Fans of motor sports in Illinois are in for a real treat this weekend, as the Gateway track will play host to a pair of huge events. Friday night will see the start of the NACAR Truck Series playoffs, while the action will turn to the IndyCar circuit on Saturday night. We are now getting down to the wire in Indy, as there are now only 4 races remaining on the season. It’s tight at the top, though, so it is still much to early to call a winner, which is great news for fans who will want to see this battle go all the way down to the final race of the season. For now, we are going to focus on the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and the drivers who are considered the favorites to win along with their IndyCar odds.
2021 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Grand Prix | IndyCar Betting Analysis
Scott Dixon +600
Dixon has made a habit of winning driver championships during his stories career in IndyCar, but he is going to need to be great in the final 4 races if he is to grab his 7th title. Right now, Dixon finds himself down in 3rd overall and 34 points out of the lead. He certainly did not help his cause in the last race, finishing 20th in Indianapolis. Perhaps most surprising this season is that Dixon only has 1 win, with that one coming way back in the 3rd race of the season. He also only has, counting that win, 3 podium finishes, so this might not be his year. On the plus side, he did win the first race in a doubleheader at Gateway last season.
Pato O’Ward +600
O’Ward comes into this race with his sight set firmly on taking over the top spot in the driver standings. Sitting 21 points back of the leader, he looks poised to take a serious run at the championship, but he needs to continue to pick up valuable points. He is coming off a respectable run in Indianapolis last weekend, where he finished 5th, which was enough to move him back into 2nd overall ahead of Scott Dixon. He had a great weekend at Gateway last season, finishing 2nd and 3rd in the two races run on that track.
Josef Newgarden +650
At this stage of the season, Newgarden coming back to win his 3rd championship seems like a bit of an impossibility. He would need to be close to perfect from this point forward, and while he does have a win in recent weeks, he is not putting enough pressure in the drivers currently sitting ahead of him. To put it in perspective, he had 3 wins last season and still finished 2nd overall, so that lone win in 2021 is not likely to be enough. He has won twice at Gateway since 2017, including once last season, so do not count him out here.
Colton Herta +750
Many people believed that this would be the year when Colton Herta found his way to the top of the driver standings. He finished a very solid 4th in his breakthrough 2020 season, but save for a lone win earlier in the year, he hasn’t really looked like a contender in 2021.He has finished in the top 10 in all 3 of his races at Gateway, so expect him to be around the same on Saturday.
