Today’s question: Colton Herta broke a winless streak of more than two years with his victory last Sunday in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. What will happen next in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, another driver ending a drought of 12 months or more or another first-time winner in the series?

Curt Cavin: I was all prepared to tout David Malukas as the driver with the best chance to become the latest first-time winner given there are four remaining short oval races – he has finished second and third in the past two series races at World Wide Technology Raceway – but then I scrapped my 166 words and changed course. With all those ovals, it’s easy to overlook the Aug. 25 race at Portland International Raceway, where Felix Rosenqvist has always ran well. The Swede has finished second with two different teams – in 2019 with Chip Ganassi Racing and last year with Arrow McLaren – and he has top-10 finishes in all four of his series starts at the track. So, give me FRO to end what is currently a 70-race winless streak.

Eric Smith: I’m leaning on a driver breaking a winless streak, and I’m inclined to say it’s down to Alexander Rossi vs. Kyle Kirkwood to do so. Chevrolet has dominated short ovals, and with four of the five races remaining taking place on an oval, Rossi ending his 32-race drought driving his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet makes the most sense. Plus, at Portland International Raceway, the lone road course left on Aug. 25, Rossi has two podium finishes in his last four tries. However, I’ll instead nudge Kirkwood eliminating a 16-race winless streak, mainly because of his consistent finishes. Kirkwood is tied with NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Alex Palou for most top-10 finishes with 10 in 12 starts. Rossi has eight top-10 finishes. Kirkwood has four top-five finishes, with Rossi scoring three. Kirkwood leads the line of drivers knocking on the door of victory lane long enough, and it’s bound to answer. Kirkwood has the eighth-best average finishing position on ovals and fifth-best finishing average on natural road courses this season among the 27 full-time drivers in the field. Rossi averages the seventh-best oval finishing spot and 11th best on natural road courses.

Paul Kelly: I’ll be the contrarian here because I want to see a new first-time winner in a season in which there have been none. Last year, there were two maiden winners – Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Lundgaard. In 2022, Scott McLaughlin joined the club. In 2021, Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay and Marcus Ericsson were first-time winners. In 2020, it was Felix Rosenqvist’s turn. You get the gist – the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has been pretty flush with new faces in Victory Circle this decade, and I want that to continue and think it will. There are plenty of legitimate candidates who could become a first-time winner in the last five races of the season, four of which are on ovals. Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing, Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing and Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing all pop into my head immediately. But I’m taking the cuttings on Curt’s editing room floor and picking David Malukas to join the club. As Curt said above, “Little Dave” has been excellent the last two years at World Wide Technology Raceway with Dale Coyne Racing with HMD, and he’s with an even more competitive team now in Meyer Shank Racing. Malukas has been quick on all types of circuits since joining the team, so a win at Portland also isn’t out of the question.