Now that we’re heading into Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 (1 p.m. ET, USA, INDYCAR Radio Network) the annual race in rural Ohio will officially usher the NTT INDYCAR SERIES past the midway point of the 2023 season. 9th race out of 17.
In saying that, if you go back to this very event a year ago at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, you’d actually have completed 17 total races which coincidentally enough, makes up a full season.
Over the past year, there’s been some interesting stats. The reason for Will Power’s championship last year was the fact that he had so many podiums. While he hasn’t won during this stretch of 17 races, he does have 8 top five finishes, all of which have landed him on the podium. No one has more.
The reason for Alex Palou leading the championship now is all down to consistency up front too. No one has more top 10 finishes (15) nor top five finishes (10) than he or teammate Scott Dixon.
However, what separates Palou from the rest of the field, including Dixon, is that he has 7 podiums in this 17 race span compared to Dixon’s 4. He also has 4 wins compared to Dixon’s 2.
See the difference?
Similar to Marcus Ericsson. He has 14 top 10 finishes, one short of Palou. In regards to top five’s though, Palou leads Ericsson 10-4. In podiums? Palou leads 7-3. He also leads wins 4-1 over Ericsson as well.
It’s for that very reason as to why Power won the title last year and Palou is on track to win it again this year.
However, there’s still time left and these stats may paint a bigger picture.
Let’s break them down.
Most Points Scored
- Alex Palou 588
- Josef Newgarden 526
- Scott Dixon 523
- Scott McLaughlin 510
- Will Power 484
- Marcus Ericsson 463
- Pato O’Ward 458
- Alexander Rossi 379
- Colton Herta 368
- Christian Lundgaard 345
- Felix Rosenqvist 343
- Graham Rahal 304
- Romain Grosjean 304
- Rinus VeeKay 296
- David Malukas 278
- Callum Ilott 257
- Kyle Kirkwood 254
- Helio Castroneves 222
- Devlin DeFrancesco 208
- Simon Pagenaud 205
- Jack Harvey 187
- Conor Daly 184
- Takuma Sato 162
- Jimmie Johnson 129
- Santino Ferrucci 119
- Marcus Armstrong 108
- Agustin Canapino 88
- Dalton Kellett 71
- Benjamin Pedersen 70
- Sting Ray Robb 61
- Ed Carpenter 53
- Ryan Hunter-Reay 33
- Simona de Silvestro 25
- Tony Kanaan 18
- Marco Andretti 13
- Tatiana Calderon 5
- Katherine Legge 5
- RC Enerson 5
Most Wins:
8 different drivers have won the last 17 races INDYCAR competition. Alex Palou (Laguna Seca, GMR Grand Prix, Detroit, Road America) and Josef Newgarden (Iowa, Texas, Indianapolis) each have 4 wins a piece which is tops among all drivers. Scott McLaughlin (Mid-Ohio, Portland, Barber) has won three times in this span while Scott Dixon (Toronto, Nashville) is the only other driver to have won multiple times during this stretch.
As you can see, all of Newgarden’s wins have come on ovals. All of McLaughlin’s on natural road courses while both of Dixon’s have occurred on street courses. 3 of Palou’s 4 wins have also come on natural road courses but his Detroit win was on a street circuit as well.
Just Pato O’Ward (Iowa), Alexander Rossi (Gallagher Grand Prix), Marcus Ericsson (St. Pete) and Kyle Kirkwood (Long Beach) have won the rest of the races.
Most Podiums:
Will Power has scored the most with eight podium trophies. What’s odd is that none of those were wins. Alex Palou is next best with seven followed by Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.
Will Power 8
Alex Palou 7
Pato O’Ward 6
Josef Newgarden 6
Scott McLaughlin 6
Scott Dixon 4
Marcus Ericsson 3
Alexander Rossi 2
Felix Rosenqvist 2
Romain Grosjean 2
Colton Herta 1
David Malukas 1
Christian Lundgaard 1
Kyle Kirkwood 1
Santino Ferrucci 1
Most Top 5’s:
Chip Ganassi Racing teammates of Alex Palou and Scott Dixon lead this category with 10 each. What’s separated Palou from the pack is that he has 10 top five finishes, but 70% of them (7-for-10) have landed him on the podium. By comparison, just 40% of Dixon’s (4-for-10) have for him.
Pato O’Ward (9) is next best with 67% of his top fives getting him on the podium. Power is after O’Ward with 8 which means the only time he’s in the top five, he’s on the podium. Newgarden and McLaughlin each had 7 while Alexander Rossi is next best at 6.
Alex Palou 10
Scott Dixon 10
Pato O’Ward 9
Will Power 8
Josef Newgarden 7
Scott McLaughlin 7
Alexander Rossi 6
Felix Rosenqvist 4
Marcus Ericsson 4
Colton Herta 4
Christian Lundgaard 3
Graham Rahal 2
Romain Grosjean 2
David Malukas 2
Rinus VeeKay 2
Takuma Sato 1
Jimmie Johnson 1
Callum Ilott 1
Kyle Kirkwood 1
Santino Ferrucci 1
Most Top 10s:
It’s not surprising to see the two drivers with the most top five’s land as the ones with the most top 10’s. Palou and Dixon each have 15 meaning out of the last 17 races run, they’ve both had a top 10 in 88% (15-for-17) of them. Both have turned 67% of those top 10’s into top five finishes. Marcus Ericsson (14) and Josef Newgarden (14) are both tied for third.
This is the category for which shows where Ericsson is lacking. Tied for third most top 10 finishes among all drivers. 82.3% of all races he’s had a top 10. But, that’s where he stops. Just 4 of those 14 top 10’s have resulted in a top five. 3 of his 4 top fives have landed in the podium. Which shows that it’s either a podium finish or one between 6-10th. Finding that sweet spot in the middle is what’s keeping him out of leading the points on a more regular basis.
Newgarden has made up for the lesser top five finishes (10 for Palou, 7 for he, 4 for Ericsson) with winning (4 each Palou/Newgarden, just 1 for Ericsson).
Scott McLaughlin has 13 top 10 finishes with teammate Will Power at 11. What shocked me most about this category though is the fact that Felix Rosenqvist (10) has as many top 10 finishes as Pato O’Ward (also 10).
Alexander Rossi has 10, but four of those came with Andretti last year. The difference for Rosenqvist and O’Ward is similar to Palou and Ericsson.
O’Ward leads Rosenqvist 9-4 in regards to top five finishes. It’s 6-2 in podiums and 1-0 in wins. That’s the difference.
Alex Palou 15
Scott Dixon 15
Marcus Ericsson 14
Josef Newgarden 14
Scott McLaughlin 13
Will Power 11
Felix Rosenqvist 10
Pato O’Ward 10
Alexander Rossi 10
Christian Lundgaard 9
Colton Herta 8
Graham Rahal 7
David Malukas 5
Romain Grosjean 5
Rinus VeeKay 4
Takuma Sato 3
Callum Ilott 3
Simon Pagenaud 3
Kyle Kirkwood 3
Helio Castroneves 2
Marcus Armstrong 2
Jimmie Johnson 1
Jack Harvey 1
Santino Ferrucci 1
Conor Daly 1
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