The Verizon IndyCar Series has closed in on the mid-way portion of the 2016 season. It has been a momentous year that has featured the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 and the first race conducted at Phoenix International Raceway in over a decade. Some races have been ran without hardly any incidents and others have littered the tracks with debris from the racing machines.
Simon Pagenaud has a league high three victories and the Chevrolet manufacturer’s drivers have piled on seven of the eight total wins up to this point. Some familiar front runners have found themselves in the back half of the Verizon IndyCar Series top ten points race. There are also some new faces and some young blood that has been injected into the front half of the standings.
More than ever, teams are going to the blackboard and film room studying competitors tendencies and re-evaluating new ways to come up with advantages for their respected drivers. Unfortunately, the drivers that are on the outside looking in and what has developed over the first half of the Verizon IndyCar Series are why they have found back in the points race.
James Hinchcliffe is right on the outside looking in at the top ten in the 11th spot. The quirky Canadian driver has shown plenty of improvement from the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series campaign. The 2011 Rookie of the Year put his #5 Lucas Oil sponsored Honda on the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in May. Hinchliffe has one top five appearance coming in the Indianapolis 500 and four other top ten appearances.
The four-time IndyCar race winner has led 27 laps in 2016. That may not sound like much, but it is seven more than all of the 2015 campaign. It’s been a clean first half of the season that saw the driver guide his hot-rod to seven completed races of the eight events ran.
Hinchcliffe’s outgoing personality can be contagious and his growing fan base is a testament to that. The light-hearted competitor even has a micro-brew named after him. Just walk into Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis, Indiana and ask for the Hinchtown Hammer Down and try it for yourself.
The 12th position in the Verizon IndyCar Series points race is Graham Rahal. The husband of drag racing’s Funny Car winner Courtney Force has placed his Rahal Letterman owned Honda in the top five on four in different venues in 2016.
He also has another four top ten appearances to show for his efforts during the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series. What has really benefited the two time 2015 race winner is that he has kept his car intact for all eight contests this year. If Rahal can keep up the consistency and find a way to win a few races on the back half of the schedule, he could be a factor in the closing weeks of the season.
Ryan Hunter-Reay is in sole possession of the 13th spot in the points ladder. The Andretti Autosport stand-out has quite the resume’ that gives fans and oddsmakers reason to believe he will not be in 13th for very long. The 2013 and 2014 Espy Award winner for the best driver has two top five’s and five more top ten’s.
Officially, Hunter-Reay is the most successful active American driver on the circuit. He took home the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series championship and won the 2014 Indianapolis 500. The deep-sea fishing Floridian is averaging an 11th starting position and finishing contests with an 11.0 average.
Sitting in the 14th spot is IndyCar veteran Sebastian Bourdais. The talented driver has accumulated quite stats over his career. Bourdais sits seventh in all-time wins with 34 and has won from the pole position in 18 of those contests which ranks him third all-time in that category.
The 2016 Verizon Indycar Series has been a bit of a challenge for the seasoned racer. He has only led a total of six laps and has one top five finish to his credit. The upside side to that top five finish is that he drove to victory in the first Duel at Belle Park in Detroit.
Rounding out the top 15 is Dale Coyne Racing’s Connor Daly. The rookie driver has guided his #18 Jonathon Byrd’s Hospitality Honda to the runner-up position two weeks ago in the first Duel at Belle Park Raceway. He has also raced to three other top ten’s in the 2016 season schedule. There will be a bit of a learning curve for the newly sponsored driver and reaching a top ten position in the point standings may be a bit of a stretch.
The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Top 20 Drivers in the Point standings:
1 Simon Pagenaud 357
2 Scott Dixon 277
3 Helio Castroneves 271
4 Josef Newgarden 259
5 Alexander Rossi 242
6 Carlos Munoz 242
7 Will Power 241
8 Tony Kanaan 240
9 Juan Pablo Montoya 233
10 Charlie Kimball 227
11 James Hinchcliffe 226
12 Graham Rahal 225
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay 224
14 Sebastien Bourdais 210
15 Conor Daly 177
16 Takuma Sato 173
17 Marco Andretti 166
18 Mikhail Aleshin 155
19 Max Chilton 139
20 Jack Hawksworth 110
