Only four drivers will enter the 2024 IndyCar season as past series champions, and all four have won multiple titles since Alex Palou’s historic 2023 championship-winning season.
All of them have won at least one title since 2019, with the Chip Ganassi Racing driver being the only two-time champion (and the only first-time winner, having also won in 2021) throughout that five-year period.
Palou, along with Team Penske colleagues Josef Newgarden and Will Power, have each won two championships, but Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon continues to play the role of IndyCar’s Tom Brady, having won six.
It’s not surprise that Palou and Newgarden are at the top of FanDuel Sportsbook’s opening odds for the IndyCar championship, with the two drivers who have won more than half of the races on the 2023 season listed at +300 and +450, respectively.
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Former champions Dixon and Power are listed at +800 and +1600, respectively.
Who are the odds-on favorites to become the next first-time IndyCar champion?
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who beat Newgarden in last year’s standings to finish as Chevrolet’s top driver despite winning only one race, has the shortest odds among drivers who have yet to be crowned IndyCar champions.
He is priced at +650, although his current 13-race win drought is his longest since becoming a race winner in 2022.
He is the only Roger Penske driver who has never won a championship in his IndyCar outings, dating back to his series debut in the 2020 season finale. That list includes Simon Pagenaud, who left after the 2021 season. He will definitely seek to rectify this as quickly as possible.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren follows close behind. If O’Ward, who is rated +700, wants to compete for the Astor Cup, he must break a trend that dates back only a few years.
No driver from a team other than Penske, Ganassi, or Andretti has won a championship since Sam Hornish Jr. won in 2001 and 2002 for Panther Racing, which is now defunct. O’Ward went winless in 2023 but still finished fourth in the championship standings, defeating Indy 500 winner Newgarden in the process.
Here are the top ten contenders to become first-time IndyCar champions in 2024.
Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske): +650
Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren: +700
Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global: +1000.
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global:+1100.
Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, +1400
Colton Herta, Andretti Global:+1600
Christian Lundgaard & Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: +2000.
David Malukas, Arrow McLaren: +2400.
Graham Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: +4000.
Santino Ferrucci of A.J. Foyt Enterprises: +4000
Rossi leads all drivers on this list with eight career victories, while the top three each have four. Herta has seven, Rahal six, and Kirkwood two. Lundgaard also has one, while Malukas (who will miss the season opening) and Ferrucci are still looking for their first.
It is worth remembering that Palou, IndyCar’s most recent first-time champion, began his championship-winning season with no career wins. Newgarden (2017) entered with three.
