INDIANAPOLIS – Last year, Will Power became the first driver to sweep the Month of May. See, when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NTT IndyCar Series added the INDYCAR Grand Prix for 2014 and beyond, it gave the drivers two chances to win two completely different types of races around the famed track.

The Grand Prix is an 85 Lap road course race around a 2.439-mile track going in the complete opposite direction. 13 days later, is the Indianapolis 500 for a 200 Lap/500 Mile race going in a circle around an oval.

In that time frame, only Power has won both races in the same year. Now, can his Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud become the second?

Pagenaud, has had two chances prior to do so and he’s finished 12th (2014) and 19th (2016). Now that he’s won the Grand Prix for a third time of his Indy Car career two weekends ago, can he win the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 (11 a.m. ET/NBC/INDYCAR Radio Network) on Sunday?

So far, you have to say he’s the favorite to be drinking the milk on Sunday afternoon.

Pagenaud, has been bad fast all month. Out of five practice sessions thus far, his No. 22 Chevrolet has been in the top 10 in four of them. He was quickest in Monday’s race practice as he said that he feels like in warm conditions that his car is the best out there.

“I would welcome a higher temperature because I think we have a better chassis than most, and I think it’ll make more of a disparity with other cars, so I would welcome that, obviously, as a competitor,” said Pagenaud on Monday.

But as a race fan?

“I would rather have a cool race in terms of temperature because the racing would be a lot more packed and more fun to watch. But a day like today would be really good racing, really fun to watch. So we’ll see.

“I think no matter what, I think INDYCAR made some really good changes on the Firestone tires. They did a great job giving us a little bit more grip, and the new front wing extensions were working really well in traffic. All in all, it’s very positive.”

Either way, watch out for the Frenchman. He’s on a mission. At Long Beach, he noted after his fifth place starting spot that he hasn’t gone anywhere. “He’s still here.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t gone,” said Pagenaud in April after earning his first top five starting spot of the year. “I’m still here. It’s all good.”

Pagenaud, said that making all these statements like he did was just his ego coming out. ” I’m a pretentious person, so I just said these things. Why not say it, right,?” he said. “I don’t have a chip (on his shoulder).  It’s all good. I’m pretty focused, 100 percent. Yeah, might have shown some aggressiveness, fire, yeah, that’s not a bad thing.”

Since that race, he finished sixth in the race that weekend at Long Beach, the charged from eighth in the INDYCAR Grand Prix to win in dramatic fashion. After that, he qualified third in Indy 500 Time Trials on Saturday only to back that up with finding a little more speed in earning the pole for this Sunday’s 200 Lap race.

The pole, was Pagenaud’s first since Toronto in 2017. That ended a 27 race drought. A win on Sunday would give him two straight for the first time since his INDYCAR Grand Prix win in 2016.

While some were wondering what Pagenaud’s status would be with Penske past 2019, he’s making a strong case to retain his seat. It’s no secret, Penske is after Alexander Rossi. Pagenaud, is doing his best to ensure Team Penske becomes a four car team again in 2020 if Penske does in fact land Rossi, and not remain a three car team.

Its not like Pagenaud has been bad though. Out of his last 2 s2tarts, he has scored 168 top 10 results. In fact, if you go back to the start of the 2016 season, he has 45 top 10’s in 55 tries. That’s an amazing stat.

The only drawback against him has been he hasn’t been competing for wins like his teammates have.

Over the last 22 races now, both Will Power and Josef Newgarden have combined to win seven times. Heading into the Grand Prix, Pagenaud unfortunately hadn’t won at all in that same time frame. See, his last victory before the May 11 race came in the 2017 season finale in Sonoma. Since that day, he’s only scored five top five finishes, including his win two weeks ago.

But, in his 20 starts before that, he had 15 top five’s to his credit.

Pagenaud now looks like the Pagenaud of his 2016 championship winning season. That’s why he’s among the favorites to win this weekend, if not THE favorite.