied to finish fourth, a key factor in winning his second series championship in the past three years.

Eric Smith: There’s so many to choose from and while Newgarden celebrating in the stands following his “500” victory is the obvious, I’ll pivot to something more under the radar. My top moment was Lap 71 of the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin battling for the win was an iconic moment for me. Grosjean, eyeing his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, versus McLaughlin, who was trying to go back-to-back on those Florida streets. After a disappointing maiden season with Andretti Autosport, Grosjean won the pole a day prior and looked like a driver with a mission to score his first win. McLaughlin, who stormed onto the scene as a sophomore driver in 2022, had his sights set of a championship run in 2023. Both could have used the St. Pete win for massive implications. It’s also why neither left an inch for the other and why they both were in the tire barrier at Turn 4 as a result. I feel like that moment set the tone for an exhilarating 2023 season which was surrounded by plenty of on track drama.

Paul Kelly: As always, it’s tough to distill six months of moments into a top one. Newgarden jumping into the frontstretch crowd at Indianapolis Motor Speedway like it was a 1990s Lollapalooza mosh pit after he finally won the “500” was so memorable. As was Kyle Kirkwood’s first career victory at Long Beach with Andretti Global, as he validated his credentials as an NTT INDYCAR SERIES star after a choppy first season at AJ Foyt Racing that raised as many questions as it answered. But the overriding moment of the 2023 season for me was Scott Dixon’s victory in the Gallagher Grand Prix on the IMS road course. It was the most inexplicable win in the most intriguing race of the year. Dixon spun into the infield grass on Lap 1 after a multiple-car pileup, and it looked like his race might be over. But Dixon did “Dixon things,” keeping his car from stalling, rejoining the race, saving fuel and using savvy strategy from the Chip Ganassi Racing pit wall to jump into contention and win, holding off hard-charging pole sitter Graham Rahal in a spellbinding finish. The victory extended Dixon’s series record to 19 consecutive seasons with at least one win and further burnished his reputation as one of the Mount Rushmore drivers of this sport. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver field is as deep and talented as ever, yet I think Dixon was the only one of the 27 full-time drivers this season who could have solved that Rubik’s Cube of recovery, serenity, strategy and speed to pull off that most improbable victory during Brickyard Weekend.