Trent Reinsmith
What: 2023 IndyCar Season
When: March 5 – September 10, 2023
The 2023 IndyCar season began on March 5 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. That race saw three drivers dominate between 2015 and 2020, with Juan Pablo Montoya winning in 2015-16, Sebastian Bourdais capturing the victory in 2017-18 and Josef Newgarden winning in 2019-20. No one has won the race in consecutive years since Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin did so in 2021 and 2022. Marcus Ericsson picked up the victory in 2023. The next event on the 2023 IndyCar Series schedule is the PPG 375 at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 2.
In 2022, Will Power won the IndyCar season Drivers championship. Power, driving for Team Penske, picked up 560 points during the season. Josef Newgarden, also driving for Penske, came in second with 544 points. The third-place finisher in the Drivers Championship race was Scott Dixon with 521 points. Dixon drove for Chip Ganassi Racing.
With the majority of the 2023 IndyCar Season in front of us, it’s time to look at the betting breakdown, picks, odds and predictions for the 2023 IndyCar Drivers Championship, check out the best sites for betting on Formula 1 racing and the best sports betting apps and mobile options for betting on auto racing and other sports.
2023 IndyCar Drivers Championship picks
| To Win 2023 Indy Car Championship |  |  |  |
| Josef Newgarden | +400 | +400 | +400 |
| Will Power | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| Pato O'Ward | +600 | +600 | +600 |
| Colton Herta | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Scott McLaughlin | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Alex Palou | +850 | +850 | +850 |
| Scott Dixon | +900 | +900 | +900 |
| Marcus Ericsson | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Felix Rosenqvist | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Kyle Kirkwood | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Alexander Rossi | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Rinus Veekay | +3000 | +3000 | +3000 |
| Simon Pagenaud | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Christian Lundgaard | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Graham Rahal | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Roman Grosjean | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| David Malukas | +6600 | +6600 | +6600 |
| Helio Castroneves | +6600 | +6600 | +6600 |
| Conor Daly | +10000 | +10000 | +10000 |
| Jack Harvey | +15000 | +15000 | +15000 |
| Santino Ferrucci | +15000 | +15000 | +15000 |
| Callum Ilott | +25000 | +25000 | +25000 |
| Benjamin Pedersen | +40000 | +40000 | +40000 |
| Devln Defrancesco | +40000 | +40000 | +40000 |
Josef Newgarden
The 32-year-old Josef Newgarden has Drivers Championship wins in 2017 and 2019. The Team Penske driver has finished second over the past three years, losing the title to Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Will Power in those years. Newgarden opened 2023 with a 17th-place finish in St. Petersburg, one spot lower than he finished in 2022.
Newgarden had an excellent year in 2022, picking up wins at Texas, Long Beach, Road America, Iowa (1) and Gateway. However, his finishes outside the top 10 at St. Petersburg, Alabama, GMR Grand Prix, Indianapolis, and Iowa (2) hurt him in the standings. In his last winning year, Newgarden only placed outside the top 10 three times.
Will Power
The defending IndyCar champion, Will Power returned to the top spot in 2022 after winning the Drivers Championship for the first time in 2014. Power started 2022 strong with top five finishes in the first five races of the year. Then, following a 15th-place finish at the Indy 500, the 42-year-old bounced back with a win in Detroit, which proved to be his only victory of the year. Power finished the year strong with a sixth, a second and a third-place finish.
While Power only had one win in 2022, he started on the pole five times, including his record-breaking fifth pole at the Indy 500.
Had Power finished lower than third in the final race of the 2022 season, he would have missed out on his second title.
Pato O’Ward
The 23-year-old Pato O’Ward is in his fourth year with the Arrow McLaren team. Last year, Ward took a step backward. After finishing in fourth place in 2020 and third in 2021, he dropped to seventh in 2022, winning two races, but finishing outside the to five in nine other races. He was lower than 20th in three of those outings.
Inconsistency plagued O’Ward for most of the 2022 campaign, but he put things together near the end of the IndyCar season and finished the year with two fourth-place finishes and an eighth-place.
Outside of his two wins, O’Ward finished in second place at the 2022 Indy 500. He opened the 2023 season with a second-place finish at St. Petersburg, improving from his 12th place in that race in 2022.
Best bet to win the 2023 IndyCar Series Drivers Championship
Look for Team Penske to win the IndyCar Championship in back-to-back years for the first time since Simon Pagenaud won in 2016 and Newgarden won in 2017. However, I don’t think Will Power will score a second consecutive championship. No, the best bet for the 2023 IndyCar Series is for Josef Newgarden to end his stretch of runner-up finishes.
Pick: Josef Newgarden to win the 2023 IndyCar Series Drivers Championship.
See below a list of reliable sportsbooks and choose the best one for you.
