By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday.
Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points.
It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had five drivers in the mix at Texas Motor Speedway. One of those five that battled for the title was Scott Dixon, who won his first of six INDYCAR titles. While overshadowed by the horrific crash involving Kenny Brack, Dixon’s legacy have increased.
Although trailing Power by 20 points, Dixon hopes to join AJ Foyt as the only men to win seven titles in America’s premiere open wheel series. More so after going over a year without a win, the second half has been kind to Dixon as he’ll look to capture yet another championship for Ganassi.
Dixon’s teammate Marcus Ericsson is the only other Ganassi racer in the mix as a win in the 106th Indianapolis 500 propelled him to the title hunt. While his last few races haven’t set the world on fire, consistency has been the name of the game. Like Brack before, Ericsson hopes to bring an Indy car title back to Sweden.
Also trailing Power by 20 points is Josef Newgarden, who’ll be looking for his third title in six years. He leads the series with five wins as the Tennessee racer consistently have made tremendous noise. Ranging from the PeopleReady Challenge he won for winning at all three types of racing circuits to winning thrillers at Gateway and Texas, Newgarden carries the torch of the present day.
But the future is at the hands of McLaughlin, who has been on a superb roll and will be staying with Penske for years to come. Although a longshot and ready for an even stronger 2023 campaign, the Kiwi is still in this trail. He’ll need a lot of help to come out of Monterey as the improbable champion due to the 41-point deficit.
To do it, he’ll have to go through Power. What’s been the greatest setback in his career is momentum and luck. Both have favored the 2014 champion despite only winning once at Belle Isle. No stranger to glory and heartbreak, Power controls his own destiny with the 20-point lead over Newgarden and Dixon.
If this season has…
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