Heading into the season finale of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, there’s a Team Penske logjam atop the unofficial points standings.
Teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are tied with 176 points through five races.
Pagenaud finished 14th at Circuit of The Americas after back-to-back victories at Michigan International Speedway and Twin Ring Motegi. The 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner lost a 13-point lead on Power, who finished sixth at COTA.
FULL BOXSCORE: Click here to see the complete results from COTA
POSTRACE REACTION: What drivers said after the COTA race
Scott McLaughlin, the Penske driver who competes in the Australian Supercars Series, is third in the rankings at 161 points after a fourth at COTA, which was won by Formula One’s Lando Norris in his series debut.
The finale of the six-race IndyCar iRacing Challenge will take place Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 33-driver field will be open to full-time NTT IndyCar Series entries, Indianapolis 500 winners who have raced in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge and any series race winner (including Norris).
The remainder of the field for the 70-lap race will be filled Wednesday in a qualifying event.
INDYCAR iRACING CHALLENGE POINTS STANDINGS
Here are the current IndyCar iRacing Challenge standings after five of six races:
1. Simon Pagenaud – 176
1. Will Power – 176
3. Scott McLaughlin (R) – 161
4. Felix Rosenqvist – 129
5. Sage Karam – 114
6. Santino Ferrucci – 103
7. Graham Rahal – 95
8. Alex Palou (R) – 94
9. Josef Newgarden – 90
10. Marcus Ericsson – 87
11. Scott Dixon – 79
12. Jack Harvey – 76
13. Dalton Kellett (R) – 75
14. Pato O’Ward (R) – 74
15. Zach Veach – 72
16. Conor Daly – 68
16. Alexander Rossi – 68
16. Colton Herta – 68
19. Robert Wickens – 66
20. Oliver Askew (R) – 65
21. Felipe Nasr (R) – 57
22. Kyle Kaiser – 55
22. Ed Carpenter – 55
24. Lando Norris – 54
25. Sebastien Bourdais – 50
26. Scott Speed (R) – 45
27. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 44
28. Tony Kanaan – 35
28. Dale Earnhardt Jr (R) – 35
30. Rinus VeeKay (R) – 33
31. Kyle Kirkwood (R) – 32
31. James Hinchcliffe – 32
31. Jimmie Johnson (R) – 32
34. Takuma Sato – 23
35. Max Chilton – 19
36. Kyle Busch (R) – 17
37. James Davison – 15
38. Marco Andretti – 10
38. Chaz Mostert – 10
40. Helio Castroneves – 5
40. Spencer Pigot – 5
Points Earned at Watkins Glen:
1. Sage Karam – 54 (+1 for winning pole, +1 for leading a lap, +2 for leading the most laps)
2. Felix Rosenqvist – 40
3. Will Power – 36 (+ 1 for leading a lap)
4. Scott McLaughlin – 32
5. Oliver Askew – 30
6. Simon Pagenaud – 28
7. Josef Newgarden – 26
8. Santino Ferucci – 24
9. Kyle Kirkwood – 22
10. Conor Daly – 20
11. Dalton Kellett – 19
12. Kyle Kaiser – 18
13. Pato O’Ward – 17
14. Graham Rahal – 16
15. Felipe Nasr – 15
16. Jimmie Johnson – 14
17. Alexander Rossi – 13
18. Marcus Ericsson – 12
19. Zach Veach – 11
20. Alex Palou – 10
21. Scott Speed – 9
22. Colton Herta – 8
23. Sebastien Bourdais – 7
24. Tony Kanaan – 6
25. James Hinchcliffe – 0 (Did not start)
Points earned at Barber:
1. Scott McGlaughlin – 51 (+1 for leading a lap)
2. Will Power – 40
3. Scott Speed – 36 (+1 for leading a lap)
4. Alex Palou – 32
5. Simon Pagenaud – 30
6. Felix Rosenqvist – 29 (+1 for leading a lap)
7. Colton Herta – 26
8. Robert Wickens – 24
9. Josef Newgarden – 22
10. Santino Ferucci – 20
11. Dalton Kellett – 19
12. Jimmie Johnson – 18
13. Sebastien Bourdais – 17
14. Graham Rahal – 16
15. Oliver Askew – 15
16. Scott Dixon – 14
17. James Hinchcliffe – 13
18. Ed Carpenter – 12
19. Zach Veach – 11
20. Kyle Kirkwood – 10
21. Kyle Kaiser – 9
22. Alexander Rossi – 8
23. Conor Daly – 7
24. Pato O’Ward – 6
25. Marcus Ericsson – 5
26. Tony Kanaan – 5
27. Sage Karam – 9 (+1 for winning pole, +1 for leading a lap, +2 for leading the most laps)
28. Jack Harvey – 5
29. Felipe Nasr – 5
Points earned at Michigan:
1. Simon Pagenaud – 51 (+1 for leading a lap)
2. Scott McLaughlin – 40
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 35
4. Will Power – 33 (+1 for leading a lap)
5. Graham Rahal – 30
6. Jack Harvey – 28
7. Alexander Rossi – 27 (+1 for leading a lap)
8. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 25 (+1 for leading a lap)
9. Ed Carpenter – 22
10. Alex Palou – 21 (+1 for leading a lap)
11. Zach Veach – 20 (+1 for leading a lap)
12. Kyle Kaiser – 18
13. Conor Daly – 17
14. Sage Karam – 19 (+1 for leading a lap, +2 for leading the most laps)
15. James Davison – 15
16. Dalton Kellett – 14
17. Felipe Nasr – 14 (+1 for leading a lap)
18. Tony Kanaan – 12
19. Marcus Ericsson – 13 (+1 for leading a lap, +1 for winning pole)
20. Sebastien Bourdais – 10
21. Felix Rosenqvist – 9
22. James Hinchcliffe – 8
23. Santino Ferucci – 7
24. Josef Newgarden – 6
25. Pato O’Ward – 5
26. Robert Wickens – 5
27. Max Chilton – 5
28. Colton Herta – 5
29. Marco Andretti – 5
30. Scott Dixon – 5
31. Oliver Askew – 5
Points earned at Motegi:
1. Simon Pagenuad – 51 (+1 for leading a lap)
2. Scott Dixon – 41 (+1 for leading a lap)
3. Will Power – 38 (+1 for leading a lap, +2 for leading the most laps)
4. Marcus Ericsson – 33 (+1 for leading a lap)
5. Robert Wickens – 32 (+1 for leading a lap, +1 for winning pole)
6. Jack Harvey – 29 (+1 for leading a lap)
7. Sage Karam – 27 (+1 for leading a lap)
8. Zach Veach – 25 (+1 for leading a lap)
9. Santino Ferrucci – 22
10. Graham Rahal – 20
11. Conor Daly – 19
12. Takuma Sato – 18
13. Kyle Busch – 17
14. Felix Rosenqvist – 16
15. Josef Newgarden – 16 (+1 for leading a lap)
16. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 14
17. Ed Carpenter – 13
18. Colton Herta – 12
19. Dalton Kellett – 11
20. Sebastien Bourdais – 10
21. Oliver Askew – 10 (+1 for leading a lap)
22. Alex Palou – 8
23. Rinus VeeKay – 7
24. Scott McLaughlin – 6
25. Marco Andretti – 5
26. Pato O’Ward – 5
27. Kyle Kaiser – 5
28. Alexander Rossi – 5
29. Helio Castroneves – 5
30. Tony Kanaan – 5
31. Felipe Nasr – 5
32. Max Chilton – 5
33. James Hinchcliffe – 0 (Did not start)
Points earned at COTA:
1. Lando Norris – 54 (50 +4 for pole, lap led, most laps led)
2. Pato O’Ward – 41 (+1 for lap led)
3. Felix Rosenqvist – 35
4. Scott McLaughlin – 32
5. Santino Ferrucci – 30
6. Will Power – 29 (+1 lap led)
7. Rinus VeeKay – 26
8. Marcus Ericsson – 24
9. Alex Palou – 23 (+1 lap led)
10. Josef Newgarden – 20
11. Scott Dixon – 19
12. Felipe Nasr – 18
13. Colton Herta – 17
14. Simon Pagenuad – 16
15. Alexander Rossi – 15
16. Jack Harvey – 14
17. Graham Rahal – 13
18. Dalton Kellett – 12
19. James Hinchcliffe – 11
20. Chaz Mostert – 10
21. Max Chilton – 9
22. Ed Carpenter – 8
23. Tony Kanaan – 7
24. Sebastien Bourdais – 6
25. Spencer Pigot – 5
26. Zach Veach – 5
27. Kyle Kaiser – 5
28. Oliver Askew – 5
29. Conor Daly – 5
30. Takuma Sato – 5
31. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 5
32. Robert Wickens – 5
33. Sage Karam – 5
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS
IndyCar’s Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the top finishing rookie in the series standings. Here are what the current standings would be for iRacing Challenge :
1. Scott McLaughlin – 161
2. Alex Palou – 94
3. Dalton Kellett – 75
4. Pato O’Ward – 74
5. Oliver Askew – 65
6. Felipe Nasr – 57
7. Lando Norris – 54
8. Scott Speed – 45
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 35
10. Rinus VeeKay – 33
11. Kyle Kirkwood – 32
11. Jimmie Johnson – 32
13. Kyle Busch – 17
14. Chaz Mostert – 10
For the driver’s championship, IndyCar tallies points based on each driver’s finishing position, with the most points being awarded for finishing first. Additional points can be earned for winning the pole position (one additional point), leading at least one lap (only one bonus point will be rewarded regardless of how many laps a driver leads), and leading the most laps (two additional points).
Here’s a breakdown of how points are earned based on finishing position:
