IndyCar: One driver has already clinched a championship

Pato O’Ward finished no lower than fourth place in an oval race in the 2021 IndyCar season and secured the oval championship as a result.

With his runner-up finish to Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in this past Saturday night’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward surged to the lead of the IndyCar championship standings ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou.

Palou was involved in an accident that took him out of the race and netted him his second consecutive DNF, two DNFs that have resulted in a 42-point lead over teammate Scott Dixon turning into a 10-point deficit to O’Ward.

light. Also. Danica Patrick's worst crash

There are just three races remaining on the 16-race 2021 schedule, all road or street course races. IndyCar is now in a mini-break (compared to the five-week summer break), with no action scheduled to take place on either one of the next two weekends.

But once things start back up again in just under three weeks, there are no breaks until the champion is crowned.

Here is a look at the remaining 2021 schedule.

Sunday, September 12 – Portland International Raceway (road course)
Sunday, September 19 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (road course)
Sunday, September 26 – Streets of Long Beach, California (street course)

With all three of these races being road or street course races, this means that there are no more oval races on the calendar. As a result, the oval championship has been decided, and it was O’Ward who clinched the title with his performance this past Saturday night.

In four oval races this season, O’Ward finished no lower than fourth place. He finished in third in the first of two races at Texas Motor Speedway before securing his first career victory in the second.