Alex Palou might not coast to the finish line of this year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship as he did a year ago, winning his second season title by 78 points, but he likely is breathing a bit easier than he was a week ago.
That’s because despite a rare mistake at Iowa Speedway that led to an accident in the first race of the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend, the driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda lost only a handful of points to his nearest challenger, Team Penske’s Will Power.
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Specifically, Palou’s overall lead dropped by only 13 points even as Power won the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade, the second race of the doubleheader. Palou finished second.
So, let’s set the championship table: Six races remain, beginning with this weekend’s 85-lap Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto (1 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network). Following a three-weekend break for the Summer Olympics, the series heads to its final stretch with four oval races and the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland on Aug. 25 at Portland International Raceway.
Palou is still in search of his first oval victory, but that’s a goal for another day. This weekend, the pursuit takes place on an 11-turn, 1.786-mile street circuit where the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has fared well in the past. He finished sixth in his Ontario debut in 2022, then grabbed a second-place result last year.
While Power didn’t gain much ground on Palou at Iowa, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin certainly did. The winner of Saturday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart shaved 40 points off his deficit by finishing second in the Sunday race. McLaughlin still has 65 points to overcome, but he is fifth in the standings and better positioned than he was a week ago.
A look at more of what’s to come this weekend:
Dixon Tearing Up Streets
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon has been the series’ “Street Circuit King” this season.
There have been three such races, and the six-time series champion driving the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda has won two of them: the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (April 21) and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear (June 2). He finished seventh in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (March 10).
Dixon has amassed 132 points on street circuits this season, a total which is nearly a full race worth of points over the next-best performers. Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren and Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian have each collected 90 points, Power 87.
O’Ward won in St. Petersburg after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) was disqualified for improperly using INDYCAR’s Push to Pass system.
Dixon’s wins this season were the 12th and 13th of his career on temporary circuits. From a timeliness standpoint, four of them have come in Toronto (two in 2013 and one each in 2018 and 2022). He also has finished second twice at Exhibition Place, in 2011 and 2019.
Power Typically Strong in Toronto
Power hasn’t won a pole in this event since 2015 and has only two such qualifying efforts in his career at Exhibition Place – a surprisingly low total for the sport’s all-time pole winner – but he has been consistently strong in collecting points.
The two-time series champion has won in Toronto on three occasions, most recently in 2016. He also has two other top-three finishes in the event. Last year, he finished 14th.
Newgarden is the other driver in this 27-car field with at least two Toronto victories – those came in 2015 with CFH Racing (now Ed Carpenter Racing) and in 2017 with Team Penske.
Christian Lundgaard (No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda) won last year’s race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. That was the first series victory of his career. Palou finished second with Herta third, Dixon fourth and Newgarden fifth.
McLaughlin Outstanding of Late
It speaks to McLaughlin’s strong performances this season that he is fifth in the standings despite totaling only 15 points in the first three street circuit races.
Like Newgarden, McLaughlin (No. 3 Gallagher Team Penske Chevrolet) was stripped of his third-place finish in St. Petersburg. Then he scored just five points for finishing 26th in Long Beach and 10 for finishing 20th in Detroit.
Meanwhile, series-leading Palou scored 82 points in those races, a 67-point advantage over McLaughlin. Their current separation in the standings: 65 points.
McLaughlin has been the series’ hottest driver of late, scoring four top-three finishes in the past five races, including the past three in succession with the win at Iowa. In two previous Toronto races, he has finished ninth and sixth.
Andretti Global Street Strong
Outside of the top five drivers in the standings, the three drivers from Andretti Global are worthy of significant attention this weekend.
Since Kyle Kirkwood’s first race with Michael Andretti’s team last season, he has a string of six consecutive top-10 finishes on street circuits, including victories last year in Long Beach (from the pole) and Nashville (from eighth). This year, the driver of the No. 27 AutoNation Honda was 10th in St. Petersburg, seventh in Long Beach and fourth in Detroit.
Herta has been strong, too, particularly this year. The driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda has finished twice on the podium – third in St. Petersburg, second in Long Beach – and won the pole in Detroit.
Don’t sleep on Marcus Ericsson. He finished fifth in Long Beach and was second in Detroit. With another lap late in the Motor City race, the driver of the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda might have overtaken Dixon for the win.
As fate would have it, this race is in Toronto, where team owner Andretti excelled. He won a record seven times in 12 attempts with a pair of second-place finishes. Only once did he win the pole.
The Weekend Schedule
From an INDYCAR perspective, only the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is participating this weekend. INDY NXT by Firestone is off until the Outfront Showdown on Aug. 17 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ first practice of the weekend is 3 p.m. ET Friday. The second practice is 10:30 a.m. Saturday with qualifying for the NTT P1 Award beginning at 2:45 p.m.
Sunday’s 30-minute warmup session is set for 10 a.m., followed by the 85-lap race at 1 p.m.
This will be the first of two Peacock-only broadcasts this season. The other will be the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 on Aug. 31. That oval race airs at 6 p.m. ET.