By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Since the last edition of these rankings, not much has changed on the INDYCAR circuit.
Alex Palou continues his charge towards a fourth championship, having already built a 97-point gap between him and second-place Kyle Kirkwood after just five races.
Scott Dixon continues to struggle in qualifying, only to make Herculean efforts to drive through the field in the race, something he managed again at both Barber and the Indy Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Colton Herta continues to be plagued with bad luck, culminating in a 25th-place finish this past weekend on the Indy road course and Josef Newgarden has still yet to find his footing thus far this season.
In fact, you’ll notice as you read through these rankings, the two-time defending Indy 500 champion is absent from this list as he looks to become the first driver to ever win the prestigious race three times in a row.
1. Alex Palou (Previous: 1)
Season Stats: 4 Wins, 5 Top 5s, 5 Top 10s, 149 Laps Led
Palou won at Barber. He then won again at Indy on the road course. He has four wins in five races, a worst finish of second and an average finish of 1.2. The gap between him and No. 2 in these rankings is almost as large as the gap between him and Kirkwood in the standings.
2. Scott McLaughlin (Previous: 7)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 43 Laps Led
McLaughlin has earned the title of “best of the rest” for right now purely based on the fact he’s both quick and been the most consistent of the drivers directly behind him in these rankings. He’s added a third and fourth-place finish in the last two races, respectively, and he probably would’ve had back-to-back podiums had he not gotten into the grass a bit coming in for his final pit stop this past weekend.
3. Pato O’Ward (Previous: 6)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s, 51 Laps Led
O’Ward matched his best finish of the season by finishing second at the Indy road course this past weekend. It comes off the heels of a sixth-place finish at Barber and it appears he’s rounding into form at the perfect time as he looks for redemption after being passed for the win on the final lap of last year’s Indy 500.
4. Christian Lundgaard (Previous: 3)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 49 Laps Led
A procedural penalty for driving over the pit-exit line ruined what was sure to be at least another top-10 finish for Lundgaard and forced him to settle for a disappointing 16th. He did, however, finish second at Barber and remains third in the standings. But sitting 98 points behind Palou now is beginning to feel like an almost insurmountable deficit.
5. Kyle Kirkwood (Previous: 2)
Season Stats: 1 Win, 2 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 46 Laps Led
Kirkwood has cooled off a bit since his win in Long Beach, with finishes of 11th at Barber and eighth at Indy this past weekend. However, he has gained a combined 20 places from his grid spots in those two races, including going from 21st to eighth at the Indy Grand Prix. And, after Lundgaard’s misfortune, he now sits second in the standings.
6. Will Power (Previous: 9)
Season Stats: 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s
If you take out the opening race that saw him crash on the first lap of the season, Power has yet to finish lower than sixth in any race this season. He also collected his first podium of the year this past weekend with a third-place finish. All that’s left for Power to move up these rankings is to show that he has the speed to be in contention for race wins.
7. Scott Dixon (Previous: 4)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s, 7 Laps Led
26th to 12th. 16th to fifth. A total of 25 places gained from race start to race finish in the past couple of races for Dixon. These comeback drives by the veteran driver are always impressive, but with that said, you have to continue to wonder what more he could be doing if the team could figure out qualifying.
8. Felix Rosenqvist (Previous: 5)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s
Things have been a bit more ho-hum as of late for Rosenqvist, who managed to put up his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Barber, finishing 10th, before settling for 13th at the Indy road course. But he still sits right in the thick of it in terms of battling for a top five spot in the points.
9. Colton Herta (Previous: 8)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 3 Top 10s, 1 Lap Led
If it weren’t for bad luck, Herta wouldn’t have any luck at all. He finished seventh at Barber after a lengthy pit stop cost him time and positions on track, and then finished 25th after having to retire early at the Indy Grand Prix after mechanical issues. Speed is not the team’s biggest issue, however, so he remains here for now.
10. Rinus VeeKay (Previous: NR)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 3 Top 10s
If you’re looking for the driver who has overachieved thus far this season, look no further than Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay. He came out of nowhere to challenge for a podium at Barber, ultimately finishing fourth before following it up with a ninth-place finish on the Indy road course. He’s now 10th in the INDYCAR standings, ahead of drivers like Newgarden and Alexander Rossi.
11. Alexander Rossi (Previous: 11)
Season Stats: 3 Top 10s, 1 Lap Led
Rossi finished eighth at Barber for his third top-10 finish of the season before finishing 14th at the Indy Grand Prix this past weekend. He’s been slightly more consistent than Newgarden this season, which is ultimately why he gets the final spot in these rankings over his fellow Indy 500 champion.
Dropped out: Josef Newgarden
Next up: Marcus Armstrong, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal