Ever since IndyCar stopped awarding official trophies for its "A.J. Foyt Oval" champion and "Mario Andretti Road Course" champion after the 2012 season, not much attention has been paid to the unofficial standings for ovals vs. the road and street courses.
But as Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou appears to be well on his way to a third straight and fourth overall IndyCar championship, boasting a 129-point lead over Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward with five races (and 270 total points) still up for grabs, it is worth pointing out that one of these championships is still incredibly tight.
Palou has an 86-point lead over Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood for the road course title, which he has won in all three of his first three overall championship-winning seasons, and with three road/street course races remaining on the calendar in Toronto, Laguna Seca, and Portland, all he really needs to do is avoid multiple disastrous weekends to hang on.
As for the ovals, there is just one point separating Palou and O'Ward. And believe it or not, it's two-time oval champion O'Ward who is ahead, despite the fact that Palou has won two of four oval races this year.
Alex Palou not leading IndyCar oval standings
O'Ward's three extra bonus points (10 vs. Palou's seven) for his Indy 500 front row qualifying effort have the Mexican driver ahead of the Spaniard with two oval races remaining on this year's calendar in Milwaukee and Nashville.
O'Ward also benefited from Marcus Ericsson's de facto disqualification from P2 in that race. While Palou did not gain any extra points since he was already the Indy 500 champion, O'Ward moved up from fourth to third place. He added a runner-up finish at Gateway before winning and placing fifth in the Iowa doubleheader.
Palou won the second race of the Iowa doubleheader after finishing in fifth in the first. At Gateway, he recorded his worst finish (aside from his Detroit DNF) of the season in eighth.
Behind those two are two drivers you might not expect: A.J. Foyt Enterprises' David Malukas in third place and Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen, in his first full season, in fourth. They are however, 50 and 52 points back, so winning the unofficial oval title will be a tall task.
Team Penske shockingly do not have a single driver inside the top 10.
The next three races on the schedule are the road and street course races, as IndyCar isn't set to visit another oval until the Milwaukee race on Sunday, August 24, prior to the Nashville season finale on Sunday, August 31. All upcoming action is set to be shown live on Fox, so begin a free trial of FuboTV today!