The Final Championship Push - IndyCar 2026 Round 13 Recap

The final push to the championship starts in Portland, kicking off a string of 6 races in 5 weeks. The championship standings are growing clearer, and Silly Season is starting to wind down. Let's go over the interesting stories of the race weekend.

You Know the Drill

The scriptwriters need to start giving us some new material to work with. It's all getting a bit predictable. Alex Palou starts 2nd, drops to 3rd on the first stint, then utilizes the overcut to take over the lead and never looks back. Palou's championship advantage now sits over 100 points. There's still a maximum points delta of 245 assuming Palou starts all the remaining races. Mathematically possible. In practice, his rivals are going to need more than a bit of help.

Scott Dixon - Eliminated: This is who McLaren gave up on Christian Lundgaard for? He's currently on track for his worst championship finish since 2005. That's also the last time he's had more than 8 finishes outside the top 10, which is what he's up to after this weekend. There's no doubt Dixon is a legendary driver, but this season does not give me confidence in Tony Kanaan's decision-making.

Kyffin Simpson - Eliminated: I can't even really dog on Simpson too much. I was ready to write him off as a useless pay driver at the start of the season, but he's picked it up. He's making his way somewhat regularly into the Fast 12 and into the top 10 on race day. That said, one thing he hasn't been doing is competing for wins. 2027 is going to be a season of reckoning. I hope he's up to the challenge.

Andretti Is Andretti

Even when this team wins, they still find a way to lose. Three cars in the top 6 should be something to celebrate. There weren't even any major pit lane fumbles. For starters, Kyle Kirkwood had a slow puncture in his penultimate stint. He was able to manage it, but didn't find any pace on the last stint, although he came back fifth. Will Power brought home a podium, but fumbled a chance to fight for 2nd by missing the call to come to pit road. Marcus Ericsson had an anonymous day with no issues and still finished behind both his teammates.

A solid day overall for all three. All three still lose ground to Alex Palou.

Will Power - Eliminated: What an awful season it's been for Will Power. He has three podiums on the season. He also has 8 finishes outside the top 10 and 3 DNFs. They haven't even really been his fault; he's just been insanely unlucky. If there's any analogy for Andretti's legacy of failure, Power's season has been it. I feel bad for the guy.

Great Showing for the Free Agents

There's been a bit of infighting between Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger of Juncos Hollinger Racing, with Hollinger looking to find a new investor and Juncos not interested in giving up his share. Regardless, Rinus VeeKay kept the story focused on the on-track action with a 4th-place finish.

Christian Lundgaard started shotgun on the field due to a hybrid failure in qualifying. He wasn't quite able to repeat his performance at Road America, but he did rebound all the way into the top 10 as the best finishing McLaren.

Both of these drivers are in the Silly Season rumor mill as candidates for the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing seat and the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing seat, so strong performances like this go a long way. Signs seem to be pointing to Lundgaard taking over Scott Dixon's seat, with Lundgaard planning to meet with executives at PNC Bank, although the team isn't ready to make any announcements just yet.

VeeKay is in a bit more of an awkward spot. JHR supposedly holds the option on his contract, and it seems ambitious for another team to approach while that hangs over his head. If he is cut loose, MSR would be a great landing spot, but there's the question of where he goes from there. Chip and Meyer Shank have the technical alliance, but CGR is set to have three young drivers on its team, and Kyffin Simpson is showing signs of improving. Is there any room for promotion at MSR?

Nolan Siegel - Eliminated: Now this is a free agent I'd be happy to see out of the series. What an infuriating driver. You wait until your team fires you to start showing top-10 pace? Where was this performance two and a half years ago? If anything, you've proven exactly why McLaren fired you. No consistency whatsoever. Go back to sportscars; at least there you'll have teammates who can carry you.

Trouble at Honda?

Marcus Armstrong has had engine failures in 3 of the last 4 races, including the one from the lead at Road America. Conversely, his teammate Rosenqvist successfully mileaged-out his Indy 500 winning engine in the first practice session. Is there an issue at MSR, an issue specifically with Armstrong, or does Honda have a ticking time bomb in its engines that it isn't aware of yet? Something to keep track of, especially since our championship leader is running a Honda powertrain.

Marcus Armstrong - Eliminated: I really thought Armstrong could have been the lead driver at MSR this year. He's had bad luck, sure, but he also has weekends where he just has no pace. The good news is that he will be the lead driver next season. Hopefully both the luck and the consistency will follow.

Mick Schumacher's Future

In Nashville, Mick Schumacher earned his first top-10 finish on pure, indisputable pace. In Portland, he qualified 22nd and converted it to a 16th-place finish.

Before Nashville, there were rumors that Rahal Letterman Lanigan were considering moving to a two-car operation. Since then, the deal's been done, and they unloaded one of their charters to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. DRR already has Conor Daly pegged as their leading driver candidate, and with both Graham Rahal and Louis Foster confirmed for 2027, that leaves Schumacher in an awkward position. MSR is apparently interested, but unless Schumacher can find top-10 race pace on road and street courses, I would consider that signing a mistake.

Milwaukee is in three weeks' time. We'll see there if Schumacher legitimately has pace on the ovals or if Nashville was just a fluke.

Graham Rahal - Eliminated: I was rooting for Rahal this year. He had four top-10s in the first six races, including two podiums. What happened to the second half of the season? He had podium pace at Road America, sure, but he still has 5 straight finishes outside the top 10, including three DNFs. I know this organization is dysfunctional, but this?

Louis Foster - Eliminated: What do we make of Louis Foster? He's only in his second season, but he really isn't showing many signs of improvement. He's signed through at least 2027, so we'll see him next season, but I can't say I'm holding my breath.

Dale Coyne Racing

Andretti has confirmed that Ericsson's seat is secure for 2027. That locks in their lineup for next season and officially locks out Dennis Hauger from a shot at the organization in the near future, but all is not lost. Dale Coyne is apparently interested in retaining Hauger as their lead driver, meaning Romain Grosjean will be out of a ride. However, Grosjean showed pace in qualifying this weekend, only missing out on a shot at the Fast 12 due to the team not mounting enough soft tires for him and forcing him to make an extra run on scuffs. DCR is in an interesting predicament: do you go for the reliable veteran or the young rookie? And who do you find to run the second car to fund the whole operation?

AJ Foyt Racing

The status of Foyt's 2027 lineup is still very fluid. Rumors indicate that it's likely for at least one of their current drivers to return for next season. Santino Ferrucci brings money, and Caio Collet brings sponsorship, and with the recent reveal of the IR28, Foyt needs money to fund their future racing endeavors. Whether one or both retains their seat remains to be seen.

One thing to note is that Myles Rowe, who was apparently on Team Penske's radar, is no longer being supported by the team. It's a shame; he wasn't lighting the world on fire, but he was serviceable on road courses and fantastic on the ovals. I think he's more deserving of a shot than some drivers currently in the series.

Santino Ferrucci - Eliminated: This isn't the kind of season you want to be having in a contract year. He's known for his oval performance, but he has one top-10 on the ovals this season. Ferrucci's always been a mid driver, but this feels worse than most seasons. There are plenty of other pay drivers on the market; he needs to find something in the last five races to justify why he should be the one.

Alexander Rossi - Eliminated: There wasn't even a place to logically put this section. It was just a disappointing day for ECR in a season of disappointing days. Not all of them have been Rossi's fault, but he refuses to take responsibility for even the ones that are. His post-Andretti tenure has gone in exactly the direction I was expecting it to, and I don't see any signs of it getting better. Enjoy elimination.

The Championship Standings

Alex Palou extends his lead to 110 points, but 2nd place has shifted yet again. Kyle Kirkwood takes the spot again, dropping David Malukas back to 3rd, 118 points back from Palou. Christian Lundgaard and Pato O'Ward retain 4th and 5th, while Felix Rosenqvist takes 6th away from Josef Newgarden. Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson, and Rinus VeeKay round out the top 10 in the standings.

At the bottom of the standings, Christian Rasmussen sits on the Leader's Circle bubble, 10 points in front of Caio Collet, 11 in front of Mick Schumacher, and 26 in front of Sting Ray Robb. Romain Grosjean is 21 points above the cutoff, and Dennis Hauger sits 27 points up.

As for the Rookie of the Year battle, Hauger continues rebuilding his lead, sitting 27 points above Collet and 28 in front of Schumacher.

We lost a lot of drivers in the championship hunt this week. Palou still has complete control; it's his to lose. However, we have two brand-new street courses coming up, starting with the move from Toronto to Markham, and the double-header at Milwaukee. Anything can happen as long as you obey the golden rule: Don't get eliminated.