By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
The only hope the rest of the drivers had was that once the series reached the oval-portion of the schedule, they could finally start making some headway and begin to close the massive points gap championship leader Alex Palou had already built over the field in the season’s first five races.
But after Palou won the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 this past Sunday, claiming the first oval victory of his career in the first (and most significant) oval race of the year, we can put the chances of any of his fellow competitors catching him in the near future to bed.
That applies not only to the championship standings where he now leads second place Pato O’Ward by 112 points (more than two whole races), but also to these power rankings, so without further ado here are the post-Indy 500 rankings.
1. Alex Palou (Previous: 1)
Season Stats: 5 Wins, 6 Top 5s, 6 Top 10s, 163 Laps Led
This time a week ago, Palou had never won on an oval. Now, after winning an Indy 500 to go with his three INDYCAR championships, he’s put himself firmly in the conversation among the best racing drivers in the world right now. He’s won five of the first six races this season and now heads to Detroit, a track he’s won at before.
2. Pato O’Ward (Previous: 3)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 53 Laps Led
After the disqualification of Marcus Ericsson, the result was another top-three finish in the Indy 500 for O’Ward, as he was elevated from fourth to third in the finishing order. It’s not quite the win he so desperately was looking for, but it was another impressive showing in the Racing Capital of the World. A win there is coming soon.
3. Christian Lundgaard (Previous: 4)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 5 Top 10s, 49 Laps Led
It was simply a solid day for Lundgaard, finishing seventh. It marks his best-career Indy 500 finish and first top 10 in the sport’s biggest race. It was a nice bounce-back performance after a disappointing Indy Grand Prix and puts his career year back on track.
4. Felix Rosenqvist (Previous: 8)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 5 Top 10s
Rosenqvist had cooled off in recent weeks and came to Indianapolis off of back-to-back 27th-place finishes in the Indy 500. But that didn’t matter much on Sunday, as he finished fourth after starting the race fifth to cap an ideal month of May for he and his Meyer Shank Racing team. He’s tied for second in the series in top 10 finishes with five in the first six races and is fourth in points.
5. Kyle Kirkwood (Previous: 5)
Season Stats: 1 Win, 2 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 48 Laps Led
Kirkwood initially crossed the line in sixth. Unfortunately for him, after his car failed post-race technical inspection, he was relegated to a 32nd-place finish. As a result, he fell three places in the standings, but he holds steady in these rankings after the others around him also had days they’d like to forget.
6. Scott McLaughlin (Previous: 2)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 43 Laps Led
Speaking of drivers having days they’d like to forget, McLaughlin is firmly in that category after he crashed during the pace laps and didn’t even get the chance to race despite being one of the favorites going in. It was a bizarre and uncharacteristic incident on the part of McLaughlin, who likely is very eager to get next year’s Indy 500 started so he can put this one behind him.
7. Will Power (Previous: 6)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s
Just like his teammates McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, Power had some trouble during Sunday’s race. A slow pit stop was the culprit that kept him out of contention for a better finish, forcing him to settle for 16th, one lap down, his worst finish since the opening race of the season. It’s the sixth straight finish outside the top 10 in the Indy 500 for Power.
8. Scott Dixon (Previous: 7)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 7 Laps Led
The good news for Dixon is he started fourth and showed good speed throughout May. The bad news is he suffered a brake issue before the race even started and lost three laps on pit road as the team fixed it. He wound up 20th, three laps down, on a day where he expected to contend for a second Indy 500 trophy.
9. Colton Herta (Previous: 9)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 3 Top 10s, 1 Lap Led
Like each of the four drivers ahead of him in these rankings, Herta’s day was plagued by misfortune, which is becoming something of a trend for Herta at Indianapolis. First, he crashed in qualifying. Then, during the race, he was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road. He would eventually settle for a 14th-place finish, one lap down.
10. David Malukas (Previous: NR)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10, 2 Laps Led
There was a more than brief moment where it looked like Malukas could be the winner of the 109th Indy 500, but he ultimately would settle for third on track before being elevated to a second-place finish after the DQ of Ericsson. It was the third career podium finish for Malukas, and after the runner-up finish and having qualified seventh, he racked up enough points at Indy to jump up to 10th in the standings.
11. Santino Ferrucci (Previous: NR)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10
Joining his A.J. Foyt Racing teammate inside the top five was Ferrucci, having finished fifth. It extends his personal record to seven consecutive top 10 finishes in the Indy 500 to start his INDYCAR career, with Sunday being the third time he’s finished inside the top five in the prestigious race. His first top 10 finish of the season leaves him 16th in the championship standings, but he’s just seven points behind his teammate Malukas in 10th.
Dropped out: Alexander Rossi, Rinus VeeKay
Next up: Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay