IndyCar: Ranking the Past 10 Series Champions
By Asher Fair
No. 1 – Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, 2016
Since 2007, Simon Pagenaud has undoubtedly had the best championship season of any driver in the sport. After struggling in his first season with Team Penske in 2015, Pagenaud came out of the gates fast in 2016, reeling off five consecutive top 2 finishes to open up the season, including three victories in a row.
Despite underachieving with a 19th place finish in the Indianapolis 500, Pagenaud maintained control of the championship standings lead after taking it following the second race of the season. He was even able to withstand a six-race top 2 streak, including four victories, by Will Power, who ended up finishing in 2nd place in the standings, toward the end of the season.
The only reason Will Power had more than a sliver of a chance to win the championship in the final race of the season at Sonoma was due to the fact that double points were on offer. Despite never having won at Sonoma before, Pagenaud dominated the race and went on to win the championship by a record 127-point margin after a five-win season.
Pagenaud was so much better than the entire field all season. In fact, Will Power, who finished in 2nd place 127 points behind, missed a race to start the season. The closest driver to Pagenaud who competed in each of the 16 races in 2016 was Helio Castroneves in 3rd place, 155 points behind.
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Which champions do you think have had the best seasons in IndyCar history? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Stay tuned for a possible ranking of the past 10 championship battles themselves as well. Finally, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.