Race Weekend Central

2018 Verizon IndyCar Series Final Points Standings and Awards

The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season came to a close Sunday with Scott Dixon hoisting the championship title. Dixon earned his fifth title, putting him in elite company alongside A.J. Foyt. The championship race came down to the season finale.

The four drivers who entered Sonoma Raceway with a chance to win the championship were the ones who stayed within reach from St. Petersburg. Josef Newgarden showed that he was going to be a threat to go back-to-back early in the season before experiencing a slump after his victory at Barber.

The slump that Will Power was facing during the first four races of the season ended in Indianapolis. Power went on to sweep both races in the month of May to put him in the conversation of winning the championship.

The Championship runner-up kicked off his season with three straight podium finishes. During the entire season, Alexander Rossi finished outside the top 10 only three times ,which ultimately gave him the best chance of defeating Dixon.

Ryan Hunter-Reay snapped a 42-race winless streak in Detroit and was able to tally another victory in the season finale at Sonoma. After missing the Indianapolis 500, James Hinchcliffe took the twin-checkers at Iowa Speedway for the second time of his career, his sixth career victory. Takuma Sato returned to victory lane at Portland, his first victory since his Indianapolis 500 triumph in 2017.

Final 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series Standings

  1. Scott Dixon -678 points
  2. Alexander Rossi – 621 points
  3. Will Power – 582 points
  4. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 566 points
  5. Josef Newgarden – 560 points
  6. Simon Pagenaud – 492 points
  7. S̩bastien Bourdais Р425 points
  8. Graham Rahal – 392 points
  9. Marco Andretti – 392 points
  10. James Hinchcliffe – 391 points
  11. Robert Wickens – 391 points
  12. Takuma Sato – 351 points
  13. Ed Jones – 343 points
  14. Spencer Pigot -325 points
  15. Zach Veach – 313 points
  16. Tony Kanaan – 312 points
  17. Charlie Kimball – 287 points
  18. Matheus Leist – 253 points
  19. Max Chilton – 223 points
  20. Gabby Chaves – 187 points
  21. Ed Carpenter – 187 points
  22. Jordan King – 175 points
  23. Zachary Claman De Melo – 122 points
  24. Jack Harvey – 103 points
  25. Carlos Munoz – 95 points
  26. Pietro Fittipaldi – 91 points
  27. Santino Ferrucci – 66 points
  28. Rene Binder – 61 points
  29. Conor Daly – 58 points
  30. Kyle Kaiser – 45 points
  31. Patricio O’Ward – 44 points
  32. Helio Castroneves – 40 points
  33. JR Hildebrand – 38 points
  34. Stefan Wilson – 31 points
  35. Oriol Servia – 27 points
  36. Alfonso Celis Jr. – 23 points
  37. Colton Herta – 20 points
  38. Danica Patrick – 13 points
  39. Jay Howard – 12 points
  40. Sage Karam – 10 points
  41. James Davison – 10 points

Verizon P1 Championship Award

Josef Newgarden and Will Power tied for the number of poles this season at four, but Newgarden made the most of his pole victories by tallying 151 points. Power was chasing his second straight and fourth Championship Award since 2013. It is the fifth time a Team Penske driver has taken the award.

  1. Josef Newgarden – 4 poles – 151 points
  2. Will Power – 4 poles – 137 points
  3. Alexander Rossi – 3 poles – 130 points
  4. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 1 pole – 104 points
  5. Ed Carpenter – 1 pole – 92 points
  6. Marco Andretti – 1 pole – 34 points
  7. S̩bastien Bourdais Р1 pole Р19 points
  8. Robert Wickens – 1 pole – 16 points

Tag Heuer “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” Award

Graham Rahal advanced the most positions from his starting spot in 2018, netting him the Tag Heuer “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” Award. It is the second time Rahal has earned the award and first time since 2015. 2018 IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon finished third in the standings.

  1. Graham Rahal – 91 points
  2. Charlie Kimball – 89 points
  3. Scott Dixon – 72 points
  4. Tony Kanaan – 60 points
  5. Spencer Pigot – 60 points
  6. Takuma Sato – 54 points
  7. Zach Veach – 54 points
  8. Marco Andretti – 52 points
  9. S̩bastien Bourdais Р49 points
  10. Ed Jones – 49 points
  11. Alexander Rossi – 49 points
  12. Matheus Leist – 46 points
  13. Max Chilton – 42 points
  14. Simon Pagenaud – 39 points
  15. James Hinchcliffe – 37 points
  16. Ryan Hunter-Reay – 36 points
  17. Gabby Chaves – 36 points
  18. Robert Wickens – 31 points
  19. Zachary Claman De Melo – 27 points
  20. Jordan King – 26 points
  21. Josef Newgarden – 21 points
  22. Jack Harvey – 20 points
  23. Carlos Munoz – 20 points
  24. Conor Daly – 19 points
  25. Pietro Fittipaldi – 17 points
  26. Ed Carpenter – 16 points
  27. JR Hildebrand – 16 points
  28. Rene Binder – 14 points
  29. Kyle Kaiser – 13 points
  30. Will Power – 10 points
  31. Santino Ferrucci – 9 points
  32. Oriol Servia – 9 points
  33. Stefan Wilson – 8 points
  34. Alfonso Celis Jr. – 7 points
  35. Jay Howard – 4 points
  36. Helio Castroneves – 4 points

Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Wickens put on an impressive performance before his season-ending accident at Pocono Raceway. Wickens’ performance put him in position to clinch Rookie of the Year before the season came to an end. Zach Veach made a run for it late in the season but came up short finishing second.

  1. Robert Wickens – 391 points
  2. Zach Veach – 313 points
  3. Matheus Leist – 253 points
  4. Jordan King – 175 points
  5. Zachary Claman De Melo – 122 points
  6. Jack Harvey – 103 points
  7. Pietro Fittipaldi – 91 points
  8. Santino Ferrucci – 66 points
  9. Rene Binder – 61 points
  10. Kyle Kaiser – 45 points
  11. Stefan Wilson – 31 points
  12. Alfonso Celis Jr. – 23 points

About the author

His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.

During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.

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D.W. Strebig

It is time for the heredity drivers to step away. 8th & 9th in points spell their end of competitive racing and only their names keep them in a seat.

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