IndyCar Power Rankings: Alex Palou top preseason list, but for how long?

The 2025 IndyCar Series season opens this Sunday at St. Petersburg (12 p.m. ET on FOX).

If last season is any indication, this will be another year of great parity. No driver had more than three wins over the 17 races in 2024 and no driver recorded more than seven top-three finishes.

Here’s a look at the power rankings (from 10th to 1st) heading into the year. These will be updated after each race weekend:

On the verge: Marcus Armstrong, Christian Lundgaard, Alexander Rossi

10. Kyle Kirkwood

Kirkwood finished highest in the standings (seventh) among the drivers who didn’t win a race last year. He managed one podium. The Andretti driver will need more to stay on this list in 2025.

9. Nolan Siegel

Siegel is running his first full season for McLaren. He had one top-10 in his 10 starts for the team last year. But he’s young and there are high hopes for him in 2025.

8. Santino Ferrucci

Ferrucci finished ninth in the standings and his return to A.J. Foyt Racing for another year should only mean he improves. There will be drama, but also potentially even better finishes as well.

7. Scott Dixon

Dixon’s finishing sixth in the standings was his worst since ending the season sixth in 2016. The Ganassi organization has trimmed from five teams to three (and added two Indy NXT cars), and whether Dixon gets his mojo back to where he can be dominant at full throttle as well as fuel mileage will determine where he ends up in 2025.

6. Will Power

Power was fourth in the standings in 2024 and putting the Penske driver this low seems to be a bit of a disservice. He’ll more likely go up than down.

5. Pato O’Ward

O’Ward had a win and a second-place finish among the final three races in 2024 but also four finishes of 15th or worse among the final six. The McLaren driver is the defending winner of St. Pete, although he has no memory of a celebration as that win was awarded to him several weeks later with the disqualification of Josef Newgarden (push-to-pass violation).

4. Josef Newgarden

Newgarden won the Indy 500 to make it back-to-back triumphs in the sport’s biggest race and is one of the stars of the sport. But the Penske driver also saw potential good runs slip away last year. 

3. Colton Herta

Herta ended up second in the standings last year, a season in which he capped with a win at Nashville. So does he have momentum coming into this year? He should. Lots of changes, though, at Andretti Global.

2. Scott McLaughlin

McLaughlin won on a couple of ovals last year as well as the road course at Barber. The New Zealander is coming into his own at Team Penske — and he needs to continue that progress.

1. Alex Palou

Palou — the three-time champion, including back-to-back in 2023 and 2024 — tops the power rankings. But it’s not as stable as one might think. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had “just” two wins last year and still seeks his first oval victory.

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Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.