IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud is right back in the championship fight

By Asher Fair | Jul 15, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 07: Simon Pagenaud of France, driver of the #22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet, stands on the grid during US Concrete Qualifying Day for the NTT IndyCar Series - DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 07, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

With his dominant Honda Indy Toronto victory, Simon Pagenaud is right back in the thick of the 2019 IndyCar championship fight.

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud entered the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place, the 11th of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, sitting in third place in the championship standings, trailing teammate Josef Newgarden for the lead by 61 points (402 to 341).

The championship battle looked as though it had become a two-driver battle between Newgarden and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, as Rossi trailed Newgarden by just seven points (402 to 395) entering this 85-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile (2.874-kilometer) temporary street circuit on the streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

There was never any doubt that Pagenaud, who is the only driver aside of Newgarden to lead the championship standings at any point this season, was still in the mix, as a 61-point deficit is not insurmountable over the course of seven races, especially not when one of these seven races is a double points-paying race. However, there was an extent of doubt as to whether or not he could actually overcome this deficit.

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Why?

While Pagenaud sat in third place in the championship standings, his position in the standings benefited greatly from the fact that he won the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is a double points-paying race, back in late May.

Additionally, he did win the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, but outside of Speedway, Indiana, he had not only not won a race in the 2019 season, but he had not finished a single race on the podium. In fact, he had not even finished a single race in the top five.

After topping the speed charts in the final two of the three practice sessions for the Honda Indy Toronto, Pagenaud took the pole position for the race and entered it as the heavy favorite. While it got tight at the end for him on fuel and with a hard-charging Scott Dixon running in second place in his #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the driver of the #22 Chevrolet prevailed and took the checkered flag under caution.

This was exactly the race weekend he needed to launch himself back into the championship fight.

Outside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pagenaud’s season had been, for lack of a better word, mediocre, even compared to last season when he failed to win a single race.

His average finishing position in the other eight races on the schedule entering the Honda Indy Toronto was only 9.88, which, over the course of a full season, is better than his average finishing position in only one of his eight seasons as a full-time driver. He finished that season, the 2015 season, in 11th place in the championship standings with an average finishing position of 10.63.

Pagenaud needed to capitalize on his pace in the Honda Indy Toronto, and he did with one of the most dominant performances of his career. He led 80 of the race’s 85 laps and only relinquished the lead during his first pit stop. He was never passed for the lead on the track itself.

Meanwhile, Rossi finished this race in third place behind Pagenaud and Dixon while Newgarden finished in fourth.

As a result, Pagenaud moved from 61 points behind Newgarden to just 39 points behind him (434 to 395), and he moved from 54 points behind Rossi to just 35 points behind him (430 to 395). Additionally, he separated himself from the rest of the pack, including Dixon. After entering this race 33 points ahead of Dixon (341 to 308), he now sits 47 points ahead of him (395 to 348).

This is only Pagenaud’s second season earning more than two victories, and the first season during which he did so was the 2016 season when he won five races and went on to win the championship.

With three victories under his belt so far this year and six races remaining on the 2019 schedule, he could very well do so this year as well, and he showed that at Exhibition Place with a dominant performance somewhere other than at the “Racing Capital of the World” for the first time this season.

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With Simon Pagenaud now clearly back in the 2019 IndyCar championship fight following a dominant performance in the Honda Indy Toronto, does he have what it takes to win this year’s title?

Just six races remain on the 2019 schedule, the first of which being this Saturday night’s Iowa 300 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.