Drama in IndyCar season finale
If you like close races, you’re gonna love Sunday’s IndyCar event at Sonoma Raceway.
Seven drivers have a mathematical chance of clinching the overall series title at the season-ending Grand Prix of Sonoma, but realistically, it’s the top four drivers — separated by a mere 34 points — who have the best shot at winning it all. This is the first time since 2003 that this many drivers have been separated by so few points at this juncture of the season.
“I’m excited about it,” said Simon Pagenaud, who clinched his first series championship by winning at Sonoma last year. “I think it’s going to be a great show.”
Pagenaud, a Frenchman who drives for Team Penske, is
in fourth place with 526 points, trailing teammate and series leader Josef Newgarden of Tennessee (560 points), Aussie Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing (557) and another Penske driver, Helio Castroneves of Brazil (538).
The vagaries of IndyCar competition sometimes can render such point margins moot; Pagenaud points to his championship ride in last year’s season finale at Sonoma as an example of the “anything can happen” mind-set employed by most drivers. He led the second-place driver, teammate Will Power, by 44 points, but the New Zealand driver encountered mechanical problems midway through the 85-lap, 202.7-mile race and that mishap handed the title to Pagenaud.
“My points deficit on (Newgarden) is less than Will’s deficit on me last year, and quite frankly, all it took was for Will to have the problem he had for me to win the championship,” Pagenaud said. “I don’t see the points deficit being such an issue. I think the most important thing is to go into Sonoma very confident and try to score the maximum points.
“Right now, I'm sitting here thinking I’ve got all the chances in the world to make it happen.”
The best chances, of course, go to the top two drivers, Newgarden and Dixon, with the edge, perhaps, going to the latter. Dixon, a four-time series champ, won his most recent title two years ago by overcoming a 47-point deficit to Juan Pablo Montoya in the seriesending race at Sonoma.
Dixon said he’s feeling “pretty good.”
“I wouldn’t say that (overtaking Montoya) makes me feel any more relaxed or any more confident,” he said, adding that he’s in “a better position than in 2015, but that guarantees you pretty much nothing. It’s good to be in the hunt and have a tight gap, but we’re still going to have to do our best to beat four of the closest competitors right there.”
Meanwhile, Newgarden — whose best season finish was last year’s fourth — had a silly crash while exiting the pits at Watkins Glen two weeks ago, which resulted in him finishing in 18th place and tightened the points race.
“I don’t think it will change our mind-set or the way that we attack the season finale,” he said. “The most comforting thing to me is that we can control our own destiny. … It’s in our hands to make it happen.” Briefly: Marin native Memo Gidley will race for the first time since being involved in a horrific crash at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2014, breaking 14 bones and sustaining spinal injuries, in this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge GT Sprint, an ancillary event to the Grand Prix of Sonoma. … Warriors guard Klay Thompson has been selected grand marshal of Sunday’s main event. His duties include uttering, “Drivers, start your engines” and waving the green flag.