Today’s question: What are the gold, silver and bronze medal performances so far this season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, in your opinion?

Curt Cavin: I suspect we’ll all award a gold medal to Josef Newgarden for winning a second consecutive Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. His outside pass of Pato O’Ward on the last lap of this year’s race made him the first driver in event history to deliver two last-lap passes for the victory. My silver medal goes to Scott Dixon for his drive in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. While delivering another impressive fuel-saving race, Dixon held off Colton Herta, Alex Palou and Newgarden for a stirring victory. O’Ward gets the bronze for how he dogged Palou throughout the July race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, overtook him during the second round of pit stops and held him off for a half-second victory, the closest 1-2 finish on a road course this season. Remarkably, Palou doesn’t get a medal despite being the series points leader, but he is in line for the real trophy at season’s end. Earning another Astor Challenge Cup is a terrific consolation prize for the Spaniard.

Eric Smith: As Curt said, the gold medal is obvious with Josef Newgarden scoring back-to-back Indianapolis 500 triumphs in thrilling fashion. Not often in the 108-year history of the great event is there a last-lap pass. Newgarden has done it twice in as many years with only two instances in the previous 106 editions. The silver is Will Power charging from 22nd to win the second leg of the Iowa Speedway twin-bill July 14 for his second victory of the season. Power is second in the standings, trailing Alex Palou by 49 points in a multiple-win season a year after suffering his first winless season since 2006. My bronze medal is more season-long performance than a singular race. The medal is split between both Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta each looking like legitimate championship contenders with Herta fourth in points (-57) and O’Ward one spot behind (-71). The duo has combined to win three races this season, including two of the four with the new hybrid technology that debuted July 7 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – a race O’Ward won.

Paul Kelly: Let’s make the golden pick unanimous: Josef Newgarden’s last-lap pass of Pato O’Ward to win the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for the second consecutive year was as good as NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing gets. But I would award the silver to O’Ward for his performance in the closing laps alongside Newgarden at Indy. It takes a special driver to go wheel-to-wheel like that for the sport’s biggest prize with no feints, no blocking attempts and no contact. The stakes and danger are just too high for those shenanigans, and O’Ward was Mr. Clean during that intense pressure. I was happy to see Joe New salute Pato after the “500” for his fair, hard driving. Since there are team sports in the Olympics, I’m awarding the bronze to driver Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing strategist Mike Hull for their work in Dixon’s victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. Dixon and Hull overcame changing weather, the staccato nature of numerous caution periods to disrupt green-flag racing and the challenge of saving fuel – which nobody does better than Dixon – to pull a victory seemingly from air on the streets of the Motor City.