IndyCar: Points movers and shakers after crazy five-week stretch

We chronicled who moved up and down in the Verizon IndyCar Series points standings after the month of May in Indianapolis.

Now, with two weeks off before the next race in Houston June 28-29, a doubleheader that kicks off a stretch of six races in four weekends, we take a look at who’s been the biggest movers and shakers in the points in the last six weeks.

The Sunday of May 4, the weekend in-between races at Barber Motorsports Park and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, marked the last off weekend.

Since that point, over the last five weekends, there have been six points-scoring opportunities – five races (Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500, Detroit Dual and Texas) and Indianapolis 500 qualifying.

Here’s a look at how teams and drivers have fared over this stretch:

			PRE-GPI	INTERIM	POST-TMS
1	12	Power	125	245	370
2	3	Castroneves	66	265	331
3	28	Hunter-Reay	107	203	310
4	77	Pagenaud	92	187	279
5	25	Andretti	73	162	235
6	34	Munoz	55	172	227
7	2	Montoya	56	167	223
8	9	Dixon	87	127	214
9	10	Kanaan	62	127	189
10	19	Wilson	67	115	182
11	27	Hinchcliffe	46	135	181
12	11	Bourdais	48	132	180
13	8	Briscoe	52	127	179
14	83	Kimball	37	132	169
15	7	Aleshin	54	109	163
16	98	Hawksworth	42	114	156
17	67	Newgarden	58	93	151
18	14	Sato	53	98	151
19	15	Rahal	46	101	147
20	18	Huertas	46	100	146
21	17	Saavedra	55	83	138
22	20	Conway	82	40	122
23	20	Carpenter		104	104
24	16	Servia	36	52	88
25	26	Busch		80	80

Unsurprisingly, those that have maximized their results over the last six weeks have made big moves. Of note, Charlie Kimball has advanced eight spots from P22 to P14; James Hinchcliffe has also climbed eight spots from P19 to P11; Helio Castroneves is up six spots from P8 to P2; Carlos Munoz seven spots from P13 to P6; Jack Hawksworth five spots from P21 to P16; and Juan Pablo Montoya four spots from P11 to P7.

Those who have fallen off? Sebastian Saavedra’s lost the most with nine, to fall from P12 to P21; Josef Newgarden has lost seven spots from P10 to P17; and Scott Dixon has lost four, from P4 to P8.

Also noteworthy is the point gap from the leaders themselves through the rest of the top 10. Just 67 points covered the top 10 after Barber; now, five weekends later and with a double-points race and a doubleheader in the books, that margin has nearly tripled to 188 covering leader Will Power from 10th-placed Justin Wilson.

Unless drivers are within 100 points of the lead after Pocono, the next double-points race, it’s unlikely that more than the top five drivers at the moment are in championship contention. Dixon, in eighth, at 156 points back is on the borderline of falling out of contention.

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