IndyCar: The missing contender from this year’s title fight
By Asher Fair
It has been a half-decade since an IndyCar season finale was contested without Scott Dixon in the running to win the championship.
The 2021 IndyCar season is the 16th consecutive season in which the champion will be determined in the season finale — but not before it — and the last four season finales have all had two common denominators.
In 2017, the championship fight came down to Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power at Sonoma Raceway. Newgarden secured his first title.
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At the same venue in 2018, it came down to Dixon, Newgarden, Power and Alexander Rossi, and it was Dixon who secured his fifth title.
The season finale switched locations to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2019, when the fight came down to Dixon, Newgarden, Pagenaud and Rossi. Newgarden won his second title.
Last year, the location of the season finale was changed to the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida as a result of the COVID-19-related restrictions which altered the schedule throughout the year. The fight was between Dixon and Newgarden, and Dixon won his sixth title.
This year, the location of the season finale was changed to the streets of Long Beach, California, again as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions which caused some changes, albeit fewer than last year, to the schedule.
Remaining in the battle for the title are Newgarden, points leader Alex Palou, and Pato O’Ward.
While Newgarden is in the fight for the fifth straight season, Dixon is not championship eligible heading into a season finale for the first time since 2016.
The 2016 title battle came down to Pagenaud and Power, and it was Pagenaud who prevailed to win his first title.
Dixon sits 72 points behind Palou after 15 of 16 races on this year’s schedule, and there is a maximum of 54 points on the table for each driver in each race (50 for winning, one for taking the pole position, one for leading at least one lap and two for leading the most laps).
O’Ward trails Palou by 35, and Newgarden trails him by 48.
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NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast the season-ending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach live from the streets of Long Beach, California beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September. If you have not already done so, be sure to start your free trial of FuboTV today!