But the season took a turn during the month of May. We know about the legal dispute between Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing over his future. With McLaren dangling a Formula One opportunity in front of the Spaniard, Palou was enticed to switch, even though Ganassi exercised its option to retain him for the 2023 season.
From there, it has been nothing but a mess away from the track. Ganassi sued Palou. McLaren really hasn't fought for Palou. Palou became a pariah, but he continued to score respectable results. We were ready for Ganassi to drop Palou at any moment.
Despite the conflict, both sides have been professional. Ganassi kept him in the seat and Palou kept up the results. Palou has continued to show his speed and that he is one of the top drivers in IndyCar. The results were slightly down from last year. It is hard to repeat as champion. Race victory eluded him as well. But in the final race, a place Palou had a wonderful drive last year to strengthen his championship grip, he was free to go all-out and chase the trophy.
Chip Ganassi likes winners. He has a reason to like Palou tonight. Tomorrow? We will get to that later.
2. It is harsh to say the championship was decided in qualifying, but Josef Newgarden's spin in the Corkscrew did not set him up for championship success. Newgarden had to complete the drive of his life on a four-stop strategy. It got him into the conversation, but it wasn't enough today. It got Newgarden second, but it leaves him 16 points shy of a championship.
There is a world where Newgarden doesn't cause a red flag in qualifying, makes the Fast Six and this result is replicated. Newgarden couldn't control the race today, but damn did he give it his all.
The championship wasn't lost today. Five victories and no championship is hard to swallow. There were a few results that went against him. The accident in the second Iowa race will stand out. Those were 44 points lost, but there were plenty of races where Newgarden was just off. This was his first podium finish of the season that wasn't a victory. He was outside the top ten in four of the first six races. There were a lot of points left on the table in those races.
Still, Newgarden showed he is a world class talent. This wasn't his year, but no one can rule him out for the foreseeable future.
3. To the champion, Will Power! Third was always going to be enough today. He started on pole position and had a comfortable margin over the other championship contenders when the green flag waved. He did what he had to do today and all season. He scored the bonus points and added pressure to those who already had a mountain to climb.
Power did that all season. He opened with five consecutive top five finishes, the first time he ever opened with that many top five results. This was his ninth podium finish, tying his most in a season. He had 12 top fives finishes. He only had one victory, the fewest for a champion since Tony Stewart in 1997, but Power drove a near flawless season. He completed every lap. He didn't make any mistakes. He had nothing bite him at the most inopportune time.
The second championship comes eight years after the first for Power. It wasn't because Power forgot how to drive. He won plenty of races and plenty of pole positions, but a trend developed where he was the driver to have a gearbox failure or broken driveshaft while running at the front, sometimes when he was in the lead. Those incidents kept him from contending for more championships during the previous seven seasons.
This year, none of those problems caught Power out. He didn't cough up 60 to 80 points because of mechanical issues. Avoiding the issues helps secure a championship.
This was fitting. Power is fifth all-time in victories and leads all-time in pole positions. One championship wasn't going to feel fitting for Power's career. A second is a sigh of relief. The record book is now a more accurate representation of the last 15 years in IndyCar racing.
4. Felix Rosenqvist showed he belongs in IndyCar this season. Rosenqvist needed results and he got them. He ended with fourth in the season finale and eighth in the championship. Arrow McLaren SP has a difficult decision with its drivers, and the team isn't expanding to four cars. It sounds like it cannot hide Rosenqvist in Formula E either. If it isn't AMSP, it can be somewhere else, and Rosenqvist might have just made himself the most coveted free agent.
5. Christian Lundgaard had a massive drive to finish fifth today and lock up Rookie of the Year honors. Lundgaard did it on three stops. Rookie of the Year was a tight fight to the wire, but it never felt like one stood above the others. Lundgaard winning it feels justified. He had plenty of good days and if Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing can find qualifying speed, Lundgaard could become a race winner.
6. Scott McLaughlin was a four-stopper and his late charge got him sixth. This was a great season for Team Penske, and McLaughlin was clearly the most improved driver this season. He got fourth in the championship as a sophomore. Penske keeps finding wonderful talents. We are blessed to have McLaughlin in IndyCar. Expect more of the same in 2023.
7. Romain Grosjean was seventh and it is a consolation prize for what was a disappointing season. No victories for Grosjean and he led only three laps all season. For Andretti Autosport, this was far from a respectable season. It won a few races but its best driver in the championship was ninth. Take today. It had two cars start in the top four and never showed it could compete for the race victory today with the best finisher being seventh. This was a good day, but there is much work to do heading into 2023.
8. Patricio O'Ward ends the season with a quiet day in eighth. This kind of defined O'Ward season. He was always in the top ten, but a few days he was just in the background. O'Ward had plenty of bad days and they canceled out the strong runs. The problem is the strong runs were not dominant runs. His two victories came through circumstances. He put himself in that position but there really weren't any days O'Ward showed he was the man to beat from the start. I expect that will change.
9. Marcus Ericsson had an off-track excursion drop him out of a potential top five finish late and he finished in ninth. Ericsson led the championship for a good portion of the season, but we never saw championship-level speed on a consistent basis. The double points in the Indianapolis 500 flattered his season. It was still a good year and sixth in the championship is a fair representation, but he has work to do to really challenge for the Astor Cup.
10. Alexander Rossi's time with Andretti Autosport ended with a tenth place finish. The team got the strategy wrong, starting on used alternate tires before switching to new alternate tires. I don't think Andretti Autosport has the top people to compete for the IndyCar championship. The best people weren't around Rossi this year. Too many times did it seem Rossi was treading water at some point in the race and it led to him losing positions. The switch to Arrow McLaren SP will be good for Rossi. As for Andretti? It has a lot on its plate and the stomach for only half of it.
11. Speaking of what is on Andretti Autosport's plate, Colton Herta was 11th and he likely will not get an exemption for a Super License, keeping him in IndyCar for 2023. Herta did the best he could starting 18th today. He made up good ground, but he just didn't have it today. Herta is now the de facto leader of an IndyCar team at 22 years old. That is not where he should be. He is better than Andretti Autosport at the moment. I doubt the team will rise to Herta's level.
12. Scott Dixon had his second bad day of the season, and it was 12th in the season finale. It just didn't work out for Dixon. The magical finale and pulling out a championship wasn't meant to be. This wasn't Dixon's best season, but there is a world where Dixon can pull out a title with two victories and 16 top ten finishes from 17 races. That 16th top ten finish didn't happen. It was still a good year, a Dixon-esque year, and for the second time in three seasons, he completed every lap in a season. It is a consolation prize, but it is another piece of history Dixon has that no one else can claim.
13. David Malukas missed out on Rookie of the Year, but it was a strong year. Most rookies would take the season Malukas had if you offered it in February. The future is bright for him and staying with Dale Coyne Racing is a good move for him.
14. Rinus VeeKay was 14th, and it was another ho-hum result for him and Ed Carpenter Racing. Ed Carpenter Racing shows great speed every four races. The problem is ECR isn't even average in the other three races. The team must become more consistent.
15. Devlin DeFrancesco rounded out the top 15, his best finish on a road/street course, and this means his best three results in 2022 came in the final three races of the season. Is DeFrancesco taking steps forward? I think so. Does he still have a long way to go? Definitely.
16. Jimmie Johnson somehow finished 16th and that was after spinning Dalton Kellett early in the race. This feels like the maximum we can expect from Johnson in an IndyCar on a road/street course. Is this enough for him to come back as a full-time driver in 2023? Johnson said he has options for next year. Is this fun enough for him to return? We will find out.
17. Let's round out the field. Simon Pagenaud was 17th and Helio Castroneves was 19th after both cars made the second round in qualifying. Meyer Shank Racing took a step back this year with a more senior lineup. Sandwiched between the MSR cars was Graham Rahal, a disappointing end to his season. Jack Harvey was 20th, which is fitting for his season.
18. Kyle Kirkwood was 21st and probably cannot wait to join Andretti Autosport. It might not be spectacular but it will be lightyears better than A.J. Foyt Racing. Simona de Silvestro ended up 22nd, which is a good day for a part-time team with a driver who only returned to single-seater racing on road courses this year for the first time since 2015.
19. Takuma Sato and Conor Daly were 23rd and 24th. I am not sure two drivers had more anonymous seasons and finished with more anonymous results than these two drivers. Dalton Kellett was spun but his day was likely never going to be much better than 25th even without the contact from Johnson.
20. Callum Ilott lost an engine just before the halfway point in this race, and this result nor his actual championship finish will show how good he was this season. He was as good as Lundgaard and Malukas this year, but he drove for the smallest team of the three, the newest team of the three and Ilott missed a race after breaking his wrist in the Indianapolis 500. With Juncos Hollinger Racing planning to expand to two cars next year, Ilott is primed for a breakout sophomore season.
21. IndyCar had a great season. Five drivers were alive for the championship into the finale. There were nine different winners. There were great races on every track discipline.
We saw Scott Dixon surpass Mario Andretti for second all-time in victories, and Will Power surpassed Andretti for the all-time lead in pole positions. It was a historic season and another reminder to appreciate this time because we are seeing some of the best drivers in series history compete.
And yet, this feels like it should be a bigger deal. In the wake of Formula One's boom in the United States, plenty in IndyCar are voicing displeasure that it has been overtaken in its home country by the series that has no American drivers, doesn't have a competitive American team and only races here twice a year with most of the other races starting in the morning Eastern Time.
The status quo isn't good enough anymore from IndyCar. It keeps hoping to catch a shooting star with a $5 idea, becoming popular on the cheap, and that strategy just isn't going to pay off. We have an American that is annually in the championship discussion and two of the best drivers to ever race in IndyCar right competing along with plenty of other exciting drivers, some of which could be around for the next 20 years, and no one outside the IndyCar bubble has a damn clue they exist.
A driver named WILL POWER has won his second championship and the average sports fan doesn't even know he exists. Power should at least be a fun joke amongst people. IndyCar has had him for all of reunification and it has failed to promote the most marketing friendly name possibly in all of human life let alone sports. That is pathetic.
Will anything change? Will IndyCar actually take the bat off its shoulder and swing? There is a growing rumble that soon cannot be ignored from within its own clientele. Knowing IndyCar, it likely has already missed its chance.
22. We get a break. We all wish there was another race or two, but the season is the ideal length. Not too short, but not too long. There is plenty of time to look back, and over the next few weeks, that is what we will do.
