Five INDYCAR Drivers Whose Standings Undersold Their Performance
As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES concluded its 18-race calendar, the final points table failed to tell the complete story of driver performance. While championship standings traditionally reflect a driver’s raw output, a handful of competitors endured uncharacteristic mechanical failures, severe midseason slumps, and costly bouts of bad luck that dragged their final ranking well below their actual on-track pace.
David Malukas and the Cost of August Attrition
Team Penske driver David Malukas delivered a campaign behind the wheel of the No. 12 Chevrolet, only to finish fifth in the overall standings. Malukas sat second in points heading into August, powered by a string of standout drives. He registered four runner-up finishes, most notably losing the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge by just 0.0233 of a second—the closest margin in the history of the race.
Malukas also secured second-place results at the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, and the second leg of the Milwaukee Mile doubleheader, the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250. With six top-three finishes, he trailed only series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing and third-place finisher Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren in podium output. Malukas posted a qualifying average of 3.2 and a finishing average of 3.5 on ovals, leading nearly 18 percent of the laps (255 of 1,435).
Yet, a series of poor results derailed his climb. Malukas accumulated five results of 12th or worse, including an August stretch on road and street circuits where he finished 12th, 17th, and 24th while battling an aggravated past wrist injury.
Felix Rosenqvist: Brilliant Poles Mixed with Double-Digit Struggles
Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian driver Felix Rosenqvist experienced a season of stark contrasts. The Swedish driver captured the seventh and eighth poles of his career and drove to a spectacular last-lap victory at the Indianapolis 500. He added second-place finishes at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland, leading nine of the season’s 18 races.
Despite race-winning speed in the No. 60 Honda, Rosenqvist settled for ninth in the final standings. The primary culprit was an accumulation of 11 double-digit finishes, a slump that included the entire opening four-race stretch of the season and five of the first six rounds.
Will Power Overcomes Early Season Misfortune at Andretti Global
Transitioning to Andretti Global’s No. 26 Honda presented early hurdles for two-time series champion Will Power. Power suffered through an average finish of 17.0 across the first eight races of the season, frequently falling victim to various forms of on-track misfortune despite leading five of those events and securing a front-row start for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
Power stabilized his campaign in the second half, rattling off three consecutive third-place finishes in August to salvage 11th in the standings. He ended the year having led 12 of the 18 races and collected five podiums, a tally surpassed only by Palou, Lundgaard, Malukas, and Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood. That late surge provides a foundation heading into the 2027 season.
Marcus Armstrong’s Speed Undermined by Midseason Failures
Marcus Armstrong led the Indianapolis 500 coming to the white flag, a feat that underscored a much higher competitive ceiling than his 14th-place finish in the standings indicates. Driving the No. 66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian, Armstrong collected fifth-place finishes on the ovals at Phoenix and Indianapolis, alongside a sixth-place result at the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
Armstrong closed out the year strongly with a ninth-place finish in the second Milwaukee race and a seventh-place run at the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. However, his overall ranking suffered due to a seven-race midseason stretch where his average finish was 19.7, driven largely by at least three mechanical failures. Armstrong is slated to step into the lead driver role at MSR for next season.
Graham Rahal Finds Speed on Road Circuits
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing veteran Graham Rahal demonstrated pace on road and street courses in the No. 15 Honda, masking struggles on short ovals. Rahal secured third-place finishes at Barber Motorsports Park, the Sonsio Grand Prix, and the Detroit street race. He also ran third with just two corners remaining in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America before contact from Will Power relegated him to a 23rd-place finish.
Aside from an early ninth-place finish after qualifying third at Phoenix, Rahal struggled on short ovals, posting an average finish of 21 across those events and pulling down his overall standing.
As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES enters its offseason, the narrative of the championship points table remains a reminder that raw speed and race execution do not always align on paper.