IndyCar Championship Scenarios

AR1 has all your Astor Cup scenarios covered

Below, are some championship scenarios for today's 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series finale at Sonoma Raceway. To be clear we did not give every single scenario, rather a few broad ones that will help you follow along during the race.

Let's start with Josef Newgarden. Newgarden is 87 points behind Montoya and needs a minor miracle to win the championship. But to make things simple, to win the championship Newgarden must win the race and then have the following occur:

• Juan Pablo Montoya finish 22nd or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Graham Rahal finish 8th or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Scott Dixon finish 5th or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Will Power finish 3rd or worse

Presuming Montoya starts the race, Helio Castroneves must also win the race to win the championship. Castroneves must also have the following occur.

• Montoya finish 17th or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Rahal finish 5th or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Dixon finish 3rd or worse and not accrue any bonus points
• Power finish second or worse

Will Power has more opportunity than Castroneves, and having won pole appears to have a very quick car. However, the reigning champion still needs a good result and a decent amount of help.
Presuming Montoya starts the race, Power must finish at least third to win the championship. Power is eliminated if any of the following things occur…

• Dixon wins the race
• Castroneves wins the race
• Rahal finishes 2nd or better
• Montoya finishes 10th or better

Scott Dixon is in a similar position to Power. He needs a good result, then a lot of help.
Presuming Montoya starts the race must finish at least sixth to win the championship. Dixon is eliminated from title contention if…

• Power or Rahal win the race
• Montoya finishes fifth or better

Graham Rahal is has enjoyed his best season in IndyCar and with double-points on offer has a realistic chance to win the championship.

Presuming Montoya starts the race, Rahal must finish at least 9th and not have Montoya accrue any bonus points. Rahal is eliminated from championship contention if…

• Montoya finishes third or better
• Dixon wins the race

Juan Pablo Montoya obviously has the best chance to win the title. Montoya can clinch the championship if he…

• Finishes third or better

For a quick snapshot of what needs to happen we have our AR1 Championship Cheat Sheet below. This is the same sheet AR1 will be using during the race to follow along.

As you can see we have the title contenders divided both vertically and horizontally. If the driver in the left-hand vertical column finishes the race in the position stated, he will eliminate the driver stated in the horizontal row above, no matter bonus points.

To assist you see below where the 3 is in bold. If Montoya finishes fifth he eliminates Dixon from title contention.

Brian Carroccio reporting for AutoRacing1