Racing
John Oreovicz, Autos, Open-Wheel 9y

Juan Pablo Montoya the driver to beat

IndyCar

NEWTON, Iowa -- The Verizon IndyCar Series is entering the fourth quarter of the 2015 season, and it looks as if it's Juan Pablo Montoya's championship to lose.

Montoya, who is enjoying a second career in Indy cars at age 39, holds a 54-point lead over Scott Dixon as the series heads to Iowa Speedway this weekend for the first of four remaining races on the schedule.

Overcoming big point deficits is nothing new in the IndyCar Series; Dixon and Will Power, the past two champions, were 66 and 75 points behind, respectively, at some point during their title campaigns. And since double the points are being offered at the series finale at Sonoma, including 100 for the winner, a dramatic comeback is certainly possible.

But somebody -- whether it's Dixon, Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves or Power -- has to put together a really strong fourth quarter to beat Montoya. And based on what we've seen in the first three quarters of the 2015 season, that doesn't look likely.

"It's going to be hard to catch Montoya to win the championship, but I really don't see why we can't be right there, right behind them," Rahal said. "That's our goal."

In a year of relative parity featuring no driver with more than two race wins, Montoya has been the most consistent. He has finished in the top five in eight of 12 starts and in the top 10 all but once.

It's a big contrast from Montoya's first Indy car championship, when he won the CART-sanctioned title in 1999 in win-or-bust fashion. He and Dario Franchitti ended up tied on points at the end of that memorable campaign, with Montoya taking the crown based on his seven race wins to Franchitti's three.

But an older and wiser Montoya has been more opportunistic. His wins have been timely and significant -- the season opener at St. Petersburg and the Indianapolis 500 -- and he's gotten the most points he could realistically expect out of every race weekend.

Dixon, Montoya, Sebastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden each have a pair of wins, but nobody has run well enough week in and week out to challenge Montoya at the top of the standings.

As for Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing's strategy was to do most of its preseason testing at NOLA Motorsports Park to focus on natural terrain road courses early in the season, but that approach has backfired. The three-time IndyCar Series champion has been playing catch-up all year long.

Dixon tends to finish the season strong, and he has multiple wins at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Sonoma Raceway, the site of this year's season finale. But the oval races at Iowa and Pocono Raceway, where Montoya is the defending winner, may play a more important role in Dixon's championship hopes.

"We got shuffled back a bit at the end of the Milwaukee race and lost some valuable points, which is tough to swallow with just four races to go," Dixon said. "I think I've been on the pole twice at Iowa, but I don't think I've ever been on the podium there, so I've got a little bit of work to do."

Rahal has driven superbly all year and has moved up to a tie for third with Castroneves in the standings. The one-car Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing effort has consistently been Honda's top performer amid Honda Performance Development's struggles with its complex, new-for-2015 aero kit.

Rahal has passed more cars than any other driver this year and has somehow found a way to will some extra speed out of the recalcitrant Honda, especially late in races.

"This has been my most successful season," Rahal said. "I really hope that continues and just keeps improving."

Rahal and RLL's form has been as impressive as Andretti Autosport's poor season has been mystifying. Marco Andretti leads the team, ranking seventh in points, while Carlos Munoz scored the team's only victory of the season in a rain-affected race in Detroit. As for 2012 IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay? He has led just three laps in 2015 and is 13th in the standings.

Castroneves' second-place finish at Milwaukee moved him into second place on the all-time list of second-place finishes in Indy car competition, but he needs to win some races if he hopes to overcome his 69-point deficit behind teammate Montoya.

Power, the defending champion, leads the series with 268 laps led; Montoya has led only 124. But Power has won only once, on the Indianapolis road course, and has endured several heavy crashes. He's fifth in the standings, 70 points back.

Simon Pagenaud joined Penske to run a fourth car -- Castroneves, Montoya and Power are Penske's other three drivers -- and has shown speed on a number of occasions. However, Pagenaud is still seeking his first win with the legendary team and sits 10th in the points chase.

As for Bourdais and Newgarden, they are the only drivers to truly dominate races this year. Again, consistency has been the challenge; each has finished in the top 10 in just seven of 12 starts.

The question for all of those drivers is whether Montoya will let anyone mount a serious challenge for the championship.

Last week at Milwaukee, Montoya overcame a pit lane speeding penalty to notch a fourth-place finish. It wasn't as dramatic as his charge from second-to-last to Victory Lane at Indianapolis, but it proved the same point: Whenever he has seemed beaten this season, Montoya has found his way back to the front.

"We grew our points lead with only four races to go," Montoya said. "If you can't win the race, that's not a bad consolation prize.

"I'm really proud of everyone on the team for how hard we worked last weekend. We got a top-five finish and extended our lead in the standings."

^ Back to Top ^