INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway really tightened up the GTP standings even more. Just when you thought they couldn’t get any tighter, it’s morphed into a winner-take-all scenario for next month’s season finale at Road Atlanta.

At the moment, 38 points separate 1st through 4th. It was 98 coming to Indy. Furthermore, only 5 points are the difference between 1st and 3rd.

With the points structure being 35 for the pole, 32 for second, 30, 28, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21 in qualifying but a 30-point gap between a win (350) and second place (320) for the race and 50 between first and third (300), it basically sets up a must win among the championship front runners.

Points structure: 350, 320, 300, 280, 260, 250, 240, 230, 220, 210.

For Indy, the Penske Porsche’s knew that they had to have a near perfect weekend in order to have a chance at their third championship in the last five years.

That’s exactly what they did.

The No. 7 Porsche entered Indy -139. However, a pole (35 points) and runner-up (320) took them from 7th to 5th in the standings with 73 points down. The No. 6 Porsche started seconds (32 points) and won (350 points) and leaped from -98 to -5 in the process.

Another big mover was the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8. Their third-place finish took them from -73 to -38 in the standings.

With Action Express’ No. 31 Cadillac finishing fourth and WTR Andretti’s No. 10 Acura finishing fifth, they flip flopped the top two spots in the standings.

Action Express went from 14 points down to 3 points up. The Whelen Engineering team is after their 3rd title in the last 6 years but combine them with WTR Andretti, they’ve won 3 of the last 6 already and after the 4th in 7 years between them.

WTR Andretti won 7 times in the last 2 seasons but were runner-up in points each time. This year, they’re winless in 8 races. They’re 3 points down in second. Can they win Road Atlanta? If they can, they’d give Acura their fourth title in five years from three different teams.

Penske was with Acura in their back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020. Meyer Shank Racing won for Acura just last year. Can WTR Andretti do so this time around? Their last title in 2017 came with Cadillac.

What’s wild is the Action Express entry hasn’t won since Sebring and comes to the finale with results of 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 7th, 6th, 4th since the win. The No. 10 Acura has finished 7th, 4th, 6th, 2nd, 3rd, 5th in the same span.

It’s the teams behind them with all the momentum.

The No. 6 Penske has 3 top 2 finishes including a pair of wins in the same 6 races (1st, 2nd, 9th, 5th, 7th, 1st). The only reason its’ now 4 top 2 finishes was the Watkins Glen victory was taken away in a DQ.

The No. 25 BMW for RLL has finished 2nd, 8th, 1st, 3rd, 10th, 3rd in the same races with 5 podiums actually in the last 7 races. Can they make up enough ground is the question?

The No. 7 team has 2 straight top two finishes with results in this last 6 race span being 3rd, 9th, 7th, 6th, 1st, 2nd.

That’s why this season finale is going to be worth watching.