Today’s question: What driver with realistic title aspirations needs a win the most this Sunday at the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR?

Curt Cavin: Obviously, there are many candidates for this, but I’ll roll with Will Power, who has a considerable amount of work to do to defend last year’s series championship. The year-over-year difference for the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet is consistency. Last year, Power’s first seven races saw six top-four finishes, with a win in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear and a pole in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. This year, he has just two such finishes and, surprisingly, no poles. Last year, his finishing average at this point in the season was 4.85. This year, it’s more than twice that at 9.85. Power stands eighth in the standings, 101 points out of the series lead. That’s not insurmountable. But with Alex Palou rolling, Power’s climb, if he’s to make it, will be difficult. Starting now is a must.

Joey Barnes: Obviously, it’s now or never for the likes of Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist, Romain Grosjean, Kyle Kirkwood and even Christian Lundgaard – all of whom sit ninth to 13th in the overall standings and within just 13 points of each other (Herta 149-Lundgaard 136). Honestly, though, I’m going a bit different route and one I never thought I would say… Scott Dixon. Yeah, the six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion is solidly fourth in the championship with 194 points to Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou leading the pack with 273, but it comes down to the simplest reason for Dixon and that is that he isn’t getting the same results as Palou or Marcus Ericsson, his other teammate. Dixon is the only one among the full-time roster at CGR to not find Victory Lane thus far in 2023 and what’s more, he has just one podium and that came at the season-opening round on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, back in early March. In defense of Dixon, though, it isn’t as if his form has dropped (and I am certainly not about to declare that). Last year, Dixon had an 8.29 average finish through the opening seven rounds, and that number is the exact same through the same number of rounds this year. The problem this year is both Ericsson and Palou have scored top 10s in every round thus far, something that no driver did at this point a year ago. For what it's worth, Dixon has more top six finishes to start this year (five) versus last year (four). Meanwhile, Palou has finished in the top five in six of seven races this season. Dixon is the one I feel needs to respond this weekend at Road America and remind everyone that he is “The Iceman” in North America’s premier open-wheel championship.

Paul Kelly: I guess the first answer to this week’s question is how to define “realistic title aspirations.” Alex Palou already has built a lead of nearly a race – 51 points – just seven races into the season. That relentless consistency, punctuated by two victories, is draining the pool of true contenders more quickly than a sump pump. Honestly, it’s going to take a hell of a summer run for anyone more than 100 points out to catch Palou at this point, so my cutoff starts with reigning series champion Will Power, who is 101 points back in eighth. But my choice for a must-win this weekend at Road America is Pato O’Ward, 82 points behind Palou in fifth. Sure, O’Ward has knocked on the door of victory more than anyone this season without crossing the threshold, with three runner-up finishes. But the inconsistency in his other results is perplexing. He enters Road America coming off finishes of 24th in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge and 26th in the Chevrolet Grand Prix presented by Lear. O’Ward does nothing in half-measures and has a flair for the exciting and the dramatic, so nothing would reignite his title challenge like a victory this weekend at Elkhart Lake. He needs that checkered flag.