WATCH LIVE: IndyCar’s championship decided in Sonoma at 1 p.m. PT, 4 ET on NBCSN

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SONOMA, Calif. – On a weekend with heavy hearts but still with a desire to race, the Verizon IndyCar Series concludes its 2015 season with today’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma from Sonoma Raceway.

You can watch it all unfold live starting at 1:00 p.m. PT and local time, 4:00 p.m. ET, on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. The one-hour pre-race show comes before the race itself, when the green flag is scheduled for 2:07 p.m. PT.

Leigh Diffey will be alongside Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy in the booth, with Marty Snider, Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt and Robin Miller in pit lane.

This has been a tough week for the IndyCar community with the loss of Justin Wilson, who died Monday at age 37 from a severe head injury sustained last Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

The community has rallied though, with plenty of beautiful tributes penned, stickers and T-Shirts created to raise funds for the Wilson family. There is undoubtedly more to come as the racing world pays tribute to the gentle giant.

But today, the focus shifts back where Wilson would likely want it to shift: the race track, and the championship battle.

After leading the points all season, Juan Pablo Montoya enters today with a 34-point lead over Graham Rahal. If he finishes first or second, or third provided Rahal doesn’t score maximum points, he’ll win his second IndyCar championship – his first since doing so as a rookie in CART in 1999.

It’s Rahal who’s the underdog and looks to pull the upset for both he and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team what’s been an incredible season.

Third-placed Scott Dixon also has a semi-decent shot, while longshots Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden all have mathematical but highly unrealistic chances.

Power has the pole, while the remainder of the six-pack of championship contenders roll off second (Newgarden), fifth (Montoya) sixth (Rahal), ninth (Dixon) and 15th (Castroneves). Here are points scenarios.

There have been four different champions in the last four years – Power, Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dario Franchitti.

Past Sonoma race winners in recent years include Dixon, Power and Ryan Briscoe.

Immediately the race concludes, the championship presentation will follow, as IndyCar looks for joy and comfort to conclude its season.

Again, you can see all of the championship finale from starting at 1:00 p.m. PT and local time, 4:00 p.m. ET, on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra.

IndyCar results, points after Detroit Grand Prix

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:


RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Lap leader summary

Full lap chart

Best section times

Full section data

Event summary

Pit stop summary

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.


POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Pit stop performance

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.