Alex Palou dominated the championship this year, but on which types of tracks did the Spaniard score the most points?? With 11 statistics, we zoom in on the past season, examining points scored per track type, average qualifying and race positions, how many places a driver won or lost on average and who retired from the most incidents!

Overview:

Number of pole positions

Number of victories

Points scored on road courses

Points scored on street courses

Points scored on ovals

Number of laps led

Race laps completed, relative to all laps

Average qualifying position

Average finishing position

Average gain or loss from starting position

Percentage of races retired due to an incident

Number of pole positions

Despite Alex Palou being the dominant force in qualifying this year, it’s remarkable that no fewer than ten different drivers took at least one pole position. Besides Palou, Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward were the only other drivers to score multiple poles. The most striking pole was, of course, rookie Robert Shwartzman’s at the Indy 500.

1. Alex Palou – 6
2. Pato O’Ward – 2
= Colton Herta – 2
4. Kyle Kirkwood – 1
= Scott McLaughlin – 1
= Robert Shwartzman – 1
= Will Power – 1
= Louis Foster – 1
= Josef Newgarden – 1
= Christian Lundgaard – 1

Number of victories

Alex Palou seemed on track this year to match or even surpass the single-season win record, held by AJ Foyt and Al Unser with 10. However, Palou won only two of the last eight races, finishing the year with eight. This opened the door for other drivers to claim victories, resulting in — just like the last two years — seven different race winners this season.

1. Alex Palou – 8
2. Kyle Kirkwood – 3
3. Pato O'Ward – 2
4. Will Power – 1
= Christian Rasmussen – 1
= Josef Newgarden – 1
= Scott Dixon – 1

Points scored on road courses

If there’s one type of track where Alex Palou was nearly unbeatable, it was the permanent road courses. Out of the seven races on these tracks, Palou dominated with five wins! He also appeared on the podium in the other two. A big disappointment was Josef Newgarden’s 21st place — he scored just 91 points over seven races on permanent circuits, averaging 13 points per race (equivalent to finishing 17th every time).

1. Alex Palou - 342
2. Christian Lundgaard - 212
3. Pato O’Ward - 193
4. Scott Dixon - 193
= Will Power - 193
6. Marcus Armstrong - 171
7. Colton Herta - 165
8. Felix Rosenqvist - 164
9. Kyle Kirkwood - 148
10. Scott McLaughlin - 145
11. Alexander Rossi - 140
12. Graham Rahal - 133
13. Rinus VeeKay - 129
14. Nolan Siegel - 120
15. Callum Ilott - 108
16. David Malukas - 101
= Christian Rasmussen - 101
18. Santino Ferrucci - 100
19. Louis Foster - 97
20. Kyffin Simpson - 93
21. Josef Newgarden - 91
22. Conor Daly - 80
23. Devlin DeFrancesco - 73
24. Sting Ray Robb - 68
25. Marcus Ericsson - 64
26. Robert Schwartzman - 63
27. Jacob Abel - 43

Points scored on street courses

The street courses were the only type of track where Alex Palou didn’t rule; that honor went to Kyle Kirkwood. Two of Kirkwood’s three victories came on street courses (Long Beach and Detroit). Palou took only one victory on the four street courses, in St. Petersburg. Notably, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Ericsson also performed well on street courses, while Christian Rasmussen notably struggled (23rd with 39 points).

1. Kyle Kirkwood - 165
2. Alex Palou - 117
3. Pato O’Ward - 114
4. Colton Herta - 112
5. Scott Dixon - 106
6. Christian Lundgaard - 102
7. Kyffin Simpson - 98
8. Marcus Ericsson - 94
9. Scott McLaughlin - 88
10. Will Power - 87
11. Rinus VeeKay - 79
= Felix Rosenqvist - 79
13. Josef Newgarden - 69
14. Marcus Armstrong - 68
15. David Malukas - 68
16. Graham Rahal - 62
17. Alexander Rossi - 60
= Sting Ray Robb - 60
19. Santino Ferrucci - 53
20. Robert Schwartzman - 50
21. Callum Ilott - 49
22. Conor Daly - 46
23. Christian Rasmussen - 39
24. Nolan Siegel - 38
25. Louis Foster - 37
26. Jacob Abel - 31
27. Devlin DeFrancesco - 29

Points scored on ovals

Ovals had always been Alex Palou’s weak point, but that changed completely this year. With his win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he not only took his first Indy 500 win, but also his first oval victory. Later in the year, he added another win at Iowa Speedway. Although Pato O’Ward finished in the top three on all three circuit types, the ovals remained his specialty. Without the flat tire at Nashville Superspeedway, he could have made things tough for Palou in this ranking.

Another remarkable name on ovals is Christian Rasmussen. He took his first oval win at the Milwaukee Mile and, except for the season finale in Nashville, finished in the top ten in every other oval race! On the flip side, it’s striking that none of the Andretti Global drivers (Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta, and Marcus Ericsson) finished in the top ten of this ranking, while Will Power also performed very poorly on ovals this year.

1. Alex Palou - 252
2. Pato O’Ward - 208
3. Christian Rasmussen - 173
4. Josef Newgarden - 156
5. Scott Dixon - 153
6. David Malukas - 149
7. Conor Daly - 142
8. Santino Ferrucci - 140
9. Felix Rosenqvist - 129
10. Marcus Armstrong - 125
11. Scott McLaughlin - 123
12. Kyle Kirkwood - 120
13. Christian Lundgaard - 117
14. Robert Schwartzman - 98
15. Rinus VeeKay - 97
= Alexander Rossi - 97
17. Colton Herta - 95
18. Kyffin Simpson - 91
19. Louis Foster - 79
20. Will Power - 77
21. Marcus Ericsson - 76
22. Devlin DeFrancesco - 69
23. Graham Rahal - 65
24. Callum Ilott - 61
25. Nolan Siegel - 55
26. Sting Ray Robb - 53
27. Jacob Abel - 49
28. Takuma Sato - 36
29. Hélio Castroneves - 20
30. Ed Carpenter - 16
31. Jack Harvey - 12
32. Ryan Hunter-Reay - 10
33. Kyle Larson - 6
34. Marco Andretti – 5

Number of laps led

When it comes to the number of laps led, Alex Palou was in a class of his own this year. Still, he didn’t dominate every won race completely. For instance, on his way to winning at Road America he only led just six laps. Josef Newgarden is perhaps the most surprising runner-up, though 232 of his 393 laps led came from the Saturday race at Iowa Speedway.

Remarkably, two ‘one-offs’ from the Indy 500 ranked relatively high: Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay each led nearly half the laps in this year’s Indy 500! Another notable point: of the 27 full-time drivers, 26 led at least one lap. Only Jacob Abel failed to do so.

1. Alex Palou - 778 (31,69%)
2. Josef Newgarden - 393 (16,01%)
3. Pato O'Ward - 258 (10,51%)
4. Kyle Kirkwood - 114 (4,64%)
5. Scott McLaughlin - 112 (4,56%)
6. David Malukas - 97 (3,95%)
7. Scott Dixon - 91 (3,71%)
8. Will Power - 87 (3,54%)
9. Graham Rahal - 59 (2,40%)
10. Christian Lundgaard - 53 (2,16%)
11. Conor Daly - 51 (2,08%)
= Takuma Sato - 51 (2,08%)
13. Ryan Hunter-Reay - 48 (1,96%)
14. Christian Rasmussen - 46 (1,87%)
15. Alexander Rossi - 33 (1,34%)
16. Marcus Armstrong - 28 (1,14%)
17. Colton Herta - 24 (0,98%)
18. Marcus Ericsson - 20 (0,81%)
19. Rinus VeeKay - 19 (0,77%)
20. Devlin DeFrancesco - 18 (0,73%)
21. Santino Ferrucci - 16 (0,65%)
22. Sting Ray Robb - 12 (0,49%)
23. Nolan Siegel - 11 (0,45%)
24. Felix Rosenqvist - 8 (0,33%)
= Robert Shwartzman - 8 (0,33%)
26. Kyffin Simpson - 6 (0,24%)
27. Callum Ilott - 5 (0,20%)
= Louis Foster - 5 (0,20%)
29. Jack Harvey - 3 (0,12%)
30. Ed Carpenter - 1 (0,04%)
31. Jacob Abel - 0 (0,00%)
= Kyle Larson - 0 (0,00%)
= Helio Castroneves - 0 (0,00%)
= Marco Andretti - 0 (0,00%)

Race laps completed, relative to all laps

In the ranking for most race laps completed, Alex Palou had to give way to teammate Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal. Dixon missed only three laps during the Indy 500. Rahal also finished every race, but often ended up many laps down on the ovals.

With three races to go, Pato O’Ward still had a chance to complete 100% of race laps, but suffered technical problems in Portland and crashed in Nashville due to a flat tire.

Team Penske’s tough season is also reflected in this overview. Among full-time drivers, Will Power completed the fewest laps. His teammate Scott McLaughlin didn’t do much better and only had Siegel behind him.

1. Scott Dixon - 2452 (99,88%)
2. Graham Rahal - 2432 (99,06%)
3. Alex Palou - 2427 (98,86%)
4. Felix Rosenqvist - 2426 (98,82%)
5. Colton Herta - 2409 (98,13%)
6. Marcus Armstrong - 2397 (97,64%)
7. Conor Daly - 2354 (95,89%)
8. Christian Lundgaard - 2351 (95,76%)
9. Pato O’Ward - 2346 (95,56%)
10. Kyle Kirkwood - 2329 (94,87%)
11. Marcus Ericsson - 2315 (94,30%)
12. David Malukas - 2294 (93,44%)
13. Robert Shwartzman - 2284 (93,03%)
14. Santino Ferrucci - 2253 (91,77%)
15. Rinus VeeKay - 2238 (91,16%)
16. Alexander Rossi - 2227 (90,71%)
17. Callum Ilott - 2183 (88,92%)
18. Louis Foster - 2177 (88,68%)
19. Christian Rasmussen - 2147 (87,45%)
20. Josef Newgarden - 2088 (85,05%)
21. Devlin DeFrancesco - 2080 (84,73%)
22. Sting Ray Robb - 2064 (84,07%)
23. Kyffin Simpson - 2052 (83,58%)
24. Jacob Abel - 1874 (76,33%)
25. Scott McLaughlin - 1835 (74,75%)
26. Nolan Siegel - 1793 (73,03%)
27. Will Power - 1657 (67,49%)
28. Hélio Castroneves - 200 (8,15%)
29. Takuma Sato - 200 (8,15%)
30. Ed Carpenter - 199 (8,11%)
31. Jack Harvey - 198 (8,07%)
32. Ryan Hunter-Reay - 171 (6,97%)
33. Kyle Larson - 91 (3,71%)
34. Marco Andretti - 4 (0,16%)

Average qualifying position

Alex Palou wasn’t always the strongest in qualifying in previous years, but has clearly improved this past season. Thanks in part to his six pole positions, his average was 3.47 — more than three places ahead of number two (Pato O’Ward). David Malukas is the surprising number three — the driver making the switch to Team Penske particularly impressed in qualifying this year.

1. Alex Palou - 3,47
2. Pato O’Ward - 7,71
3. David Malukas - 9,59
4. Christian Lundgaard - 9,59
5. Felix Rosenqvist - 10,12
6. Will Power - 10,41
7. Colton Herta - 10,82
8. Scott McLaughlin - 11,18
9. Marcus Armstrong - 11,24
10. Josef Newgarden - 11,47
11. Scott Dixon - 11,53
12. Kyle Kirkwood - 12,18
13. Marcus Ericsson - 12,65
14. Louis Foster - 13,53
15. Nolan Siegel - 13,88
16. Alexander Rossi - 14,59
17. Graham Rahal - 14,76
18. Kyffin Simpson - 15,65
19. Christian Rasmussen - 17,35
20. Conor Daly - 17,47
21. Santino Ferrucci - 17,53
22. Rinus VeeKay - 18,88
= Callum Ilott - 18,88
24. Devlin DeFrancesco - 20,06
25. Robert Shwartzman - 20,47
26. Sting Ray Robb - 22,29
27. Jacob Abel - 25,41

Average finishing position

In the race, it was of course also Palou who excelled. The 2025 IndyCar Series champion averaged a 4.06 finishing position. This includes a 25th-place finish in Detroit, after being pushed into the tire barriers by David Malukas. The gap between the top two (Pato O’Ward) is almost four places. Understandably, this ranking largely mirrors the championship standings.

1. Alex Palou - 4,06
2. Pato O’Ward - 7,82
3. Scott Dixon - 8,29
4. Christian Lundgaard - 9,59
5. Kyle Kirkwood - 10,76
6. Marcus Armstrong - 10,88
= Colton Herta - 10,88
8. Felix Rosenqvist - 11,35
9. Scott McLaughlin - 13,18
10. Will Power - 13,24
11. Santino Ferrucci - 13,47
12. David Malukas - 13,53
13. Alexander Rossi - 13,76
14. Rinus VeeKay - 13,88
15. Christian Rasmussen - 14,29
16. Kyffin Simpson - 14,81
17. Josef Newgarden - 14,82
18. Conor Daly - 15,29
19. Graham Rahal - 15,71
20. Marcus Ericsson - 17,72
21. Nolan Siegel - 17,82
22. Louis Foster - 17,94
23. Callum Ilott - 18,47
24. Robert Shwartzman - 18,59
25. Sting Ray Robb - 19,53
26. Devlin DeFrancesco - 20,06
27. Jacob Abel - 22,69

Average gain or loss from starting position

IndyCar hands out a ‘Biggest Mover’ award each race to the driver who gained the most spots from their starting position. If this award were handed out for the entire season, it would go to Rinus VeeKay. The Dale Coyne Racing team often only got the car setup dialed in late during race weekends, so the Dutchman often qualified poorly but fought forward during the race.

The same goes for the number two in the ranking, Santino Ferrucci. The AJ Foyt Racing driver often qualified badly, far behind teammate David Malukas. But he usually gained many positions in the race and often finished ahead of Malukas, who on average lost the third most spots in the entire field.

Joining Malukas at the bottom are Nolan Siegel, Louis Foster and Marcus Ericsson. Foster in particular made a mark in qualifying, including scoring his first IndyCar pole at Road America, but always dropped back during races, never finishing in the top ten.

Ericsson’s poor season was not specifically due to qualifying, but to race performance. On average, he lost over five places per race, making him the worst-ranked Andretti Global driver since Devlin DeFrancesco in 2023.

1. Rinus VeeKay +5
2. Santino Ferrucci +4,06
3. Scott Dixon +3,24
4. Christian Rasmussen +3,06
5. Sting Ray Robb +2,76
6. Jacob Abel +2,72
7. Conor Daly +2,18
8. Robert Shwartzman +1,88
9. Kyle Kirkwood +1,42
10. Kyffin Simpson +0,84
11. Alexander Rossi +0,83
12. Callum Ilott +0,41
13. Marcus Armstrong 0,36
14. Christian Lundgaard 0
= Devlin DeFrancesco 0
16. Colton Herta -0,06
17. Pato O’Ward -0,11
18. Alex Palou -0,59
19. Graham Rahal -0,95
20. Felix Rosenqvist -1,23
21. Scott McLaughlin -2
22. Will Power -2,83
23. Josef Newgarden -3,35
24. David Malukas -3,94
= Nolan Siegel -3,94
26. Louis Foster -4,41
27. Marcus Ericsson -5,07

Percentage of races retired due to an incident

Finally, the ranking you don’t want to top: who ended the most races due to an incident (a crash or collision)? This ‘honor’ went to Nolan Siegel, who retired due to an incident five times. He also missed one race (the Sunday race at Iowa Speedway) after crashing out on Saturday.

Josef Newgarden’s dramatic season is also clear in this overview: he had to retire four times due to a crash.

The only full-time drivers not to crash out a single time were Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal, Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon.

This overview does not take into account whether the driver caused the incident. For example, Josef Newgarden fell victim to another’s mistake twice, while the only crash for Pato O’Ward was caused by a flat tire.

1. Nolan Siegel - 5 (16 races)
2. Josef Newgarden - 4 (17 races)
3. Callum Ilott - 3 (17 races)
= Louis Foster - 3 (17 races)
= Sting Ray Robb - 3 (17 races)
= Will Power - 3 (17 races)
7. Felix Rosenqvist - 2 (17 races)
= Jacob Abel - 2 (16 races)
= Kyffin Simpson - 2 (17 races)
= Robert Schwartzman - 2 (17 races)
= Scott McLaughlin - 2 (17 races)
12. Alex Palou - 1 (17 races)
= Alexander Rossi - 1 (17 races)
= Christian Rasmussen - 1 (17 races)
= Colton Herta - 1 (17 races)
= Conor Daly - 1 (17 races)
= David Malukas - 1 (17 races)
= Devlin DeFrancesco - 1 (17 races)
= Kyle Kirkwood - 1 (17 races)
= Marcus Ericsson - 1 (17 races)
= Pato O’Ward - 1 (17 races)
= Rinus VeeKay - 1 (17 races)
= Santino Ferrucci - 1 (16 races)
= Kyle Larson - 1 (1 race)
= Marco Andretti - 1 (1 race)
26. Christian Lundgaard - 0 (17 races)
= Graham Rahal - 0 (17 races)
= Marcus Armstrong - 0 (17 races)
= Scott Dixon - 0 (17 races)
= Ed Carpenter - 0 (1 race)
= Hélio Castroneves - 0 (1 race)
= Jack Harvey - 0 (1 race)
= Ryan Hunter-Reay - 0 (1 race)
= Takuma Sato - 0 (1 race)