There’s no doubt about it, Scott McLaughlin ended the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series season on a high note. Despite not having won the championship last Sunday in Monterey, the Team Penske driver still ended this past season with 5 top 4 finishes in the last 6 races run. I expect big things out of him in 2023 when he sees this schedule for a 3rd time around.

While he’s not on my hot list, I also expect Marcus Ericsson to have a bigger season in 2023 too. He went from 12th to 6th to 6th again in points in the last 3 years and coming off of an Indy 500 triumph.

Who’s Hot?

• Scott McLaughlin – 5 top 4’s in the final 6 races.
• Will Power – had 6 top 4’s in the final 9 races including 5 of the last 7.
• Josef Newgarden – While he had 1- top 10 finishes over the last 11, he only had 2 podium in the final 6 too but 1 was a 25th to 2nd charge on Sunday to put him on this list.
• Scott Dixon – 9 top 8 finishes in the final 10 races, including 6 top 5 finishes to end the year in that span. He had just 3 top 5 finishes in the first 8 races run.
• Pato O’Ward – He had 4 top 4 finishes in the final 7 races run.
• Alexander Rossi – He ends his Andretti tenure with 3 top 7’s in his final 5 races including a win at Indy on July 30.
• Felix Rosenqvist – 5 top 10 finishes over the final 6 races.
• Graham Rahal – 5 top 10 finishes over the last 8 races including 3 of the last 5. He had 4 in the first 9…
• Christian Lundgaard – 7 top 11 finishes in his final 10 races. He had just 2 in the first 7.
• David Malukas – 3 top 10’s including a runner-up since the calendar turned July.

Who’s Not

Marcus Ericsson – 1 top 5 over the final 9 races. He did have 10 top 10’s over the last 13 but 3 of the last 5 results were also outside the top 10 as well and no podiums in his last 9 at that.

Alex Palou – Just 3 podiums in his final 13 starts to 2022. He had 3 in the first 4 races. He did get a win in the end but his season ended the opposite as it started.

Colton Herta – 5 of the last 7 races have seen him finish 11th or worse. Just 1 podium too in his last 12 starts at that.

Romain Grosjean – 1 top 5 in the last 14 with his last 5 finishes being 16th, 16th, 13th, 19th and 7th.

Meyer Shank Racing – 5 of Simon Pagenaud’s last 7 finishes were 20th or worse. Helio Castroneves was 13th or worse in 10 of his last 11 including each of the last 8 at that.

Rinus VeeKay – 6 of his last 8 were 12th or worse.

Jack Harvey – 1 top 10 over the last 15 including 7 of the last 9 being 18th or worse.