IndyCar: When will another two-time champion be crowned?

By Asher Fair | Jan 7, 2019

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of the #28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda, leads Simon Pagenaud, driver of the #1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet, and Josef Newgarden, driver of the #2 hum by Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, during practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

A two-time IndyCar champion has not been crowned since the 2009 season. When will another driver win his second career championship?

In the last nine IndyCar seasons, there have been drivers crowned champion for the first time, the third time, the fourth time and the fifth time. But no drivers in have been crowned champion for the second time during this span.

The most recent IndyCar driver to be crowned champion for the second time is Dario Franchitti, who became a two-time champion in the 2009 season. He won the 2007 championship before spending the 2008 season in the NASCAR Cup Series and then going on to win his second IndyCar championship upon his return to the series in the following season.

Since then, Franchitti has won his third and fourth career IndyCar championships. He won his third career championship in the 2010 season before winning the fourth and final championship of his career in the 2011 season. He retired as a result of injuries he suffered in a wreck that took place in a race late in the 2013 season.

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In other words, IndyCar’s most recently crowned two-time champion is a four-time champion who retired more than five years ago and won his fourth championship more than seven years ago.

Since Franchitti was crowned a two-time champion in the 2009 season, which other drivers have won championships that have prevented there from being any two-time champions crowned?

After Franchitti won the 2010 and 2011 championships, Ryan Hunter-Reay won his first career championship in the 2012 season. Scott Dixon then won his third career championship, as he also won the 2003 and 2008 championships, in the 2013 season.

Will Power went on to win his third career championship in the 2014 season before Dixon won his fourth career championship in the 2015 season. Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden then won their first career championships in the 2016 season and the 2017 season, respectively, before Dixon became a five-time champion in the 2018 season.

There are currently seven former champions competing in IndyCar. These seven former champions are five-time champion Scott Dixon, four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, 2004 champion Tony Kanaan, 2012 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2014 champion Will Power, 2016 Simon Pagenaud and 2017 Josef Newgarden.

If Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Power, Pagenaud or Newgarden win the 2019 championship, IndyCar will crown its first two-time champion in 10 seasons.

Hunter-Reay, Power, Pagenaud and Newgarden should all be championship contenders in the 2019 season after finishing in fourth, third, sixth and fifth place in the championship standings in the 2018 season.

However, Kanaan likely won’t be a championship contender in the 2019 season after finishing in 16th in the championship standings in 2018. While he may not be as washed up as many fans believe he is, his days as a championship contender appear to be in the rearview mirror.

But even for any one of these four perennial contenders to win the 2019 championship, they will have to overcome the two drivers who finished in the top two in the championship standings in the 2018 season: five-time champion Dixon and Alexander Rossi, who has competed in IndyCar in each of the last three seasons but has never won a championship.

The odds that either Dixon, Rossi, Hunter-Reay, Power, Pagenaud or Newgarden win the championship in the 2019 season are extremely high. The 2006 season is the most recent season during which Franchitti nor any one of these drivers failed to win the championship, as Sam Hornish Jr. won it that season, and these six drivers finished in the top six in the championship standings in the 2018 season.

However, Dixon and Rossi’s combined odds may very well be as good as the combined odds of Hunter-Reay, Power, Pagenaud and Newgarden. As a result, it is a toss-up when it comes to deciding whether or not a two-time champion will be crowned in the 2019 season for the first time in 10 seasons, but even if one isn’t, expect one to win his second career IndyCar championship in the very near future, likely within the next two or three seasons.

Next. Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark

Which IndyCar driver will be the next driver to win his second career championship in the sport, and when will this driver win his second career championship? Be sure not to miss any of the 17 races on the 2019 schedule to see whether or not this happens in the upcoming season. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is scheduled to get the season underway from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 10.