IndyCar: Early 2020 power rankings; a new champion?

By Asher Fair | Mar 7, 2020

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Takuma Sato of Japan, driver of the #30 ABeam Consulting Honda, races Scott Dixon of New Zealand, driver of the #9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, at the start of 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) /

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – MAY 26: Simon Pagenaud of France, driver of the #22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

With the offseason between the 2019 and 2020 IndyCar seasons nearing its end, how do the 20 drivers slated to compete full-time in the upcoming year stack up against one another?

Another IndyCar season wrapped up in September, and another one is close to beginning. The most 2019 season ended in a way that no season had ended since 2009: with a driver becoming a two-time champion.

Josef Newgarden, who won the 2017 championship in his first season driving for Team Penske, added to his title collection with his second title and second four-win season in three years, winning the 2019 championship in a nearly wire-to-wire fashion.

Of the 19 drivers who competed on a full-time basis in the 2019 season, 14 are set to return in the 2020 season, with 12 doing so at the same teams they drove for last year.

Meanwhile, six others, including three rookies, are set to join the series full-time. Five of these six drivers are set to so as the replacements for other drivers while the other one is set to do so in a ride that he previously occupied, but not as a full-time driver.

How do the 20 drivers slated to compete full-time in 2020 stack up against one another? Here are the early 2020 IndyCar power rankings.

Note that only full-time drivers are included.