INDIANAPOLIS — Alex Palou may be untouchable right now, but so is both the Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing camps as well. This season has come down to another Penske vs. Ganassi show. The two storied organizations have now won 7 of the 8 races including five straight. Also, among the last three, they’ve gone 1-2 in each.

Furthermore, if you go back to the 2022 Indy 500, they’ve combined to have won 17 of the last 21 (80.9%) of the races.

We all wondered if their dominance after 10 straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES championships would get threatened this year, but so far, this one appears to be another year to where one of these teams takes the Astor Cup.

They have 5 of the top 6 drivers in points and 6 in the top 8 at that.

Last year, it was Team Penske doing the dominating. A 9-win campaign and having all 3 drivers in the top four in points including 1-2.

This year, the script has flipped. Chip Ganassi Racing has won half of the races (4-for-8) and has 3 of their drivers in the top five in points including 1-2.

Ganassi won the 2022 Indy 500 but Penske did the rest. This year, Penske won the Indy 500 and Ganassi doing the rest.

While everyone is clamoring for Palou to win the title, they’re also cognizant of the fact that there’s still 9 races left-to-go too. Can someone step up to the plate over the next 9 races to challenge the Penske’s and Ganassi’s or is this another Penske vs. Ganassi fight to the finish?

It’s down to Arrow McLaren Racing and Andretti Autosport if so. These four teams (Penske, Ganassi, McLaren, Andretti) have really separated themselves in this era.

Since 2022, these four have won all 25 races and if you go back to 2021, they’ve won 35 straight. Furthermore, in this Aeroscreen era (55 races), they’ve won 94.5% (52-for-55) of them.

The last non “Big 4” team to win was Meyer Shank Racing in 2021. In fact, these teams didn’t win the Month of May at all with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay winning the GMR Grand Prix and Helio Castroneves the Indy 500.

The only other time they didn’t win was the 2020 Indy 500 with RLL and Takuma Sato.

That’s it.

The separation is real. You have the top 2, the next two, then the rest.

Penske has won 22 times. Ganassi has won 19. Andretti has won 7 and McLaren 4. The other teams are RLL, ECR and MSR each with 1.

The thing is Arrow McLaren Racing and Andretti Autosport initially figured to be in the mix to join them originally this season. They’ve however given far too many races away though.

Pato O’Ward’s engine sputtered with two laps left in St. Pete. A caution flew at the wrong time in Texas. A crash in Indy. A crash in Detroit. Too greedy in St. Pete.

For Andretti, Romain Grosjean crashed going for the win in St. Pete, 3 of their 4 cars crashed in Texas, a badly timed caution in Barber and a bad pit call in Road America.

St. Pete should have been won by O’Ward or Grosjean. Texas could have easily been won by O’Ward. Barber could have been won by Grosjean. O’Ward was in the mix in Indy. Herta should have won Road America.

That could be 4-5 wins right now between McLaren and Andretti. However, that’s “could.” This isn’t a coulda, woulda, shoulda series. It’s one that rewards the ones who balance aggression vs. risk vs. reward the best and Penske and Ganassi have been the ones to capitalize on doing that.

McLaren has P3 in points in O’Ward. In the races that he’s finished on the lead lap, he’s came away 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 2nd and 3rd respectively. It’s Long Beach, Indy 500 and Detroit keeping him out of the mix. Alexander Rossi (7th in points) and Felix Rosenqvist (12th in points) just aren’t consistently there yet.

“I think we all need to be better if we want to catch the 10 car,” O’Ward says. “That’s just the reality of it. I’m excited for the nine races to come. It’s still a long championship, lots can happen. We just need to keep improving.”

Andretti Autosport has P9, P10, P13 and P22 in points. They’re probably way too far out to make a run which is why this is really down to O’Ward to break up the party.

If he can, he’d be the first non-Penske, Ganassi or Andretti champion since Sam Hornish Jr. and Panther in 2002.

McLaren is coming. While they’ve only won twice in the last 34 races compared to five instances by Andretti, you can feel the tide coming their way.

It all starts at Mid-Ohio.

Penske and Ganassi have swept the podium here in each of the last two years and have won the race in six of the last eight years overall.

Since 2020 which was the debut of the Aeroscreen, both Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing have each scored 9 wins on these types of tracks. Andretti Autosport has won the third most times (4) in this span (Aeroscreen era).

Only the McLaren win last year at Barber by Pato O’Ward and Ed Carpenter Racing on the Indy Road Course (2021) are the only other teams to have won on a natural road course during the Aeroscreen era.

They’re also dominating the podiums too. Between Penske (22), Ganassi (20) and Andretti (17), they’ve combined to have taken 59 of the 72 podiums chances (81.9%) in this span. Arrow McLaren Racing (5) and Dale Coyne Racing (4) are next best followed by ECR (3) and RLL (2).

Next up is Toronto. Penske and Ganassi have won five straight there. Overall, they have combined to have won 7 of the last 8 street course races and 13 of the last 19 of them in general. Only Andretti Autosport (4 wins) and Arrow McLaren Racing (1 win) has won in this span.

Next up after that is the Iowa doubleheader. Penske has won 5 of the last 7.

The thing is, Penske has been the top dog on short ovals in general since 2018 with 9 wins in 13 tries. Josef Newgarden is tops among drivers with winning 7 of those 9 races for Penske himself.

On short ovals, this could be an O’Ward vs. Josef Newgarden battle. The duo has combined to have won 7 of the last 8 oval races in general with Newgarden winning 6 of the last 8 by himself. He’s 2-for-2 this season. In fact, Newgarden and O’Ward have won five in-a-row dating back to Race 2 at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2020. They’ve also gone 1-2 in 5 of the last 12 oval races too.

That gets you to Nashville to where Ganassi is 2-for-2. Then it’s to the Indy road course for which Ganassi won with Palou this past May. Penske has won 3 of the 4 return trip weekend’s to the IMS road course.

After that it’s to Gateway. Remember that short oval stat?

The final two races are out west in Portland and Laguna Seca.

Ganassi won Portland in 2021, Penske won in 2022. Ganassi won Laguna Seca last year.