Today’s question: Who is the most underrated active driver in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES?
Curt Cavin: Doesn’t Scott McLaughlin have to be the most underrated? I mean, for all the attention on Josef Newgarden’s stirring back-to-back Indianapolis 500 victories, McLaughlin has finished ahead of both of his Team Penske teammates – Newgarden and Will Power, each a two-time series champion – in the standings the past two seasons. McLaughlin has won seven races and nine poles over the past three seasons and was the fastest qualifier for this year’s “500.” Also in 2024, he led more laps (637) than Power and Newgarden combined (504). This is not to say McLaughlin is Team Penske’s best driver – Power and Newgarden are more than worthy of the status they have achieved in this series – but maybe it’s time to give McLaughlin more acclaim than I believe he has received.
Eric Smith: I’ll take Felix Rosenqvist. He is entering his second season with Meyer Shank Racing after delivering six top-10 finishes in addition to an NTT P1 Award in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2024. The 32-year-old believes MSR made the biggest gains from 2023 to 2024, and another offseason to find more performance in addition to an alliance formed with Chip Ganassi Racing, the team that has won four of the last five championships, could have FRO on the brink of a top-10 points finish after ending up 12th this season. Rosenqvist began his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career spending two seasons (2019-20) with Ganassi, with which he won Rookie of the Year in 2019 and scored his lone victory in 2020 at Road America. He’s been flying under the radar for the last six seasons, but that could change in 2025.
Paul Kelly: This may sound nuts, but three-time and reigning series champion Alex Palou. Hear me out. Palou won his second consecutive championship in 2024; the last driver to accomplish that was Dario Franchitti, who won three straight from 2009-11. Palou, 27, became the second-youngest driver in INDYCAR SERIES history to win three titles; only Sam Hornish Jr. did it sooner, by just three months. Palou became just the 13th driver in the century-plus history of the sport to win three championships, a feat achieved in the last 30 years only by Hornish, Sebastien Bourdais, Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Read all the names other than Palou so far in this blurb, and you’ll get my drift: Each is an all-time INDYCAR SERIES great. So is Palou. Yet I don’t think Palou has earned his due as a legend, for whatever reason. Is it because he hasn’t won on an oval? Is it because he’s a mild-mannered, nice guy who doesn’t attract attention to himself? Is it because during his title run Palou has been teammates with Dixon, whose accomplishments eclipse anyone not named Foyt? I don’t know. But remember, Palou is only 27. Dixon, 44, is one title away from equaling Foyt’s series record of seven. The Iceman may reach that mark, as soon as next season. But 20 years from now, it won’t surprise me in the slightest to see Alex Palou atop the all-time INDYCAR SERIES championship list with eight or more. He’s that good.