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Max Chilton Is Coming into his Own in IndyCar

May 28, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; IndyCar Series driver Max Chilton makes a pit stop during the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps no IndyCar driver had a better month of May from start to finish than second-year Chip Ganassi Racing driver Max Chilton.

Coming into the 2017 season, Max Chilton was undoubtedly on a short leash in IndyCar. With just two top 10 finishes in 16 races in his rookie season and a career-high finish of just 7th place, Chilton being able to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing as a full-time driver again seemed like it was a stretch to say the very least.

The beginning of the 2017 season proved exactly why. Over the course of the first four races, Chilton finished no higher than 12th place even despite a few decent qualifying runs. At Phoenix, the venue at which he scored his career-high 7th place finish in 2016, he was taken out in a first-lap crash and finished in 20th.

At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Chilton did not start out well, qualifying 14th. But over the course of the race, he ended up moving up seven spots and tying his IndyCar career-high result with a 7th place finish.

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Given that Chilton is more of a road and street course driver than an oval driver, his 15th place effort in qualifying for the Indy 500 was a pleasant surprise. When pit strategy got him to the front of the field, not many if any people thought he’d be able to do anything. To the surprise of many if not all, he led a race-high 50 laps and was in contention for the win up until the end when he finished in a career-high 4th place.

After two consecutive career-high finishes, Max Chilton appears to be coming into his own in IndyCar. While it took over a year for him to get to this point, he is finally at it and is looking strong.

Just four drivers finished both the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 in the top 10. Chilton was one of them, finishing in 7th at the Grand Prix and 4th at the Indy 500.

Part-time driver Juan Pablo Montoya was another, finishing in 10th at the Grand Prix and 6th at the Indy 500. The other two were Alexander Rossi, who finished in 8th at the Grand Prix and 7th at the Indy 500, and Helio Castroneves, who finished in 5th and the Grand Prix and 2nd in the Indy 500.

With only Castroneves, who is expected to win races, having better combined results at the Indianapolis races this season than Chilton, whose goal is to win a race, it is a safe bet to say that no driver had a more productive month of May from start to finish than Chilton did.

After his career-high 4th place finish in the Indy 500, Chilton now sits in a 10th place tie in the championship standings just 75 points out of the lead. While pretty much no one expects those 75 points to turn into 0 and Chilton to win the championship, and rightfully not, this is certainly an improvement from last season when Chilton finished the season in 19th place in the championship standings.

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