The 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is approaching the finish line with just five races remaining. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, the driver of the No.10 Honda, has been highly dominant this season, having won four races this season, starting with the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the UMS road while also claiming a hat-trick of races from Detroit through to the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course presented by the 2023 Honda Accord,
Josef Newgarden of Team Penske has been dominant on the ovals this season; the Tennessee native scored his first win in the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden scored his maiden Indianapolis 500 win in May.
Alex Palou went into the Iowa weekend double-header leading the 117-point in the championship over his teammate Scott Dixon; however, coming out of the weekend, the Spaniard is now just 80 points ahead of Josef Newgarden, who has moved into second place in the championship because the Tennessee native took back to back victories in Iowa.
Of the season’s final five races, this time last year, Josef Newgarden took victory at World Wide Technology Raceway. In contrast, Alex Palou took victory in the season’s final race at the Firestone Grand Prix of Laguna Seca.
An interesting side note is that Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden have four wins this season. Scott Dixon still has an outside chance of winning the championship, but time is running out for the Iceman to start collecting victories, he heads into the Nashville weekend as the defending race winner, so he will be looking for a repeat performance if he is going to stand a chance of staying in the championship fight.