Today’s question: Josef Newgarden is the unquestioned recent king of oval racing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, with victories in 13 of the 30 circle-track races since the start of the 2021 season, an incredible strike rate of 43 percent. Who appears to be the toughest challenger to Newgarden's supremacy this Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway?

Alex Palou

Curt Cavin: This is challenging because the list of candidates is deep. In fact, it can be argued that with the exception of Christian Lundgaard, all the drivers in the top 10 of the standings could be candidates for this question. Six drivers have won the nine oval races dating back to last year’s Indianapolis 500, and that number increases to eight winning drivers over the past two-plus seasons. But if I have to choose one driver to beat Newgarden in a late-race oval fight, I’ll go with Alex Palou (photo, above). I know that runs counter to him being strongest on road courses, but he has a short-oval win at Iowa to go with his Indy win, and it took Christian Rasmussen’s late charge at Milwaukee to keep the four-time series champion from having three oval wins in 2025. He also finished second to Newgarden in Nashville.

Eric Smith: Statistically, it's probably Pato O'Ward. He owns four wins and nine runner-up finishes in 34 career oval starts. But I'm leaning toward Scott McLaughlin as Newgarden's biggest challenger this weekend. McLaughlin finished fifth at Nashville in 2024 and third last year. In 20 career starts on short ovals, he has two victories and 15 top-five finishes. He's also third in the oval standings this season after finishing eighth at Phoenix Raceway, fifth at World Wide Technology Raceway and third in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Christian Rasmussen

Arni Sribhen: Josef Newgarden was surprised to see Christian Rasmussen on the podium at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. He shouldn’t have been. Rasmussen (photo, above) is one of the top INDYCAR SERIES drivers on ovals over the past two seasons, even if his results don’t reflect it. Since winning at Milwaukee last season, Rasmussen has contended for the win at Phoenix but saw his chance to win due to contact battling up front and saw a promising Indy 500 end with a mechanical failure. His third-place finish at WWT Raceway shows he has the ability and car to unseat Newgarden from his throne – provided he doesn’t crash on Lap 1 again.

Paul Kelly: David Malukas (photo, top) has scored more points on circle tracks than any driver this season, including oval meister Newgarden. So, he’s my pick to not only topple Newgarden but also to earn his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory this Sunday at Nashville. Ovals were Malukas’ best tracks when he drove for some of the lesser teams in the series, and that hasn’t changed now that’s he’s driving for the king of the oval hill, Team Penske. Just look at Malukas’ results this season, which matter most since this is his first year with Penske: Finished third after winning the NTT P1 Award at Phoenix, started third and finished an agonizing second at Indianapolis, and started second and finished seventh at World Wide Technology Raceway. This is the weekend Little Dave becomes Big Dave.