IndyCar will complete its race weekend doubleheader Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway with the hottest driver in the series leading the starting lineup to green.
After winning his second Indy 500 Sunday, Takuma Sato nearly made it consecutive victories Saturday, coming up just 0.141 seconds short of winner Scott Dixon in the second-closest IndyCar finish in track history.
Dixon will start sixth Sunday after winning four of the first eight races this season. With five races remaining in the season, he has built a seemingly insurmountable 117-point lead on defending series champion Josef Newgarden, who will start second Sunday.
DIXON MAKES 50: Fourth win of season for points leader
Will Power, who started on the pole Saturday and led 61 laps before being shuffled to 17th by an inopportune caution, will start third beside Pato O’Ward, who led a race-high 94 laps in finishing third Saturday.
IndyCar will be hoping for a better start than Saturday when six cars were involved in a crash as the green flag waved for Lap 1.
The lineup for Sunday was set by the second lap during Saturday’s qualifying session (the first lap set the starting order for Saturday’s Race 1).
Here’s the starting lineup for IndyCar’s Sunday race at Gateway:
1. (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 182.499 mph
2. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 182.477
3. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 182.474
4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 182.280
5. (60) Jack Harvey, Honda, 181.800
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 181.735
7. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 181.723
8. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 181.457
9. (10) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 181.387
10. (88) Colton Herta, Honda, 181.164
11. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 180.825
12. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 180.618
13. (7) Oliver Askew, Chevrolet, 180.579
14. (55) Alex Palou, Honda, 180.560
15. (59) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 180.374
16. (18) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 180.197
17. (26) Zach Veach, Honda, 179.791
18. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 178.690
19. (14) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 178.630
20. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, 178.563
21. (4) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 178.295
22. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 177.728
23. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 176.803