PRUETT: The year without a surge

By Marshall Pruett | August 21, 2015 6:33 PM ET

In 2012 it was Ryan Hunter-Reay going on an epic come-from-behind surge to win his first Verizon IndyCar Series championship for Andretti Autosport. Buried in the points after a mostly dismal first half of the season, RHR went on to win half of the eight races left on the calendar to pip Team Penske’s Will Power by three points.

It was Scott Dixon’s turn in 2013 as the two-time IndyCar champion got off to a dreadful start, then rallied back in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry to win four of the last nine races and capture his third title by 27 points.

If Dixon’s early 2013 campaign was ugly, 2014 opened in an unbearable manner as the Kiwi failed to crack the top-10 in six of the first 10 races. He’d go on yet another points-scoring rampage to close the season, placing inside the top-5 in seven of the last eight races to try and restore his title hopes. Even with two wins and another podium during that timeframe, the gap to eventual champion Will Power was too large to overcome, but open-wheel fans were still treated to an epic comeback attempt.

That brings us to 2015 where, for the first time in many years, an IndyCar season has taken place without a significant run by one or more drivers to try and snatch the championship from its leader.

Penske’s Juan Montoya has been a model of consistency and efficiency since the calendar opened in March, and heads into the penultimate round this weekend at Pocono with the same championship lead he’s held since Round 1 at St. Pete.

Behind Montoya, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal has been on a mini-streak of sorts with two wins and a podium in the last four events, but with three other podiums during the first half of the season, he’s also been a steady performer. Dixon is third in the standings, and for the first time in a good while, he hasn’t been on a rapid rise to the top.

Instead of tracking one driver’s ascension, IndyCar fans have been waiting for someone to break from the pack. Rahal only needs 10 points to overtake Montoya, and Dixon needs 35 to move ahead of Montoya and Rahal, which is more than possible with close to 160 points available between Pocono and the season finale at Sonoma Raceway. The question to consider is whether it will actually happen.

Who looks strongest with two rounds to go? At this moment, it’s actually hard to say. Unless someone places their stamp of authority on the championship, the checkered flag could wave on 2015 without a single driver placing their stamp of authority on the season. If Montoya’s masterful form of earning solid finishes continues for another week and a half, his second Indy car title could be little more than a formality.

As Dixon (RIGHT) notes, he wants nothing more than to stand out from the other title hopefuls. His 2015 had more lows than highs through the doubleheader in Detroit, but most of the championship contenders could say the same about their opening stanzas…a bit of success, a few heartbreaks…

“I don’t think we started the year good at all,” Dixon remarked. “We had a mechanical issue to start the season, NOLA was a mess, we got taken out at the GP of Indy and we had a good shot of getting on the podium there. But maybe it hasn’t hurt us as much as a start like that normally would have on the championship because nobody has been on a streak.”

Adding to the streak-less themes, 2015 has been unusual when it comes to wins. The top-3 in the championship each have a pair of wins, and so does Sebastien Bourdais who hold sixth in the standings, and eighth-place Josef Newgarden. Fourth-place Helio Castroneves has yet to find Victory Lane, his teammate Will Power – the defending champ – only has one win so far, and Marco Andretti (P7), Tony Kanaan (P9), and Simon Pagenaud (P10) are winless.

If a surge is going to happen, Rahal, Dixon, and the others in striking distance of Montoya have two more chances to get an end-of-season roll under way.

“Juan’s won a couple of races, Graham’s won a couple, Will has one, but normally you see a stretch where someone jumps up and take command with a bunch of wins and podiums,” Dixon added. “But this year we haven’t had that. We’re obviously trying to do it because we have to if we want to win the title. And Montoya could do it, too. If he wins at Pocono, he’ll be holding the advantage at Sonoma.”

Even though the 2015 IndyCar season has yet to produce a shooting star, Dixon says he likes the widened field of potential champions. The field could be narrowed after Sunday’s 500-mile race, but for now, a solid portion of the top-10 could be crowned on August 30 at the double-points championship closer in Sonoma.

“There’s a bunch of good guys who’ve had good seasons, but nobody’s dominated at any point or really made a run to push everyone out of the way, so that’s meant a lot of good drivers are in with a shot instead of just one or two having a legitimate chance,” Dixon explained. “There isn’t a lot of math to be worked out: We’re all after maximum points. We have five or six people who could win the championship, and it’s definitely making for an exciting finish in Sonoma.”