Beyond the Flag
Fansided

IndyCar: Pivotal three-week stint for Chevrolet, Honda, contenders

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Josef Newgarden of the United States, driver of the #2 Fitzgerald USA Team Penske Chevrolet, and Alexander Rossi of the United States, driver of the #27 GESS/Capstone Honda, race during the NTT IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 08, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Josef Newgarden of the United States, driver of the #2 Fitzgerald USA Team Penske Chevrolet, and Alexander Rossi of the United States, driver of the #27 GESS/Capstone Honda, race during the NTT IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 08, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Following two consecutive off weekends, IndyCar is set to begin a three-week stint of races that should prove pivotal for Chevrolet, Honda and the championship contenders.

IndyCar‘s grueling five-week stint from mid-May to mid-June ended following the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, which led into an off weekend before the series returned to action the following Sunday with the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America.

After two consecutive off weekends following this race, the 10th of 17 races on the 2019 schedule, the series is scheduled to return to action this Sunday, July 14 with the Honda Indy Toronto on the streets at Exhibition Place.

This race kicks off a three-week stint of races that should prove pivotal to both Chevrolet and Honda in terms of the engine manufacturer battle and to all of the championship contenders, including the frontrunners and those still fighting to remain in the fray as the season winds down.

More from IndyCar

Next weekend’s race, the Iowa 300, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 20 at Iowa Speedway, and the following weekend’s race, the Honda Indy 200, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 28 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Heading into the Honda Indy Toronto, the championship battle is looking more and more like a two-driver battle, with one Chevrolet driver, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, sitting atop the championship standings with 402 points, and leading a Honda driver, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, in second place by only seven points.

The career statistics of both of these two drivers at the schedule’s remaining tracks, excluding the one track where neither of them have ever competed in an IndyCar race, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, have been off the charts, further making this upcoming three-week stint a crucial one.

As we saw at Road America, even a third place finish by Newgarden wasn’t enough to prevent his 25-point lead from being cut to a seven-point lead, as Rossi dominated the race en route to winning it.

Following these next three races, there will be another two off weekends following by another three-week stint of racing, another two weekends off and then the double points-paying season finale at Laguna Seca.

With the season finale being a double points-paying race, everyone who sits within about 80 points or so of the lead of the championship standings entering this race will have a legitimate chance to win it.

However, with the season just over halfway complete, only one driver, aside of Newgarden and Rossi, remains with that threshold.

That driver is Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, whose victory in the double points-paying Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway provided him with a huge boost in the championship standings. He sits in third place with 341 points, 61 points behind Newgarden, so this upcoming three-week stint will be especially crucial for him.

Reasonably speaking, there are probably five additional drivers who even have the slightest glimmer of hope of breaking into this threshold. Here are these five drivers.

Rank – Driver, Car, Team, Engine: Points (Behind)
4th – Scott Dixon, #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda: 308 (-94)
5th – Will Power, #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet: 294 (-108)
6th – Takuma Sato, #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda: 292 (-110)
7th – Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda: 271 (-131)
8th – Graham Rahal, #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda: 244 (-158)

However, as long as Newgarden and Rossi keep stringing together solid results, the hope is gone for these five drivers, even Scott Dixon, who can never, ever be completely counted out.

Additionally, Chevrolet and Honda are tied on the wins list with five victories apiece heading into the Honda Indy Toronto, just like last season, the first season of the new universal aero kit (UAK18) era.

Honda won all three of the races at Exhibition Place, Iowa Speedway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last season to take a commanding lead in the manufacturer championship, and they ended up winning a total of six of the season’s final seven races.

Will the same thing happen this year, or will Chevrolet give Honda a better battle following what was the bowtie manufacturer’s worst season since re-entering the sport with the commencement of the DW12 era back in the 2012 season?

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

Regardless of how these championship battles play out throughout the rest of the 2019 IndyCar season, it’s clear that the upcoming three-week stint will have a lot to say about the complexions of both, and it starts this Sunday, July 14. Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 3:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Honda Indy Toronto from Exhibition Place on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The race itself is scheduled to begin shortly thereafter at 3:30 p.m. ET.