INDIANAPOLIS — The NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is typically broken down into three parts. Pre Indy 500, Month of May at Indy, championship pursuit post Indy. We’ve hit that last stretch.

We’re six races down with just 11 remaining in the 2023 season. It’s now time to look truly at the points and to whom can win the championship this September.

Coming into Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix (3 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network), Alex Palou leads Marcus Ericsson by 20 points. They’re two of the most consistent drivers in the game right now.

Both have a top 10 finish in all six races this season with Palou scoring five consecutive top five finishes (3rd, 5th, 5th, 1st, 4th).

Ericsson has three top five finishes (St. Pete win, Long Beach 3rd, Indy 500 2nd) and was eighth (Texas), 10th (Barber) and eighth (GMR Grand Prix) in his other three starts.

Speaking of Palou, he’s become the lead driver in terms of stats at Ganassi right now. Since he joined Ganassi in 2021, he’s won 13% (5-for-39) of his starts. He also has 15 podiums (38%) and 20 top five finishes (51%). By comparison, Scott Dixon has won three times in this span, had 10 podiums.

Ericsson has 39 top 10 finishes in 53 starts with Ganassi (74%) and 15 top five finishes (28%). He’s scored four wins too (8%) in that span.

With Ericsson netting 18 top 10 finishes over his last 23 starts and Palou having 31 in his last 39, they’re going to be a tough duo to catch.

Pato O’Ward (-34) lost 28 points in Indy via his crash and 24th place finish. That plus a 17th place run in Long Beach could cost him later in the season. He was runner-up in three of the other four races this season and fourth in Barber.

Josef Newgarden (-37) has two wins (Indy, Texas) but 17th (St. Pete), 9th (Long Beach) and 15th (Barber) elsewhere. He just needs to find more consistency.

Scott Dixon (-57) has five top 10 finishes in six races with four of the five being 5th (Texas), 7th (Barber), 6th (GMR Grand Prix) and sixth (Indy 500). The problem for him is the 27th in Long Beach and just one podium (3rd St. Pete).

Scott McLaughlin (-70) needs to go on another terror just as he did in the final half of last season. He won in Barber but has finished 13th (St. Pete), 10th (Long Beach), 16th (GMR Grand Prix) and 14th (Indy 500) too.

One driver coming on hot is Alexander Rossi (-74). He went from 15th leaving Long Beach (22nd in 2 of 1st 3 races) to being in 7th now. He finished eighth in Barber, third in the GMR Grand Prix and fifth in the Indy 500 in the last three races.

The Andretti Autosport foursome took a dip in Indy.

They qualified 6-14-15-18- for the GMR Grand Prix and 15-19-21-25 for the Indy 500. They’d finish 9-11-14-17 on the road course and 9-13-28-30. Kirkwood went from ninth in points entering to 12th leaving. Grosjean went from fifth to eighth. Herta remained in 10th while DeFrancesco from 25th to 23rd.

Defending champion, Will Power (-88) sits in ninth. He’s finished 7th, 16th, 6th, 3rd, 12th and 23rd respectively.

It’s shaping up to be Penske vs. Ganassi again as they have 5 of the top 6 in points including 1-2 belonging to Ganassi. McLaren has 3rd and 7th but they have to find ways to get to victory lane multiple times between them if they want to end the “Big 2’s” 10 year reign of series champions.

• 6 races down with 5 different winners. This season is shaping up to be one to where it may be vastly difficult to rattle off more than 3-4 wins.
• Among the 56winners, all hail from the “Big 3.” Chip Ganassi Racing has won twice (Marcus Ericsson – St. Pete, Alex Palou – Indianapolis). Team Penske has also won three times (Josef Newgarden – Texas, Indy 500, Scott McLaughlin – Barber). Andretti Autosport won the other (Kyle Kirkwood – Long Beach). Combined, the “Big 3” have won every series championship since 2003 and 85% (44-for-52) of the races in the Aeroscreen era.
• Penske/Ganassi Still Thriving – They’ve won 5 of the 6 races this year. They’ve won 39 of the 52 (75%) of the races with the Aeroscreen.
• ECR/Foyt Resurgence – Rinus VeeKay entered this past weekend 18th in points. He finished 21st, 11th, 26th, 16th and 13th respectively. Conor Daly was 24th. He finished 14th, 20th, 23rd, 25th and 19th himself. However, VeeKay and Daly each picked up top 10’s for ECR with VeeKay improving to 16th in points after leading 24 laps and Daly in 20th. For Foyt, Benjamin Pedersen made the Shootout and finished as the top rookie in 21st while Santino Ferrucci finished third after starting fourth. He led 11 laps.
• MSR Reeling – They got their first lap led of the season Sunday in Indy but it was just that, a lap. Meyer Shank Racing sits 21st (Helio Castroneves) and 25th (Simon Pagenaud) in points. Castroneves has finished 23rd, 10th, 21st, 21st, 22nd and 15th respectively. Pagenaud has been 26th, 17th, 15th, 18th, 25th and 25th respectively. These two didn’t forget how to drive….