INDIANAPOLIS — The NTT INDYCAR Series will return to the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this weekend for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix (12 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network). With that said, it will be the 5th race on a natural road course this season and what makes these types of tracks pivotal is that they’re well represented on the schedule.
In total, 7 of the 17 races this year are on these types of circuits. By comparison, we have 5 ovals (3 on short ovals, 2 superspeedways) and 5 street courses. So these are the most prevalent on the schedule.
To make them even more of the added importance, the final 2 races of the season are on them (Portland, Laguna Seca).
So, who are the best?
Ironically enough, the 2 winners here this past May in Colton Herta (GMR Grand Prix) and Marcus Ericsson (Indianapolis 500) rank as the top 2 drivers who’s accumulated the most points on them in 2022.
Ericsson has scored 120 points (12th, 4th, 2nd, 6th placed finishes) compared to 119 for Herta (10th, 1st, 5th and 15th). 3rd best is Scott McLaughlin (118 points) who has 3 top 7’s including a win in Mid-Ohio in 4 starts on them. Will Power ranks 4th (114 points) after 3 top 4’s in 4 starts while Scott Dixon (102 points) rounds out the top 5 with 4 top 10’s but no finish better than 5th.
Oddly enough too, among the top 5, just Herta (Indy) and McLaughlin (Mid-Ohio) have wins.
Points Scored:
- Ericsson 120
- Herta 119
- McLaughlin 118
- Power 114
- Dixon 102
- Newgarden 101
- Palou 98
- Pagenaud 97
- VeeKay 91
- Rossi 89
- Grosjean 81
- Rahal 80
- Rosenqvist 77
- O’Ward 76
- Sato 75
- Daly 74
- Lundgaard 74
- Malukas 64
- Harvey 61
- Castroneves 57
- Ilott 55
- DeFrancesco 47
- Johnson 34
- Calderon 31
- Kirkwood 28
- Kellett 27
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