Beyond the Flag
Fansided

IndyCar: Top-Five Championship Contenders In 2017

By Asher Fair

Aug 27, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Chip Ganassi Racing Team driver Scott Dixon (9) of New Zealand and Team Penske driver Will Power (12) of Australia and Rahal Letterman Racing driver Graham Rahal (15) of United Statesi and Ed Carpenter Racing driver Ed Carpenter (20) of United States and Chip Ganassi Racing Team driver Tony Kanaan (10) of Brazil during the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 27, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Chip Ganassi Racing Team driver Scott Dixon (9) of New Zealand and Team Penske driver Will Power (12) of Australia and Rahal Letterman Racing driver Graham Rahal (15) of United Statesi and Ed Carpenter Racing driver Ed Carpenter (20) of United States and Chip Ganassi Racing Team driver Tony Kanaan (10) of Brazil during the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 7
Next
Sep 18, 2016; Sonoma, CA, USA; Hewlett Packard Enterprise driver Simon Pagenaud races during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2016; Sonoma, CA, USA; Hewlett Packard Enterprise driver Simon Pagenaud races during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 2: Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

Simon Pagenaud won the Verizon IndyCar Series championship a season ago by a record margin of 127 points. He was the best all-around driver, so cooling him down will be a challenge.

After struggling coming to Team Penske in 2015 with an 11th place championship finish, Pagenaud got it together in 2016 and won five races, including three in a row spanning Long Beach, Barber, and Indianapolis (Grand Prix). The potential he had in 2015 turned into reality in 2016, and he showed no signs of cooling down, winning the series final at Sonoma.

Coming into the 2017 season, Pagenaud is the series best driver and he is on the best team. But as I said at the beginning, the standings have never in the history of any sport stayed exactly the same from year to year. Also, IndyCar has not seen a back-to-back champion since 2011 when Dario Franchitti won his third championship in a row.