The IndyCar championship that’s already been decided

While the 2022 IndyCar champion has not yet been determined, one of this year’s championship battles has already been decided.

The fifth and final oval race of the 2022 IndyCar season took place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway two weekends ago, and it was Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden who took the checkered flag, giving him a series-high three oval victories this year.

With this 260-lap race around the four-turn, 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometer) Madison, Illinois oval being the final oval race of the season, the oval discipline championship has officially been decided.

Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward is the oval champion for the second season in a row and the second time in three years as the full-time driver of the #5 Chevrolet.

O’Ward didn’t start out hot on the ovals this year, placing 15th at a Texas Motor Speedway track where he earned his first career win last year.

But a second place finish in a double points-paying Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, coupled with a win and another runner-up finish at Iowa Speedway, made him one of two legitimate contenders for the title heading into this past Saturday night’s race.

He trailed Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing by four points heading into the event, and after outscoring him by six points with a fourth place finish (33 points, including one for leading laps), he beat him by two (226 to 224). Ericsson scored 27 points, including one for leading a lap himself, with a seventh place finish.

Ericsson’s oval results this season also included a finish of a Honda-best third place at Texas Motor Speedway and finishes of eighth and sixth at Iowa Speedway. His average oval finish of 4.8 matched O’Ward’s as the best in the series.

Despite going three for five in oval races this year, Newgarden needed Ericsson not to compete in the final oval race to have a chance to win the crown.

His bid was effectively derailed with a disappointing 13th place finish in the Indy 500 and a crash in the second race at Iowa Speedway, one he looked well on his way to winning before a fluke part failure. He hasn’t won the oval championship since 2016, when he was still with Ed Carpenter Racing.

Interestingly, despite the fact that there are few oval races still on the annual schedule and the fact that the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” pays double points, the Indy 500 winner hasn’t won the oval championship since Simon Pagenaud did it in 2019. The Indy 500 winner hasn’t won the overall championship since Dario Franchitti pulled it off in 2010.

There are still two races remaining on the 17-race 2022 schedule, both road course races. These two races at Portland International Raceway (Sunday, September 4) and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Sunday, September 11) will determine not only the overall champion of the 2022 season, but the road and street course discipline champion as well.

Team Penske’s Will Power leads the overall standings by three points over Newgarden, and there are five other drivers still legitimately in the fight.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who is one of those five drivers, leads the road and street course standings by 13 points over Power. There are six other drivers still eligible to win that title.