In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans.
There is no denying that Alex Palou is having (another) dominating year in INDYCAR. Five wins on the season and a healthy points gap are the reward for his and his Chip Ganassi Racing team’s efforts. With six races remaining and a penchant for being Mr. Consistent, there’s no doubt he is the odds-on favorite to win a fourth consecutive INDYCAR title.
That said, there are a few drivers who are more than just long shots heading into the marathon run of six races in five weeks to close out 2026.
This final stretch of races has a perfect mix of two road courses, two ovals and two street circuits, with each type of track playing to different strengths of different drivers fighting for the title.
So let’s break down who has a real shot at dethroning the champ.
INDYCAR CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET
Pato O’Ward celebrates after winning at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images)
Pato O’Ward may have been Palou’s closest rival at the close of 2025, but with six races to go this season, significantly moving up in the standings and making a title run is likely out of reach.
O’Ward sits in fifth in the INDYCAR standings, 121 points out of the championship lead. With 324 total points yet to be claimed — and with Pato having a consistent, if not spectacular run of form so far this year — realistically, race wins are now the focus for the No. 5 Arrow McLaren squad.
So let’s keep moving up through the top five.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET
Christian Lundgaard sits fourth and 104 points from the top spot. Having finished first or second on every road course so far this year, and with two still to come — including Portland, where he was on pole last year — he has a good chance to earn some strong points there.
Christian Lundgaard celebrates after winning at Road America in June. (Photo by Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images)
He has been strong on street courses this year, too. And though his oval results are still lacking compared to the other title challengers — his best oval finish so far was 10th at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway — if McLaren show up to the Milwaukee Mile for the doubleheader with a strong package, and Palou has a few rough rounds, it’s not impossible. Improbable, but not impossible.
KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 27 ANDRETTI GLOBAL HONDA
Kyle Kirkwood celebrates after winning the inaugural Arlington street race in March. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images)
Kirkwood is third and 87 markers back. Even though he’s a few behind David Malukas in second, I think he represents Palou’s biggest threat.
There are two street courses in these last six races. Both of them are brand-new tracks to the calendar. Arlington, back toward the start of the season, was the last time we went to an all-new street track, and Kirkwood annihilated the competition.
If he can capitalize on the strength of the Andretti Global package there, and keep up his killer consistency of top-3 and top-5 finishes, on the remaining ovals, he could be a real thorn in Palou’s side.
The Andretti pit stops have been markedly improved from the start of the year, he has one of the best strategists in the series in Bryan Herta calling his races, and he is having a career year with the second-best average finish of anyone after Palou.
DAVID MALUKAS, NO. 12 TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
David Malukas celebrates after a podium finish at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo by Perry Nelson/Lumen via Getty Images)
P2 overall right now is Malukas, with an 83-point gap to Palou. The young driver in his first year with the Penske squad has been mighty impressive. Poles and podiums have come his way, though he is yet to bag that elusive first win.
But Malukas has shown such strength across all types of tracks that he can certainly not be counted out.
Ovals especially seem to be where he excels at the moment. His last-to-third run at Nashville was a perfect example. Penske has had good cars at Milwaukee for years, and with back-to-back races there in a few weeks, that first win might be around the corner.
(Photo by Perry Nelson/Lumen via Getty Images)
And as we’ve seen time and time again in racing, once that first win comes, the floodgates can open with more wins coming thick and fast. Should that happen, it would set up Malukas for a massive comeback in the fourth quarter of the season.
Long story short, yes, Palou’s year has been outstanding. But there is a hungry pack well within reach to make this final stint in the season as tough and stressful as the four-time champ has ever dealt with.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FAST: PORTLAND
Portland International Raceway is next up, and the quirky little road course is known for throwing some curveballs to the finishing order — despite Palou and Will Power combining to win five of the last six races on the 1.967-mile track.
It’s short, flat and made up of predominantly long-duration, high-speed corners.
The double dose of Turns 4 and 5 right is one of the coolest combos of the year. The pair of turns require incredible commitment with a super high-speed turn in, and then remarkable balance as you sit the car on whatever the limiting tire is — left front or left rear, depending on your balance — through what feels like a never-ending corner.
It’s tough on cars, tires and necks.
The chicane at the back of the circuit is also a ton of fun in an Indy car. You arrive at it at the top of sixth gear, and it’s a quick stab of the brakes and knock it down one gear before you hustle into the left-right corner sequence, threading the needle between the two apex curbs.
You have to use some curb to maximize the apex speed. But use too much, and the car gets unsettled on landing and can fire you off into the tire wall, which seems miles away, but at those speeds, it comes at you quickly.
(Photo by Gavin Baker/Lumen via Getty Images)
But for all the talk of high-speed corners, Portland is, rightly or wrongly, often defined by Turns 1 and 2 — the slowest on the track and one of the tightest chicanes of the season. The frontstraight is a literal drag strip, with a long full throttle section, nice and wide, that files down into that first turn.
It’s so inviting for a late lunge, and, as a result, starts and restarts are a hotbed for contact. It can be a real hero or zero kind of prospect.
It feels slow and clunky behind the wheel of an Indy car through there, but having stood track side since retiring, I assure you it is anything but!
It’s a fun little sequence that requires the perfect compromise of apex speed at Turn 1 and car placement for Turn 2. Tons of time can be made or lost there. So love it or hate it, the fastest drivers learn to embrace it.
1 FOR THE ROAD
Portland, for me, has been a feast-or-famine circuit.
In my INDYCAR career, that first turn was my kryptonite. In three races racing in the main game there, I never made it past Turn 3, getting hit twice and then taken out before getting to the apex of Turn 1!
But in the junior formulae coming up, it was one of my best tracks, winning a few and never finishing worse than second there in many different series. Even with that success when I was younger, Portland still also holds a special place in my mind as one of the most painful losses of my career.
It was 2005, the Star Mazda Championship. I had led all day until a late restart with only a handful of laps to go. I defended to the inside along the frontstraight, as I had a few times already. I thought I had closed the door enough, but a young and exuberant driver from Ohio had decided there was just enough room to squeeze to the inside. Turns out, to the tune of about an inch, Graham Rahal was right.
He had the line into Turn 1 and took the lead, and with only a few laps to go, I couldn’t get him back.
That one stung so badly, but at the same time, it was a great lesson.
I remembered that moment several times throughout the rest of my career, and it helped me win a few races down the line! Never made that mistake again. And even though the net result was a gain over my career, that one still haunts me to this day.
The worst part? Graham knows it and reminds me every chance he gets!
My personal pain aside, I am looking forward to getting back there to watch these 25 drivers go at it for 110 laps to see who can get momentum on their side at the top of the final stretch of 2026.
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