Following Scott McLaughlin’s dominating win in Portland, five drivers will head to Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca with a shot at the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series title.
The top five in points heading into the final race of the season are:
- Will Power – 523
- Josef Newgarden – 503
- Scott Dixon – 503
- Marcus Ericsson – 484
- Scott McLaughlin – 482
With an impressive record of 11 top four finishes over the course of 16 races, Team Penske’s Will Power needs only to finish on the podium to take his second championship. To this point, Power has collected eight podium results including a win in Detroit.
Sat 20 points back from Power are Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, chasing their third and seventh titles respectively. While the battle is uphill for both of Power’s main challengers, the title is certainly still up for grabs.
Who’s ready to crown a champion?#INDYCAR is back at @WeatherTechRcwy for the #FirestoneGP.
Tune in to the season finale on Sunday, September 11 at 3PM ET on @nbc and @peacockTV. pic.twitter.com/DDG1iVxTiD
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 6, 2022
Power remains optimistic about his chances at a second title despite a less than cushy margin to Newgarden and Dixon.
“It’s more comfortable if it was 30 points ahead instead of 20, but I’m in the best position of everyone, mathematically. Just need to get to Laguna [Seca] and do a good job, man,” Power told RACER last Sunday.
Hypothetically, imagine Newgarden (or Dixon) can pull out all the stops in Monterey, collecting 50 points for the win, an extra point for leading a lap, two extra points for leading the most laps, and one final point for pole position. These 54 points bring Newgarden/Dixon to a total of 557 points on the year.
With Power’s current total of 523, the 35 points on offer for third place bring him to 558, beating out Newgarden by a lone point with no need for bonus points. The same goes for Dixon as the Kiwi sits level with Newgarden.
A daunting 39 and 41 points back from the lead are Marcus Ericsson and McLaughlin, respectively. McLaughlin pulled out a massive win in Portland to save his championship aspirations while Ericsson’s campaign in the Pacific Northwest was characterized by frustration and frustration alone.
Despite this contrast, these two challengers are on equal footing as far as their shots at the title are concerned.
Mathematically, the only situation that offers either Ericsson or McLaughlin a real shot at the Astor Cup is a…
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