It seems obvious that, at some point, someone has to win the Verizon IndyCar Series championship.


The way this year's drivers have performed, though, you wouldn't have known from watching.

Formula One's 2008 season has stood out as a prime example of an entire field losing, but for one driver who didn't. Arguably the worst Lewis Hamilton has ever driven, it was the year he took his only title. The other competitive cars were piloted by an inconsistent Felipe Massa, a struggling Kimi Räikkönen, and a disappointing Heikki Kovalainen. Meanwhile, recent champion Fernando Alonso was let down in a Renault, and the rising Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber team decided to focus on the new-for-2009 regulations.


It wasn't easy for Hamilton. Every time his competition failed to rise to the occasion, he succeeded in beating himself.

It was not until the final corners of the entire season that a champion was crowned, as if each and every candidate had refused to win until finally time had run out and one of them had to.


It's been that way in IndyCar this year, too.

Will Power leads the series into the Fontana finale, and even with double points on the table, his gap is comfortable. Like Hamilton in 2008, this has been far from Power's most impressive season, yet it would be his first championship if he could take it.


That feat would be controversial. Power's three wins have him in contention, but perhaps not as much as those factors outside his obvious ability.

In Long Beach, Power escaped penalty for contact with Simon Pagenaud. A penalty in Detroit's second race was negated by an almost immediate safety car; in the weekend opener, Power had gotten away with just a warning for blocking. Power crashed in the first Toronto race, but it was abandoned due to the weather and restarted the next day as if nothing had happened. Most recently, in Sonoma, Power was dropped just one place for passing under yellow, reversing the overtake without addressing any recklessness displayed.


These are not the highlights typical of a champion's year.

That's not to say Power isn't deserving. Everything's relative, and no one else made a compelling case. Early favorite Ryan Hunter-Reay won the Indianapolis 500 with great speed, then lost his momentum even quicker. Hélio Castroneves managed just one race victory, while Pagenaud's four finishes outside of the top ten were poorly timed.


Sentimental favorites Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan were slow-starting, and top rides at Andretti Autosport were filled by the winless Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, and Carlos Muñoz, each of whom had flashes, but no concrete results.

Mathematically, an 88-point gap can be erased in Fontana, including bonus points for pole position and laps led. This leaves Power, Castroneves, and Pagenaud eligible.


One of them has to win it.

More likely, this season as it is, two of them will lose it.

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Don't think that's negative, though. In a season that has seen Carlos Huertas, Mike Conway, Ed Carpenter, and Sébastien Bourdais win for small teams, a less-than-dominant champion has been the by-product of riveting parity.


It's an inevitable tradeoff worth making.

Instead of celebrating a champion, perhaps we'd be best off celebrating an entire season. Flawed, yes, but featuring late-race passes for the win at Indianapolis, Iowa, and Sonoma. Controversial, for sure, but showcasing the wildness of weather and the excitement of strategy. Disappointing at times, even, but highlighting the potential of young talents, upward trending teams, and resurgent returnees.


Each of those three adjectives could describe whoever the eventual champion is, and each could be equally qualified. Yes, everyone else will have lost, but the winner will have risen from an environment designed to have no clear choice.

That's been exciting to witness, and if someone has to win after Fontana, I think I'll know who it was:

The fans.

Photo credit: Own work.