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Well I never thought I'd be saying it when he was up to 150 points behind, but with the tracks remaining it seems like Dixie could be a late contender afterall. With a recent run of 5-4-5-7-1st, he's really putting in some consistency now. His 18th and 19th at Houston was what really killed him in points in races that he finished 1st and 2nd last year.
So the remaining tracks:
Dixon, Power and Wilson dominated Sonoma last year. Power was slightly faster though, so I'm expecting he'll be the man to beat. Helio was not as good last year at Sonoma - I think Dixon past him twice on track, or maybe I'm thinking of Dario.
That just leaves the ovals. The Penske's should be okay at Milwaukee, but Ryan is very good there as well.
Then there's Fontana, and seeing the way Ryan dominated Indy he'll be fast at Fontana too I would think. But so will the Penske's. So will Ganassi. I think Pagenaud is out of it now, the ovals will point him backwards. He may get some solid top 5's but that's about it.
Montoya is only in there due to his massive points haul at Pocono so I think he could slip back or at least I hope he does. It would be seriously bad if Juan got owned in Nascar for several years then returns to Indycars and wins it on his first attempt.
This is a race between Will, Ryan and Helio. If Ryan didn't win at Indy, and had some bad luck ie finishing 29th like Dixon did or 26th like Kanaan, then he'd probably be down in about 10th in points and out of it. Take away Montoya's Pocono win and he'd be as far back as maybe 12th.
If any one of those top 6 in points has a bad run at Fontana - they're done. Ed Carpenter could be the spoiler in the finale.
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