With the 2024 IndyCar season in its Olympic break, let’s grade the mostly full-time drivers based on their performances so far this year. Drivers will appear in championship order.
Alex Palou: A+. The two-time and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion has had a nearly perfect season so far. Other than a collision at Detroit and a spin at Iowa, the Spaniard has finished in the top five in every race so far this season. Palou hasn’t won an oval race yet, so that gives his competitors a chance at the title going to the final few races of the year, but Palou has finished fifth and second in two of the three oval races so far this season.
The championship isn’t out of reach yet for the competition, but Palou has a hand nearing the trophy to grab it.
Will Power: A. The 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion had an off year in 2023 but is back to his 2022 form with a pair of wins and a trio of runner-up finishes. A crash in this year’s Indianapolis 500 and three finishes of 11th or worse in the last four races has put the Australian a decent way back from Palou in points, but Power figured out ovals a while back and will look to claw that gap back as the series heads toward Nashville.
Scott Dixon: A. With two wins in 2024, Dixon reminds the rest of the IndyCar world that he hasn’t slowed down as he’s gotten older. When Dixon has a car capable of victory, he’s extremely difficult to beat. The six-time IndyCar champion has had two bad races this year (Barber and Road America) with a race at Mid-Ohio that was one to forget with a hybrid system malfunction before the start of the race.
Dixon has numerous oval wins, including a magnificent race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway last season, so a seventh title is possible for IndyCar’s modern-day GOAT.
Colton Herta: A. A badly-timed pit stop in Iowa, a small amount of wall contact at the Indianapolis 500 and a frustrating sequence of events at Detroit have kept Herta from scoring many more points this season, but the California native is having perhaps his best season in a few years. Herta’s win in Toronto was vintage Herta and he’s only eight points out of second place in the championship.
Scoring second in the IndyCar championship would give Herta 30 Superlicense points out of the 40 he needs to race in Formula 1. If the best three years out of four requirement is still active, Herta would have 39 points including his fifth place in the 2021 IndyCar title…
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