The NTT IndyCar Series is back in action this weekend for the third straight year at the Gateway Motorsports Park. Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 (8 p.m. ET/NBCSN/INDYCAR Radio Network) has become one of the best races on the schedule.

Saturday’s race shouldn’t be any different.

Penske/Ganassi/Andretti Should Once Again Be Strong 

It should come as no surprise but look for Penske, Ganassi and Andretti to be the front runners for Saturday night’s race. Combined, Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport have won the last 11 Indy Car races on the season and 26 of the 31 races run with this new car.

In Gateway, the site of this weekend’s race, Penske has won both events since the series came back to Gateway including the final two before the long break too. Penske in general has won five straight races on ovals including being 4-for-4 this season alone. Plus, the top four in the oval standings so far? Penske-Penske-Andretti-Penske.

Furthermore, since the start of the 2015 season, this trio of teams have won 61 of the last 79 races run. That’s 78-percent.

With how this season has gone, expect a Penske, Andretti or Ganassi car to pull into victory lane on Saturday night.

Top 5 In The Standings Still Shining

Want to win in the NTT IndyCar Series, you need to be on top of your game. There are no fluke winners here. Just look at the last 11 races on the season – all 11 of them contested saw the race winner be in the top five of the current points standings.

Yes, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon and now Will Power have combined to win every Indy Car race since Long Beach.

All five are on top of their games right now and in an intense title race for the Astor Cup. With how this season has gone, expect one of which to win on Saturday night too.

Likely A Lot Of Green Flag Racing

The yellow flags are down this year. That’s a known fact. I don’t expect many on Saturday night either. Last year, we only had two cautions. In 2017, we had just five and one was on the opening lap. This year, we’ve seen two or fewer cautions in three of the last five races including two of which going green flag to checkered flag without a stoppage.

Indy had four cautions, Texas had three. Iowa had five. Pocono had four.

Expect to see four or fewer again on Saturday night.

Chevy Has Won A Lot Of Recent Races But Honda Nearing 2nd Straight Manufacturers Title

A year ago Honda was celebrating. See, they had just earned their first NTT IndyCar Series manufacturer’s title since 2011. But, when Chevrolet came back to the series in 2012, the bowties dominated the manufacturer war between the two. Chevy, came in and took Honda to the woodshed in winning the manufacturers title in five straight years.

That said something. Prior to 2012, Honda was the saving grace to the series. After joining Indy Car in 2003, Honda won the manufacturer championship in 2004 and again in 2005 when competing then with Chevrolet and Toyota. From 2006-’11, Honda was the sole engine supplier before Chevy re-entered in 2012.

Last year, was a redemption for season for Honda. It was a big accomplishment for them to not only knock Chevy off their perch, but to do so in the first year of the new unified package. They had the pace and durability.

This season, it’s more of the same. With three races remaining in the 2019 season, Honda currently has 1,231 points scored in the manufacturers battle. Chevy, has 1,142.

Only full-season entries earn manufacturer points, with the highest two finishers for each manufacturer at each race earning points based on the driver point system (50 for first place, 40 for second and so on; with double points awarded for the Indianapolis 500 and Sonoma). Bonuses are added for a race win (five points) as well as pole positions and being the fastest Indy 500 opening-day qualifier.

Durability is a key to the manufacturer point system, however. Each full-season entry is allotted four engines for the season to complete a total of 10,000 miles that includes testing, practice, qualifying and the races. If a car uses a fifth engine or more without completing the 10,000-mile threshold first, it becomes ineligible to earn manufacturer points.

Honda, has six wins this season and is coming off of a 1-2-3 finish two races ago in Mid-Ohio. They have two of the top four in the points standings and nine of the top 12. What makes this even better is, out of the nine drivers in the top 12, five different teams are represented. Furthermore, four of their six teams have won this season and that comes after all four organizations that they represented in 2018 reached victory lane.

For Honda, while they have the lead, Chevrolet is coming.

Chevy won four of the first six races in 2018 but just two of the final 11 for the rest of the season. They won only 1 of the first 4 races in 2019 too. That obviously led to a string of 12 victories in their last 15 tries for Honda heading into the Month of May and three for Chevy.

But, that’s where the bowties turned it on. Chevy has won seven of the last 10 races and is making this a battle again. They also won the Indy 500 for the second consecutive year too.

They seem to have the preferred package on ovals as Chevy has won all three superspeedway races now in 2019 and five straight ovals if you go back to last season. Furthermore, they’ve won 13 of the last 18 oval races overall.

While Penske and Chevrolet may be the ones to beat this weekend in Gateway, the final two races of the year may swing back to Honda.

The final two stops are on natural road courses and Honda drivers have won four of the five races run on them this year. The only one that they didn’t win came in the rain on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. They’ve also won seven of the last eight natural road courses dating back to last season.

They’ve also done so with four different teams too. The only ones left to win are Dale Coyne Racing and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Penske Short Oval Masters

2019 has been a great season for Team Penske. Currently, all three of their drivers sit in the top five of the NTT IndyCar Series points standings. They sit 1-2-4 in the oval standings too.

Saturday night is the final oval of the season. On one discipline of ovals – superspeedway’s, Penske is at their best.

On superspeedway’s the last couple of years, they’re 6-for-8, including sweeping all three race wins this year on them. In fact, since the start of the 2016 season, Penske has won seven of the 12 races contested on superspeedway’s.

What about short ovals? Well, they’re even better.

At Gateway, Penske is riding a four race win streak including both since the series’ return in 2017.

Newgarden, has finished first and seventh respectively in Gateway. Pagenaud, has finished third and fourth respectively. Power, has finished 20th and first respectively on the 1.25-mile St. Louis area oval.

On short ovals, Penske has won three of the four under this current aero package with the new car and six of the last seven overall.

Also, on ovals in general, Penske has won five straight and 13 of the last 18 overall.

Pagenaud Keeps Closing The Gap

Simon Pagenaud has a really good shot of closing the championship deficit he has on his teammate Josef Newgarden in the NTT IndyCar Series points standings again on Saturday night in Gateway. Pagenaud, has two top four finishes in as many tries on the 1.25-mile St. Louis area race track.

Newgarden, won the race at Gateway back in 2017 but was only seventh last year.

We know the race win will likely come down to either them or their other teammate Will Power as Penske has won three of the four short oval races under this new car that was adopted in 2018 as well as six of the last seven overall. They’ve also won five straight oval races and 13 of the last 18 too.

Penske, has won the last four races at Gateway as well.

That’s all great news for Pagenaud. So is this – he’s finished better than Newgarden in two straight races and three of the last four. That’s propelled him to 40 points out. He was over 60 points arrears a few races ago.

With Alexander Rossi’s crash last weekend in Pocono too, Pagenaud has also out paced him in three of the last four races as well. Can he keep this incremental gain going into the final two races of the season?

Can Power Repeat?

Will Power has had a disappointing season thus far. But, now that the Team Penske driver ended a 15 race winless streak, the second longest of his Indy Car career, can get win for a second straight week? The latest he won a race in a season was race No. 15 in 2013. Last weekend was race No. 14.

In Pocono, Power had the car to beat as he won on the Tricky Triangle for the third time in four years.

“The win at Pocono is what we needed to really turn our season around,” Power said. “The guys on the Verizon Chevy have worked so hard all season and I’m glad they could finally celebrate a win. We feel like this is great momentum headed into this weekend at (World Wide Technology Raceway) where we’ve also had some success.”

Power has also now won at least one race every season of his Indy Car career as well. That’s 13 straight years. Only Scott Dixon who now has won a race in 15 straight years has more.

Two races ago in Mid-Ohio, you could see the relief in Power when he won the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He just wanted so badly to turn that into a win. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong end of tire strategy on his first stint and settled for a fourth place result.

This season is wearing on him. Mid-Ohio was a prime example. He’s watched his Team Penske teammates win seven times this season alone. They’re in the title hunt. But, Power is after the spoiler role as he knows he’s likely too far out to win the title. So, why not win out?

Saturday night could be the spot where he keeps it all rolling still.

Power, won this race last year after leading 93 circuits. He started on the pole in 2017 but was collected in an opening lap crash. He’s had the pace, but hasn’t translated that into a win until last weekend. Maybe he wins again on Saturday night.

Penske, has won five straight and 13 of the last 18 overall on ovals. On short ovals, Penske has won three of the four under this current aero package with the new car and six of the last seven overall.

“I’ve made it no secret that I really enjoy racing at ovals these days, so I’m hoping we can make it two in a row,” Power continued. “We are going to keep racing hard for every possible win or championship point we can get. We’re focused and ready for more.”

Hunter-Reay Set To Make 250th Career Start On Saturday Night

The 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season has been an up-and-down year for Ryan Hunter-Reay. It started off with him qualifying fifth for the season opener in St. Pete but his engine let go 19 laps into the race. After that though was a stretch of seven top eight finishes in eight tries. Then came a three race stretch of finishes of 11th, 16th and 17th respectively.

In Mid-Ohio, he came home third. Last week in Pocono he was crashed again for a second straight year. Now, can he get going again?

Gateway isn’t the spot it can happen though. Unfortunately, the 1.25-mile St. Louis area race track hasn’t been too kind to him in the past. In two career starts, Hunter-Reay has finishes of 15th and 20th respectively. Both were DNF’s.

While he’s finished every race with the exception of St. Pete and Pocono this year, Gateway may be a spot his No. 28 Honda struggles. Luckily, the final two races of the season are ones were Hunter-Reay excelled at last year.

Despite that, Hunter-Reay feels like he can have a car that contends as he notes he should have had a better finish last year if not for a mechanical failure on his No. 28 Honda.

“Last season we were running in the top three when we had a fuel pump failure sideline us,” said Hunter-Reay. “Hopefully we can pick up where we left off and challenge for win number 19 this weekend.”

Also, Hunter-Reay becomes just the 15th Indy Car driver to make 250 or more starts. He’s currently sitting at 249, so when the green flag drops on Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Hunter-Reay will have joined 14 other drivers to make at least 250 starts in the series.

“This Saturday night at (World Wide Technology Raceway) will mark my 250th career Indy car start which is pretty incredible,” said the 2012 series champion. “I feel extremely fortunate to have had such incredible support over the past 16 years enabling me to compete at the highest level. I’ve had the honor of representing many great partners along the way, however I am especially grateful to DHL for their unwavering support over the past nine seasons with Andretti Autosport on the No. 28 car. To me, 250 is just another number. Like any other race I compete it in, my only goal is to win.

Rossi Has Led 4 Career Laps In Gateway But Finished 2nd Last Year

Andretti Autosport hasn’t been at their best when it comes to racing in Gateway. Not many teams are though. The reason is because Team Penske has won the last four races in Gateway including the two most recent. They’ve also won five straight races on ovals too. So, when you think of terms of top five finishers for ovals, three of which likely are already taken by Penske drivers. That’s not a lot of margin for error for the rest.

That’s also not good news for a driver like Alexander Rossi who’s in a championship hunt with two Penske drivers.

Rossi, has led a combined four laps in two career Gateway starts. Also, Rossi’s short oval program hasn’t exactly been the greatest lately either. He was lapped near the midway mark in Iowa and finished sixth. In fact, since Belle Isle 2, Rossi has led a combined 57 laps including none in the last four races either. He hasn’t finished on the podium since July 14.

With Newgarden winning this race in 2017 and dominating at Iowa this past year combined with Dixon scoring two podiums in two tries on the 1.25-mile oval and Pagenaud not finishing worse than fourth in his two tries, Rossi has some work to do in order to remain in a good striking position for this year’s championship.

That’s why he was so frustrated with how last weekend played out. Rossi, was taken out of last Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 in a first lap accident with Takuma Sato. Their contact sparked a five car crash that saw Rossi finish 18th and Josef Newgarden fifth. His deficit to Newgarden more than doubled as he’s happy to move onto this week now.

“After last weekend, I am really looking forward to forgetting about Pocono and moving on to (World Wide Technology Raceway),” Rossi said. “We didn’t come out of the last race with a tighter gap to the championship like we had hoped, so it is extremely important to go for the win at Gateway and grab all the points we can to keep fighting for the Astor Cup. We had a strong car at last year’s race at Gateway and ended up finishing second. The NAPA boys deserve another win this year and I’m hoping we’ll see them in victory lane Saturday night.”

Gateway is a spot that he needs to run well at and somehow find the pace in his No. 27 Honda to compete. He did last year in coming home runner-up. He was sixth in 2017 too.

Dixon Has 2 Podiums In 2 Gateway Tries And 4 Straight Top 2’s On The Season

Until last weekend in Pocono, Scott Dixon hadn’t exactly fared well on ovals in 2019. For whatever reason, the pace in his No. 9 Honda just wasn’t there. He finished 17th in the Indy 500 as well as in Texas. He finished second though last weekend in Pocono. All three were on superspeedway’s.

Now, it’s to the second and final short oval of the season. Back in July, he finished runner-up at Iowa but that was with a terrible car. Dixon, knew his day would be bad from the get go and fell to outside of the top 15 from the start. He’d ride back there until having a gutsy pit strategy call goes his way.

See, Dixon was a lap down for most of the race but on the second to last stint, he went longer than normal to try and catch a yellow. It worked too. When there were less than 10 cars on the lead lap at the time, Dixon pinned himself back on the leaders pace. Then, he got an extra pit stop under caution for fresh tires. It paid off and he drove up to a second place finish.

Can he luck out on Saturday night in Gateway?

In his last two starts on the 1.25-mile oval, Dixon has finished second and third respectively. He led 145 laps in last year’s race. While we know Team Penske will likely be the ones to beat, Dixon’s championship hopes ride on getting a little luck again and having to finish on the podium. Luckily for him, he has four straight top two finishes on the year and two podiums in his last two Gateway tries.

“Just three to go now, right?” said Dixon. “I’ve been pretty happy with the past several races. The whole PNC Bank team has done a great job finishing either first or second. It’s what you have to do. But we still need more wins. This is the go time part of the NTT IndyCar Series season. This championship is just so tight – you cannot afford to make any mistakes from here on out, or you’ll be on the outside looking in – really fast. We’ve been on the podium here the past two years but haven’t been able to get that top step on the podium. This Saturday would be the perfect time to break through. The track and everyone here does such a great job promoting this event, and it really shows. It’s a great place to race and we’ll see how it goes this weekend.”

He’s gone from 99 points down to 52. He’s just 17 points shy of moving into a tie for second in the series standings. Dixon is coming and his rivals have taken notice.

Newgarden Extends Lead In Pocono, Heads To Gateway Looking For Win

Josef Newgarden holds a fond place in his heart for the World Wide Technology Raceway. See, when the NTT IndyCar Series decided to go back to the St. Louis area race track in 2017, Newgarden was the winner.

Also, Newgarden has been superb on short ovals in his racing career. The Tennessee native has four wins on such tracks including a dominating showing at the only other short oval run in 2019 with leading 245 of 300 laps last month in Iowa. Furthermore, he’s won three out of the last five races on short ovals.

That’s why his Alexander Rossi isn’t too thrilled with how things played out last weekend in Pocono. The Andretti Autosport driver is Newgarden’s main challenger for this year’s championship and Newgarden only finished fifth last Sunday. That was a prime opportunity for Rossi to make up ground. Instead, the gap between first (Newgarden) and second (Rossi) a little more than doubled.

“Although we didn’t win at Pocono, we were able to gain points and extend the gap between us and (Alexander) Rossi in the championship standings,” Newgarden said ahead of Saturday night’s race in Gateway. “Now we focus on Gateway. It’s a track we feel really comfortable at and a place where I’ve had success in the PPG Chevy. Ovals can be tricky, but they’re really fun to race. And over the last couple of years, (World Wide Technology Raceway) has one of the most excited crowds we see all year, so it’s always really cool to be able to go there and put on a show for the fans.”

On short ovals, Penske has won three of the four under this current aero package with the new car and six of the last seven overall.

Also, on ovals in general, Penske has won five straight and 13 of the last 18 overall.

This has a solid weekend written all over it for Newgarden. He also has a good omen for him. Since 2008, the driver who’s led the championship standings with three races-to-go has gone on to win the championship six times including each of the last three years and four in the last five. When Newgarden won the championship in 2017, he was the points leader heading to Gateway.

Also, Newgarden has led the championship standings following every race with the exception of one this year.

Can RLL Get More Top 10’s Saturday In Gatweay

Graham Rahal has scored a ton of top 10 finishes lately. In fact, he enters Saturday night’s race at the Gateway Motorsports Park with eight straight finishes inside of the top 10 and 10 in the last 11 overall. The problem is, he’s not getting many top fives out of them though.

He’s one top 10 shy though of tying a career high for a single season at 12. He accomplished that feat in each of the last two years. He has 11 already this season.

Rahal, has just four top five results out of his No. 15 Honda all year though too. In Gateway, he’s made two career starts on the 1.25-mile oval but his finishes were 12th and 10th respectively. He’s never led a lap on the St. Louis race track either. Furthermore, Rahal has led just nine laps all season.

In Iowa, he finished eighth but was a lap down. Iowa, is the only other short oval on the schedule. So a race win will be tough but his rise towards a top five or six in the points standings may not.

“I feel good about how competitive we should be at St. Louis,” said Rahal. “I think we had a lot of potential at Iowa; we were pretty strong and I think there is quite a lot that we can carry over from Iowa to St. Louis. We didn’t test there and some other teams did which might hurt us a little bit, but I think we should be able to go there and be pretty strong. We will do the best that we can for our sponsors, try to perform well and put a good show on for the fans, and Curtis (Francois) and his staff there that makes it happen. They do a great job.”

His teammate Takuma Sato is hoping for another top 10 too. Both he and Rahal finished there last year in coming home ninth and 10th respectively. Sato though just needs to get going again. From COTA through Belle Isle 1, Sato had four top eight finishes in five races. He went from 13th to fourth in the points standings. But, over his last seven races, the Japanese driver has finished 13th, 15th, 10th, 22nd, 20th, 19th and 21st respectively. That’s dropped him down to eighth in the points now, his worst spot since March 24.

Gateway is a prime opportunity for both to get top 10’s. They’ll take it too.

Pigot A Legitimate Sleeper In Gateway

Chevrolet has it figured out when it comes to short oval pace in the NTT IndyCar Series. I mean, look at how well Team Penske has fared on them. Even Ed Carpenter Racing has done well as they do their most damage on short ovals.

Luckily, we come to another short oval on Saturday night at the Gateway Motorsports Park. That’s why I have my eye on Spencer Pigot as a potential driver to come out of Gateway with a win.

Pigot, has two top seven finishes in his last three starts on the season. He was fifth at Iowa, another short oval like Gateway back in July. He finished sixth in this race last year. He has five top 10 starting positions in his last eight tries.

Gateway is a track that rewards track position and his No. 21 Chevrolet can certainly start up front.

 “WWT Raceway at Gateway is a very difficult track as both ends of the oval are so different,” said Pigot. “It’s a tough race and can be hard to pass; hopefully, we can be competitive in qualifying and start near the front. We had a good run last year as we finished sixth. We want to have another strong race this weekend at the last oval of the year.”

Watch out for Pigot this weekend as he’s a solid sleeper choice.

Carpenter Looking To Close Out 2019 With A Win

Ed Carpenter earned his 50th career NTT IndyCar Series top 10 finish last weekend in Pocono. Now, the Indiana native is looking to get his fourth career series victory and first since 2014.

While it seems like a long winless streak, it’s not really all that long when you see that Carpenter scaled back his racing opportunities in 2014. See, for the last six years, Carpenter has ran on ovals only. He won his second start of the year at Texas in that first season of doing this. Now, he’s riding a 31 race winless streak and looking for it end Saturday night in Gateway.

“World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will be my last race behind the wheel in 2019, so I am very motivated to end the season on a high note and get an ECR car back in Victory Lane,” Carpenter said. “I have always enjoyed racing at Gateway and we have had some very fast cars at this track, but we haven’t had the best of luck yet. Hopefully, we will have a fast car again and have a chance to fight for a win. I feel like we are coming into this race with positive momentum and I look forward to racing in front of a full house again at Gateway.”

Carpenter, is the last of an old trend in the NTT IndyCar Series. See, most of the all-time Indy Car greats came to the open wheel series via USAC. Foyt, Andretti, Unser, etc, all cut their teeth running on dirt tracks around this country.

When Jeff Gordon took a different path, the route from USAC to Indy Car was altered. Instead of moving up through the Midgets, sprints and Silver Crown ranks to an open wheel ride, the stars of USAC moved south to pursue a career in NASCAR.

After all, it turned out it was far more lucrative and would gain you more fame. But, one driver stuck by his roots. That driver is Carpenter.

Scan the current Indy Car garage and you’d see most of these drivers come from the karting ranks. Most don’t have the dirt and USAC background like Carpenter does. But, Carpenter is also a prime example of how that path doesn’t really work anymore either.

You need more of a road racing background than a USAC strictly oval series path now. With 12 of the 17 current races being on road/street courses, if you struggle on them, you won’t stay around long.

That’s why Carpenter, an oval ace adapted to remain in the series. See, when came first came to Indy Car in 2004, it was an all oval series. Even when a road course came onboard in 2005, it was just two out of 17. 2006 saw only two road courses, 2007 doubled to four. 2008 expanded to five.

The more the series added road courses, the more Carpenter started to struggle.

But, he won the first race of his career in 2011 at Kentucky. He won again a year later in 2012. After a trying 2013 season, Carpenter decided he wanted to keep racing but wanted to be more relevant overall.

So, he made the brave decision to step out of a full time seat and just race on ovals only. It was a decision then that showed that an oval racing background isn’t going to work anymore. Despite that, Carpenter has stayed around still with the same schedule the last six years.

Last Sunday, he earned a sixth place finish in the ABC Supply 500. It was his second of the season as he was also sixth in the May 26 Indianapolis 500. But, where this one stood out is, this was Carpenter’s 50th career top five finish in 180 starts. That’s good enough for 32nd on the all-time list.

He’s one shy of tying Oriol Servia. If you look the names above him now, they’re all greats. Bettenahusen, Pagneaud, Dallenbach, Ward, Hunter-Reay, Wheldon, Hornish, McCluskey, etc.

Carpenter, found a niche for him and it’s working out.

Championship Contenders Must Qualify Well On Friday

Track position has been key in the NTT IndyCar Series this season. The worst a race winner has started in 2019 has been eighth. Well, with a short oval like Gateway up next, starting position is even more crucial. On ovals this year, the starting spot for the four race winners has been – 1st, 7th, 3rd and 5th respectively.

In Gateway, the last two race winners came from second and fourth respectively. For Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon, Friday’s qualifying round is just as important as the race. Miss the setup and you’ll put yourself in a huge hole for Saturday night’s race.

Newgarden, has started second and third respectively in his two Gateway tries. He’s finished first and seventh respectively. But, he led 245 of 300 laps on another short oval at Iowa back in July and has finishes of fourth, first, first and respectively on ovals this season.

Rossi has only led four total laps in Gateway and has started ninth and second respectively. He’s finished sixth and second on the Illinois race track too. On ovals this year, Rossi has finished second, second, sixth and respectively.

Pagenaud has been among the bests as he’s finished third and fourth respectively. He’s also started fourth and sixth too. In his 2019 oval starts, he’s finished first, sixth and fourth though.

Dixon is the one to watch. He’s never finished off the podium in Gateway. He’s started seventh and first respectively. He led 145 laps last year. His only issue is that he’s not had the pace on ovals in 2019. He’s finished 17th at Indy and Texas. He lucked into a runner-up in Iowa. He needs more pace at Gateway to stay in this hunt.

Can Kanaan Keep Oval Streak Going?

Tony Kanaan knew last Saturday that he may have something for the field in Sunday’s ABC Supply 500. The only problem is, if he can have a better season overall, he could have turned these top 10 finishes into top fives. Here’s why.

See, last month at Iowa, Kanaan had a bad qualifying draw as the qualifying order was in reverse order of the entrant points. Despite having a very fast race car that weekend, he’d have to go out among one of the first drivers since he sat near the bottom of the NTT IndyCar Series points standings.

That cost him a good starting spot as the later you went that day, the better you would have started.

A similar situation happened last weekend at the Pocono Raceway. Kanaan, was 19th in the series standings and with rain washing out qualifying on Saturday, he’d have to start 19th too.

Later on in the day, Kanaan was the quickest in the lone practice session around the Tricky Triangle in practice. He knew he had the speed but he had to be methodical on his approach to the front.

It worked too. Kanaan, brought his No. 14 Chevrolet home eighth in last weekend’s race in Pocono. It was his third top 10 finish of the season – coincidentally enough, all have come on ovals.

“Good day for us, another top 10,” the popular Brazilian said then. “We have a few things to improve still but we’ll take it from where we started. We had a competitive car all weekend. The goal was to finish in the top 10 and we finished eighth, which is my best result of the year. It’s a good energy boost for the boys.”

Kanaan, went from 13th at Iowa to finish 10th. He went from 16th to finish ninth in the Indy 500 too. What can he do this weekend at Gateway in the final oval start of the season? He’s had a bad year but on ovals, he’s scored the 10th most points among all drivers.

“Looking forward to it (World Wide Technology Raceway),” Kanaan said. “It’s another oval and our two best results this year were at the ovals, so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a place that I enjoy and hopefully we’ll do even better this weekend than we did last weekend.”

Now, if he can get a better draw in qualifying, watch out.

Conor Daly Looking To Repeat 2017 Success On Saturday Night

Two years ago, Conor Daly had a night he’ll never forget in the NTT IndyCar Series. See, the 2017 season was a struggle for the entire AJ Foyt Racing organization. Much like 2019 actually. But, as the season went on, Daly’s team started to find their groove.

By time they reached St. Louis in August of that year, Daly was hitting his stride. In Gateway that season, Daly brought his No. 4 Chevrolet home fifth in capping a great weekend for him.

Now, since he didn’t race at Gateway in 2018, he’s coming back to the World Wide Technology Raceway eyeing another top five.

“Driving at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is something I’ve been looking forward to since 2017,” says Daly. “The track does an incredible job promoting the event and the crowd is always strong – it’s just an all-around great event. I’m hoping I can use some of the experience gained in the past there to have a great finish to my oval racing this season with Carlin and the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet.”

Daly, has been superb on ovals this year. Hes scored the 12th most points on them among all drivers. He finished 10th for Andretti Autosport in the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 back in May. Two weeks later is when he made his Carlin debut as he finished 11th in his replacement role for Max Chilton. That was the best finish all year for this Carlin ride. A month later, he was back in that seat and was 13th in Iowa.

Then, last weekend, he finished 11th again at the Pocono Raceway.

With how well he’s been running and how well he did at Gateway in 2017, I wouldn’t sleep on Daly this weekend.