IndyCar: 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix could be the best yet

This year’s running of the IndyCar Grand Prix, which is typically a lackluster race without a whole lot of action, could be the best yet.

This afternoon’s IndyCar race, the IndyCar Grand Prix, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is shaping up to be the best yet, both in terms of race history and throughout the 2019 season thus far.

This race was added to the IndyCar schedule for the 2014 season as the final race before the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Sunday. It has been held on the Saturday two weeks before the Indy 500 ever since it was added to the schedule.

After the inaugural IndyCar Grand Prix provided a good amount of excitement and unpredictability throughout the event, the last four races at the four-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Speedway, Indiana have been lackluster to say the very least.

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In fact, with all things considered, it isn’t inaccurate to say that this race has become nothing more than a month of May gimmick leading up to the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” 15 days later.

The race polesitters for each of these four races have gone on to dominate and win all four of them, and only two drivers have ever won the race. Team Penske’s Will Power won it in the 2015, 2017 and 2018 seasons while Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who won it in the 2014 season driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, won it in the 2016 season as well.

But this year’s IndyCar Grand Prix looks like it could be different — a lot different.

In fact, it may be the best IndyCar Grand Prix yet, and it may very well turn out to be the best race of the IndyCar season thus far, as despite the high level of parity that currently exists within the series, all four of the season’s first four races have been dominated by one driver, including three races that were dominated by the eventual race winner.

Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist is set to start the 85-lap race from the pole position. Entering this weekend, he had never started an IndyCar race on the front row in four career starts. He is set to start the race alongside teammate Scott Dixon, the defending and five-time IndyCar champion who has not yet won a race this season.

Meanwhile, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey shattered his previous career-high starting position of seventh place by qualifying in third place for this race, meaning that the top three drivers on the starting grid all drive for teams that have not yet won a race this season.

As a result, this race has a great chance to make the 2019 season the first season since the 2000 season to feature five different winning teams in the first five races.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta, who already became the youngest driver to win in IndyCar race in series history earlier this year by winning the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas, is set to start this race in fourth place.

After two rough race weekends, the 19-year-old Valencia, California native will be looking to bounce back in a big way, and as the winner of both Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last season, he has more than enough of what it takes to do it.

Herta is also the only driver who has won a race this season and is set to start this afternoon’s race in the top 10.

Then there is Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Jones, who could not have possibly had a rougher start to his first season driving for Ed Carpenter Racing. He qualified in fifth place for this race, which he is set to enter having not yet finished a race in the top 13 this season. With three career podium finishes, including two in street course races, to his name since his IndyCar career began two years ago, he could be a dark horse to get the job done this afternoon.

Additionally, with Jones set to start this race in fifth place, four of the top five drivers on the starting grid all drive for teams that have not yet won a race this season.

Meanwhile, Power and Pagenaud are set to start the race in sixth and eighth place, respectively, so it will be interesting to see how they approach the race in attempt to maintain their monopoly on victory lane at the track.

They certainly shouldn’t be counted out, but no driver has won a race after starting from outside the top four so far this season, and no driver has won this particular race after starting from outside the top four. In fact, Pagenaud’s victory in the race back in the 2014 season is the only victory in race history that was earned by a driver who did not start from the pole position.

And let’s not forget that this particular race featured a standing start that resulted in the race polesitter, Sebastian Saavedra, being plowed into twice from behind as a result of the fact that his car did not start.

Further — a lot further — back in the field for this afternoon’s race are championship frontrunners Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport.

Newgarden, who leads the championship standings by 28 points (166 to 138) over Rossi in second place, is set to start this race, which he has never finished in the top 10, all the way back in 13th. Meanwhile, Rossi’s qualifying effort was even more disastrous, as he is set to start the race two rows behind Newgarden in 17th.

On top of all of this, it may rain during the race.

The bottom line? The starting grid for this race is one of the most interesting looking starting grids for an IndyCar race in quite some time, and the race looks like it will be equally as interesting, which would be quite refreshing on many levels.

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Be sure not to miss this afternoon’s IndyCar Grand Prix, as it is shaping up to be the most entertaining race in race history and throughout the 2019 IndyCar season thus far. It is set to be broadcast live on NBC from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. The race itself is scheduled to get underway at roughly 3:50 p.m. ET.