Favorites and Sleepers: Laguna Seca

Honda boasts a perfect 6-for-6 record at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the Northern California road course in 2019.

Alex Palou has won three of the past four races, with Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon winning the other in 2023. Palou (car photo, top) also won the most recent permanent road course race of the season at Portland International Raceway before clinching his fifth championship last weekend at Milwaukee Mile.

Colton Herta won the other two races at Laguna Seca, driving in 2019 for Harding Steinbrenner Racing and 2021 with Andretti Global.

Can anyone dethrone top Honda teams Chip Ganassi Racing or Andretti Global in Sunday’s Mission Grand Prix of Monterey, airing at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls?

Favorites

Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet)

McLaughlin has three top-10 finishes in his past four Monterey starts, including a runner-up result in 2023. The New Zealand native has seven top-eight finishes in the last nine races on the season, too.

Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)

O’Ward has finished fifth, eighth, ninth, eighth and fourth, respectively, in his five Monterey starts. He won at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a comparable track, in July and has scored the sixth-most permanent road course points this season. O’Ward enters Laguna Seca after sweeping both Milwaukee races last Sunday.

Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)

Lundgaard has a seventh-place average finish in four Laguna Seca starts, with results of fifth, sixth and 15th, respectively, in three starts with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and a runner-up finish last year in his first season with Arrow McLaren.

He won this season on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and at Road America. Lundgaard was runner-up at Barber and Mid-Ohio. He leads all drivers in permanent road course points this season, six more than Palou.

Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Honda)

Palou has never finished worse than third in five Laguna Seca starts, with a 1.6 average finish. He has led 250 laps, including 67 in 2022, 51 in 2023, 48 in 2024 and 84 of 95 last year.

He is a three-time winner and two-time pole winner at Laguna Seca, including winning both the pole and race the last two years. Palou has five top-five finishes in five permanent road course starts this season.

Will Power (No. 26 TWG AI Honda)

Power has five top-seven finishes in six Laguna Seca starts, including second in 2019, third in 2022, fourth in 2023 and seventh the last two years. He has three top-six finishes in his past three permanent road course starts this season, which equates to the fifth-most permanent road course points accumulated.

Sleepers

Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet)

Newgarden finished 10th, fourth, 22nd, ninth and eighth on natural road courses this season and has four top-11 finishes in six Monterey starts. He was runner-up in 2022.

The sleeper designation comes because he hasn’t won on a road course since 2022 at Road America.

Romain Grosjean (No. 18 BMax Honda)

Grosjean has a 6.3 average finish at Laguna Seca, with results of third, seventh, 11th and fourth, respectively, in four starts.

Alexander Rossi (No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet)

Rossi has four top-10 finishes in six Laguna Seca starts, three of them in the last four years, including a third-place finish in 2024. He finished sixth this season at Road America.

Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda)

Kirkwood swept the 2021 INDY NXT by Firestone weekend at Laguna Seca, but he has one top-10 finish in four INDYCAR SERIES starts, with a 16.8 average finish. He was 21st in 2022 with AJ Foyt Racing and finished 25th, fifth and 16th, respectively, in three starts with Andretti Global.

Kirkwood has finished fifth, ninth, 10th, third and fifth on permanent road courses this season, totaling 137 points, fourth among all drivers.

Rinus VeeKay (No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet)

VeeKay has finished fourth in each of the past two permanent road course races this season. He has six top-seven finishes in the last nine races.