Inside Line: Who Wins the Final Street Race of the Season?
8 HOURS AGO
Today's question: Who wins the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, the final street race of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season?
Eric Smith: Qualifying means a lot in Toronto, which leads me to believe this could be Colton Herta’s weekend to shine. Herta has two front row starting spots in his last three Toronto starts, including a win from the pole last year. This season, he has started on the front row in all three street races. Combine that with finishing on the podium in his last three Toronto starts, and I’ll take the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda driving to victory lane for the first time this season on Sunday.
Arni Sribhen: Fact: Alex Palou is the favorite to win every race for the rest of the 2025 season and not just because he’s won seven of the 12 races so far. Take this week’s race at Toronto: In his three previous starts at Exhibition Place, Palou’s average finish is fourth with a best finish of second in 2023. With a street course win in his pocket in St. Petersburg, you can’t call street courses a weakness for the Spaniard and the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing team. Looking past T.O., Palou has won races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway, and with a pair of oval wins already this season, he will be a threat at both Milwaukee and Nashville. So, yeah, he’s my pick every week from here on out.
Curt Cavin: I’m with Arni on the Spanish sensation. Palou now has completed the INDYCAR cycle with last weekend's race win on a short oval at Iowa to go with the ones he has posted on a superspeedway, a street circuit and a road course. Let’s not kid ourselves: This championship is wrapped up given his 129-point lead with five races remaining. But Palou is far from finished as he can smell the all-time season record of 10 wins set by A.J. Foyt in 1964 and matched by Al Unser in 1970. He has two wins each at upcoming tracks (Laguna Seca and Portland). Why not add Toronto in the pursuit of history?