Another shuffle at the top of the latest edition of the IndyCar Power Rankings. Three races in June saw rather wide swings in performance by a number of the top drivers in the series. That was the most significant reason for the re-seeding from last month.
With the end of the season in sight and a championship on the mind of Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya, it may have impacted his decision making on whether or not to try for that extra position or take the sure thing and a tighter grip on the championship trophy.
Here’s how the top 10 drivers stack up in this edition.
Power Rankings
1. Scott Dixon The Target driver grabbed a victory in Texas and claimed top 10 results in the other two events this past month. His usual push in the second half is on.
2. Juan Pablo Montoya The overall points leader was solid but never made it to the podium. Still the favourite for the overall title with a nice lead in the standings.
3. Tony Kanaan He had harsh words for the series after Fontana but also had his second runner-up finish in the last three races and moved forward from his starting spot in all three events.
4. Helio Castroneves The Brazilian appeared to be on his way to another great finish at California after back-to-back third place results in the first two rounds of the month. A crash took him out and dropped him in the rankings.
5. Graham Rahal The flag bearer for the Honda contingent this year scores the win on the West Coast but the story of the race is everything but the victory. Still, the team is moving in the right direction.
6. Will Power An inconsistent stretch for the defending series champion. He’ll have to be much better if he has any hope of overtaking his teammate.
7. Marco Andretti He’s always shown well on ovals and he was willing to hang it out in Fontana collecting a third place result. Also notched a top-five finish at Texas earlier in the month.
8. Josef Newgarden The reason he’s not ranked higher is two poor finishes at Texas and California. His second win of the season and his career in Toronto was great, but he needs to finish races the rest of the season.
9. Simon Pagenaud Managed his first pole with the Penske group but is still seeking that breakthrough first victory for the Captain. Still seems to be finding his way a bit.
10. Sebastien Bourdais A top-five finish in Toronto for the Frenchman was a nice result but he said the team is still missing something in the car setup that would improve performance. If they can find it he could move up in the standings.