Alex Palou can end a massive IndyCar streak this Sunday

Leading the championship standings with two races remaining in the 2021 IndyCar season, Alex Palou has a chance to end a long streak this Sunday.

The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, the second of three races in a row to conclude the 16-race 2021 IndyCar season, is scheduled to take place this Sunday afternoon at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, a track that was axed from the 2020 calendar as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions.

Entering this past Sunday afternoon’s race at Portland International Raceway, another track that fell victim to such restrictions last year, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou trailed Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward by 10 points in the championship standings following two consecutive DNFs, neither one of his own doing, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Palou took the pole position for the race, but an incident at the start — again, not of his own doing — led to him being sent to the back of the pack. Meanwhile, O’Ward inherited the lead from seventh place simply by not being involved in the early scrap.

But the driver of the #10 Honda never stopped pushing and wound up in victory lane. O’Ward only managed to finish in 14th place.

A 10-point deficit turned into a 25-point lead with two races remaining in the 2021 season for the 24-year-old Spaniard. Also still in the championship hunt are Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (-34) and Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon (-49) and Marcus Ericsson (-75).

A maximum of 54 points are on the table in each race: 50 for the win, one for leading at least one lap, one for taking the pole position, and two for leading the most laps.

A competitor can make up a maximum of 49 points over any give competitor in a given regular points-paying race, considering the fact that all drivers who compete are guaranteed to score at least five points.

So Palou has a chance to do what no driver has done since 2005 this Sunday: clinch an IndyCar championship before the season finale.

The IndyCar title battle has been decided in the season finale in each of the last 15 seasons going back to 2006, a mind-blowing statistic that speaks to the consistently high level of parity at the highest level of American open-wheel racing.

Not since the late two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon won the 2005 title has the season finale been meaningless championship-wise.

You can technically make the case that Wheldon clinched the title before not only the final race but the penultimate race of that season; all he needed to do was show up. So Palou won’t be able to match that feat this year.

However, ending this 15-year streak would be arguably just as historic, considering not only some of the huge leads we have seen in recent years, but just how competitive the 2021 season has been, even when compared to many of those recent seasons which saw the title decided in the finale.

Just last year, Dixon had a 117-point lead over Newgarden with only six races remaining and appeared to be a lock to end this streak. But Newgarden managed to make it close, falling short by just 16 points after outscoring Dixon in each of the season’s final six events.

Considering the fact that double points-paying season finales were contested from 2014 to 2019, this may seem like somewhat of an apples to oranges comparison. However, that is not the case. In each of those six seasons, the championship would still have been decided in a regular points-paying season finale.

The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey is set to be broadcast live on NBC from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 19. Can Palou end the 2021 title battle a full race before the season finale on the streets of Long Beach? If you have not yet started your free trial of FuboTV, now would be a great time to do so!