Season report
Opening rounds
The 2022 season kicked off in late February with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Scott McLaughlin won his maiden pole in qualifying and led the field to green, holding off Colton Herta in second and Rinus VeeKay in third, who both got by Will Power at the start. The latter managed to repass the pair when their tires started to fade, before a caution came out as David Malukas hit the wall in turn three. This meant the majority of the field was able to pit. Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon, who had not done so, now led the race. As strategies played out, McLaughlin was shuffled back to the lead, before managing to defend an overcutting attempt by then-second man Álex Palou, who started tenth but had moved into net second by the first round of stops. This order held on until the finish; McLaughlin converting maiden pole into maiden victory, ahead of Palou and Power. [65]
Next up was the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Felix Rosenqvist won his second series pole, but was overtaken by McLaughlin after less than a lap at the race start. Behind them, Power got by Takuma Sato for third, before Rossi had to retire his car and brought out a caution. After the restart, rookie Kyle Kirkwood used his fresh tires to climb from 23rd into the top ten and then into the lead as the top runners pitted. McLaughin was back in front once the pitstops had shaken out. Cautions flew again when Sato made contact with teammate Malukas, and then later when Kirkwood hit the wall. The second restart only lasted for a single lap, before a heavy crash saw Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco retire. After that, it was Power, McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden at the front, with the former running first before having to save fuel and letting the other two by. On the final lap, McLaughlin got stuck behind traffic, which allowed Newgarden to swoop by and take the win by 0.0669 seconds. [66]
It was then time for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, where Herta took pole with a new track record, and took off in front of Newgarden and Palou, remaining untroubled by a caution and a restart early on. Palou was the first of the frontrunners to pit, undercutting the leaders and running first for the next portion of the race. Palou was once again the first to pit a second time, but when Herta pushed on his inlap, he crashed into the wall at turn 9. The stewards delayed the caution, so Newgarden was able to pit before the pitlane closed, but Palou was not able to overtake him with warmed up tires as the caution was then thrown when Simon Pagenaud also went off track. At the restart, Marcus Ericsson spun, allowing Romain Grosjean into third. The latter then overtook Palou, but Newgarden held on to claim the second win in a row and with it also the championship lead. [67]
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was round four of the season, and it began with VeeKay taking pole position and he led ahead of Pato O'Ward, while McLaughlin overtook Palou for third. The field split strategies, with some coming in early and committing to a three-stop, and some staying out to try and run the race with two stops. However, when Callum Ilott beached his car shortly after the two-stoppers had pitted, he brought out a caution, effectively eliminating any advantages of a three-stop strategy. The leading trio stopped a second time, on the same lap, and a quick pitstop brought O'Ward very close to VeeKay, enabling him to take the lead into turn 5. Dixon stopped one lap later and managed to overtake McLaughlin for third, with Palou repeating this effort for second place one lap later. VeeKay was later able to regain third place, but O'Ward could not be stopped. Palou's second place was enough to hand him the championship lead, while Newgarden, who was 14th in the end, dropped to third. [68]
IndyCar then went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the GMR Grand Prix up first, around the road course. Power led from pole on a damp track, getting passed by both Palou and Newgarden into turn 1, and Rosenqvist after running wide later in the lap. Herta and Sato were the first to pit for dry tires on lap 3, and the former was in the lead of the race by the time the caution came out for a spinning Palou. Herta and O'Ward remained first and second all throughout the next two cautions and restarts, before Rosenqvist jumped his teammate after the second round of stops. Those two then came together on the next restart, immediately bringing out the fifth caution. Two more followed, and by then the rain had started to fall again. Some drivers still elected to stay on slicks, but the track became wet very fast. Herta, Pagenaud and Power had pitted for rain tires at the right time, and led the race as Juan Pablo Montoya hit the wall and the race ended under the eighth and last caution. [69]
The Month of May concluded with the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon won his fifth Indy 500 pole, ahead of Palou and VeeKay. The two CGR teammates repeatedly swapped the lead, reducing their fuel consumption. This continued through the first round of pitstops, through VeeKay crashing out of third, and until Ilott also crashed out while the second round of stops was underway. Palou had to stop under yellow and dropped back. This phase propelled Conor Daly and O'Ward to the front behind Dixon. Through the next two rounds of stops O'Ward, Daly and Rosenqvist all led portions of the race, but Dixon always came back to grab the lead again. He looked to have the win secured, before being sent to the back with a speeding penalty when coming in for his final stop. Marcus Ericsson, who ran with the top group all race, passed O'Ward for the lead shortly before a red flag came out when Jimmie Johnson crashed. Ericsson held the lead on the restart and won, ahead of O'Ward and Tony Kanaan. [70]
Mid-season rounds
The season continued with the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, where Newgarden led from pole and easily pulled away in the first portion of the race. The primary tire clearly was the tire to be on, with the primary runners all moving up in the early stages of the race. Power, Dixon and Palou all passed Newgarden to form the lead trio. Power had a five second lead by the time he pitted on his second set of primaries, and he was able to build the gap even further as the other two chose to pit to the alternate tire. Alexander Rossi, who had started on alternates, had already pitted on lap three, so was free to run primaries to the end. He used this advantage to slice through the field and was in second place by the time Power had to pit to make his mandatory run on the alternate tires. Rossi gained on the leader every lap, but in a grandstand finish, Power managed to hold off Rossi and won by just over a second, Dixon in a rather distant third place. [71]
At the next race, the Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America, Rossi continued his pace from Detroit to set pole position. The top three of him, Newgarden and Palou maintained position at the start, before the latter was hit by Ericsson on an early restart and had to retire. After two further restarts, the lead pair came into the pits, where Newgarden was able to overtake Rossi and come out ahead of him. The group was shuffled back to the front as the off-strategy runners came to pit lane, but by then Newgarden already had a gap of six seconds to Rossi. This continued over two rounds of pitstops and until the late stages of the race, when two cautions for O'Ward and then for Castroneves set up a three-lap shootout for the race win. But Newgarden got a good restart, pulled away from Rossi and secured the win, while Rossi was himself overtaken by Ericsson. Newgarden's third win promoted him to third in the standings, 32 points behind Indy 500 winner Ericsson. [72]
Three weeks later, O'Ward claimed pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio and was able to keep McLaughlin behind him at the start. Rosenqvist got third from Herta, only for his car breaking down a few laps later. Dixon overtook Herta on the subsequent restart, and when it was time for pitstops, McLaughlin was able to move past O'Ward in pitlane. Palou, who had stopped four laps earlier, used the undercut to come out in second place. O'Ward's car then also had to fight an engine issue, which saw him drop out of contention, making way for VeeKay to become third. McLaughlin and Palou remained the leading duo, while Power, who spun at the start of the race, had risen from 27th to fourth, and then made quick work of VeeKay in third. In the final stages of the race, Palou amped up the pressure on the leader, but McLaughin remained faultless and held the lead to win the race. Power's charge to third helped him to close up to 20 points behind championship leader Ericsson. [73]
Next up was IndyCar's long awaited return to Canada, for the Honda Indy Toronto, where Herta became the first driver to score more than one pole in 2022. He and Dixon held the front row at the start, before an early caution for Sato halted proceedings. Soon after, the leaders came to pit lane: Herta stopped a lap later than Dixon, who came out ahead in net first place. Newgarden in third place was trying to save fuel, holding up Rossi and Rosenqvist behind him. When the latter made a move to pass Rossi, he slid wide in turn 3, hitting the Andretti car that then crashed into the barrier. As drivers hurried into the narrow pitlane, Newgarden had a horribly slow stop, demoting him to eleventh. Up front, Herta could not use the restart nor the two cautions that followed to find a way past Dixon, and was more cautious in the final stages to not let Rosenqvist past him. Dixon took his 52nd win, drawing level with Mario Andretti in second place on the all-time IndyCar winners list. [74]
Then came the third oval track of the year, a double-header starting with Power claiming a double pole position. He led the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash to green ahead of Newgarden. The order at the front remained the same until a yellow was thrown for a spinning Johnson, and Newgarden overtook Power on the restart. He then built a gap to the field, untroubled by cautions, restarts and the strategic decisions of drivers behind him. Ericsson, Herta and O'Ward all managed to slice through the field during different stints, but only Ericsson managed to come close to Newgarden: The two made wheel-to-wheel contact on a restart, but Newgarden defended the attack. In the final stages of the race, when other drivers struggled with their old tires, Newgarden did not seem to have such problems: He pulled an even bigger gap and won over six seconds ahead of O'Ward and Power. This result sent him into second in the standings, now a mere 15 points behind Ericsson. [75]
A day later, the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google saw the same front row as the first race, and it started much the same: Power held the lead at the start, but this time he remained in the lead for slightly longer, with Newgarden passing him on lap 85. The race was caution-free until lap 120, when Kirkwood hit the wall. The leading quartet all pitted, their order remaining the same, before O'Ward in third then set off to try and pass Power. His attempts were fruitless, however, so he had to rely on pitting a lap earlier than Power and making the undercut work, which he did by the two-third mark of the race. Newgarden was in a world of his own once again and looked set to win a second race in as many days, before his right rear suspension suddenly failed on lap 235, sending him hard into the barriers. This meant O'Ward was in prime position to take the win, and he did so faultlessly, gapping Power at the restart and never looking back. McLaughlin was third after overtaking Dixon at the final restart. [76]
Closing rounds
IndyCar returned to Indianapolis to hold the Gallagher Grand Prix in late July. Rosenqvist took pole and led Rossi, while Newgarden jumped from fifth to third at the start, before having to give those back because he breached track limits. Herta then got past the leading duo, before Rossi followed him through to form an Andretti 1-2. In third was rookie Christian Lundgaard. This order remained unchanged until after the first round of pitstops, when Herta suffered a transmission issue that forced him to retire from the lead. This left Rossi in the lead and promoted Power into a podium position. Rossi was attacked by Lundgaard in the latter stages of the race, but remained first. The same happened with Power in third, getting attacked by McLaughlin but managing to defend his podium. Rossi scored his first win in three years, and Lundgaard scored his maiden series podium. Power's podium allowed him to take the championship lead by nine points. [77]
Just a week later, it was time for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. The weather was an issue all weekend: McLaughlin scored pole in a qualifying delayed by 90 minutes, and then converted pole into the lead in a race delayed by over 100 minutes. Grosjean was second and Palou pitted from third, shortly before a caution came out, which left him in front when the rest of the runners then also came in. On the restart, the tight section around turn 6 caused a multi-car crash that eliminated O'Ward, Rahal, Dalton Kellett and Simona de Silvestro. More collisions followed, and by the time the next caution was resolved, Palou led from Pagenaud and McLaughlin. Another caution came, at an extremely fortunate time for Dixon: He came through all the chaos left in second place, only behind Newgarden who had to make another stop. A late red flag made Dixon's race less straightforward, but he held on to win the race, beating McLaughlin and Palou. This also promoted Dixon to second in the championship, six points behind Power. [78]
The last oval race of the season was next up. Power took pole for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and once again weather played a part: This time, the race start was brought forward and Power led ahead of Ericsson and Newgarden. Teams were trying to stretch out the stints in expectation of a rain-shortened race. Ericsson dropped back after his first stop, allowing McLaughlin and O'Ward through. Shortly after the second round of stops, a caution came out, with some drivers staying out to gamble on the race being stopped. That stoppage only came on lap 217, though, too late to gain anything from this gamble. The race was restarted over two hours later, McLaughlin leading Newgarden and O'Ward. Malukas restarted in fifth and was flying on fresh tires, quickly dispersing fourth and third. Meanwhile, Newgarden had taken the lead from McLaughlin, who was then overtaken by Malukas for second on the last lap of the race. Newgarden's win moved him just three points behind Power in the championship. [79]
Seven drivers were still in championship contention heading into the penultimate round, and McLaughlin took pole for the Grand Prix of Portland. He was untroubled at the start, while Lundgaard got by Power into second. This order remained until the first pitstops, when Power had a strong outlap and Lundgaard a slight delay in pitlane, so the pair changed positions. On the next round of stops, Lundgaard once again lost out, this time to O'Ward. On their last stop, the leading group remained the same order. A caution was then thrown for Johnson crashing out, and O'Ward tried to pass Power on the restart. This attempt failed, he lost momentum and dropped back behind Dixon, who started 16th, was sixth by the restart and used it to climb into third. Power did not try any aggressive moves on McLaughlin, instead being content to finish behind him in second, thereby extending his championship lead. O'Ward's fourth place and Palou's twelfth place eliminated them from championship contention. [80]
The closest championship fight since 2003 concluded at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Five drivers were in title contention, and championship leader Power won pole position while his rivals struggled in qualifying. Ilott started second and dropped back at the start, allowing Rossi and O'Ward through. Behind them, Newgarden started 25th and immediately started climbing the ranks. He had started on alternate tires and elected to run long, ending up just behind Power, who had already stopped. Palou, who had pitted on fresh red tires, had the most pace through that stage and soon found himself leading. A caution came out in the second half of the race, bunching the field back up and committing Newgarden to push flatout and then stop once more. He pulled away and ended up second after his final stop, with Power just behind him and Palou in front, who was unstoppable all race and claimed the win and fifth in the standings. Power stayed third, knowing this was enough to secure his second IndyCar championship, while Newgarden's second place secured him the runner-up championship spot. [81]
Will Power 
Chevrolet 
Christian Lundgaard 
Marcus Ericsson 
