Fluid championship fight on diverse set of racetracks

Will Power of Team Penske went from third in points after Edmonton (26 behind Ryan Hunter-Reay) to first at Mid-Ohio (5 up on Hunter-Reay) with a runner-up finish in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 5. Race winner Scott Dixon remained fourth in the championship standings, but cut the deficit from 61 points 28.

The championship lead has exchanged hands four times between Helio Castroneves (St. Petersburg-Barber); Power (Long Beach-Toronto); Hunter-Reay (Edmonton) and Power (Mid-Ohio).

Fifteen drivers remain eligible for the IZOD IndyCar Series title entering the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 26, underscoring the fluidity of the battle and depth of the field.

“I’ve had seasons with very competitive fields, but it really seems this year that all the best drivers of CART, Champ Car and IndyCar have gotten together,” said Indy car veteran Oriol Servia, driver of the No. 22 Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry. “There’s not one driver of the top 20 that could not win the race.”

The depth extends to qualifying, especially in the three knockout rounds on road/street circuits, according to Servia.

“(In qualifying) you could be fighting to be in the top six or you could be 18th. And those in the middle are very close. In qualifying, you feel as if you really have to give everything you have to make the top six. You feel empty after because it’s such a challenge physically and emotionally. When the competition is that high, it just takes you to a level you didn’t know you could reach. It’s part of the addictive thing that we do.”

The championship will be hammered out in the final three races on a diverse set of tracks that will challenge drivers and teams – a natural terrain road course (Sonoma), a temporary street circuit (Baltimore) and a 2-mile oval (Auto Club Speedway).

“It’s the beauty of the series going from a road course to a street course to a fast oval,” Servia added. “It’s what I’ve always loved about CART, Champ Car, INDYCAR – the mixed schedule. Teams have to change a lot of different things in the car and the drivers have to have different skills. I love the challenge and love that we show the challenge to the fans. The championship will be a fight to the end.”

  A look at the top five championship contenders' performances at the final three tracks: