And then there was one.

The final race of this NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is on tap this weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey is a potentially stirring end to a whirlwind calendar.

SEE: Laguna Seca Event Details

The first 17 races of the year have featured three new events, a record-setting Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, a mega event in the nation’s capital, seven drivers reaching victory lane, three interesting rookies and a fifth season championship won by Alex Palou.

Palou has led the way in all meaningful categories, winning six races on the heels of eight last season. That’s 14 wins in 34 starts, pushing his career total to 25, and he will be the heavy favorite to add another win this weekend as Laguna Seca is, by his own admission, his best track. He has won three of the past four races on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, including the past two. Teammate Scott Dixon is the only driver in this 25-car field with a series victory at Laguna Seca.

Christian Lundgaard

While Palou looks to add to his insurmountable 100-point series lead, four drivers will be in a dogfight for second place in the final standings. Arrow McLaren has two of those drivers in the hunt, with Christian Lundgaard (photo, above) in second place and Pato O’Ward in fourth after the Mexican swept last weekend’s Snap-on INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (photo, top) is squeezed between them, and just four points separate the three drivers.

Team Penske’s David Malukas ranks fifth in the standings and has a puncher’s chance of vaulting to second, but he trails Lundgaard by 23 points. More likely for Malukas is scoring his first series race win after six career runner-up finishes, including the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 that began Saturday in Milwaukee. Only Vitor Meira (with eight) has more career second-place finishes without reaching victory lane.

The battle for second place is highlighted by the fact Lundgaard desperately wants to finish as Arrow McLaren’s top driver. Remember, the team did not re-sign him for the 2027 season, preferring to field a three-car lineup of drivers with a history of success in the Indy 500. O’Ward has five top-five finishes on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval while new signees Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist won the race in 2008 and 2026, respectively. A win by Lundgaard at Laguna Seca also would tie O’Ward for wins this season with three each.

O’Ward went on a charge in Milwaukee. He entered the weekend 63 points out of second place, but the two victories and the bonus points that came with them drew him within four markers of that position. He finished a career-best second to Palou in last year’s standings.

Several drivers have one last chance to make this a winning season. Dixon is foremost among them as he has a record 21 consecutive winning seasons on the line. It was in 2004 that the six-time series champion last failed to win a race, and this also will be his last race as a Chip Ganassi Racing driver after 25 seasons.

Andretti Global’s Will Power was positioned to win the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 only to get flagged for exceeding pit road speed on his final stop. He has been stuck on 45 career race wins since last year’s victory Aug. 10 at Portland International Raceway. A win this weekend would give him 19 winning seasons, breaking a tie with A.J. Foyt. Only Dixon (with 23) has more.

Dixon, Power and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen are the drivers who won races last season but have not done so this year. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who finished second in Race 2 in Milwaukee, will be looking to break a non-win drought of more than two years.

Rinus VeeKay

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (photo, above) has a chance to cap his best season in this series by maintaining a spot in the top 10. He has never finished higher than 12th (2021, 2022), and the team has never ended the year better than 16th (Callum Ilott in 2023). They earned their first podium finish together in third place Sunday in Milwaukee. VeeKay has finished in the top seven in five of the past seven races.

Pursuit of the Rookie of the Year Award remains, with all three drivers – Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Mick Schumacher and AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet – bunched in the standings. Hauger leads Schumacher by 18 points and Collet by 30 points.

The action will begin at 5 p.m. ET Friday with the weekend’s first practice. The second practice is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET with qualifying for the NTT P1 Award following at 4:30 p.m. ET and a final practice at 8 p.m. All of those sessions will air live on FS2, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.

FOX’s broadcast of Sunday’s 95-lap race will begin at 2:30 p.m., with FOX Deportes and FOX One also carrying the race live.