Sorting out the first edition of the IndyCar Power rankings this year was quite the process. There was flying bodywork in the opening round at St. Petersburg, a swamp buggy race in New Orleans, another great event at Long Beach, and at Barber we had intense competition and track battles with a first-time series winner.
Heading into the season, consensus was the four Penske drivers would dominate the conversation. That’s been the case in the early going as Penske, along with Chevrolet, have been near the front of the field in all events. Chevy drivers hold the top six positions in the rankings, too.
We’ll see how the Chevrolet-Honda battle evolves over the final three quarters of the season but right now Chevy is the smart bet, even after some of the aero bits have been removed from their cars in recent events.
Power Rankings
1. Helio Castroneves: Castroneves is off to his usual strong start. While he doesn’t yet have a victory he does have two second-place results and has collected two pole positions in qualifying. If not for a fuel miscalculation he would have come home at Barber with another good result.
2. Juan Pablo Montoya: Montoya narrowly edges Scott Dixon for second place because of his better average finishing result.
3. Scott Dixon: A couple of tough starts to open the year but after a victory at Long Beach and his usual podium finish at Barber, the New Zealander has found his game.
4. Josef Newgarden: Capturing his first series win after several heartbreaks may propel the young American to more victories this season the way it did with James Hinchcliffe in 2013.
5. Tony Kanaan: Kanaan had a tough weekend at Barber, finishing 13th. He has, however, been very consistent in both qualifying and race finishes throughout the first quarter of the season.
6. Will Power: Tough to put Power ahead of Hinchcliffe without a victory on the season, but he’s been fast at every event. A qualifying mistake cost him in Long Beach, but he gets the nod for fighting back to a fourth-place finish after a penalty at Barber.
7. James Hinchcliffe: His win at NOLA was on strategy and Hinchcliffe will be the first to admit they still have work to do with their Honda package. A seventh place finish at Barber was a good step in that direction.
8. Simon Pagenaud: The fourth Penske member has suffered a few growing pains in the early going but I expect he’ll be higher in the rankings next month.
9. Sebastien Bourdais: A victim of other racers’ driving decisions at NOLA, the Frenchman has shown consistency early on and should be in the hunt for victory again this year.
10. Ryan Hunter-Reay: Hunter-Reay earns the final spot by a hair over Graham Rahal. Good strategy helped both at Barber, but I need a little more convincing that Rahal has taken a real step forward.