If you are all about great finishes to a season, then you need to be paying attention to IndyCar. With 3 races left in the 2021 season, the championship is very much up for grabs. For a while now, it looked as though one of the younger, less experienced drivers was going to win it all, but with the pressure building, we are seeing a former champion make a late move. We will get into more about that in a moment, but for now, we need to talk about the next race on the IndyCar schedule. This weekend, the drivers will be in Portland for the next Grand Prix. Experience on this course may come into play, especially with the stakes rising, so let’s look at some of the favorites along with their IndyCar odds.
2021 Grand Prix of Portland | IndyCar Betting Analysis
Colton Herta (+550)
As you will see here, each of the four favorites for the Grand Prix of Portland are in with the same odds. That should give you some idea as to just how tight things have been all season long. This has been a bit of a down year for Herta, as he is currently sitting in 7th overall after closing out 2020 in the top 3 in the driver standings. He did have a win in the 2nd race of the season and had another podium finish a couple of races back. Portland was not on the schedule last season, but if you go back a few years, you see that Herta has been good in Portland. He was 4th in 2019 and also had a pair of top 5 finishes while racing in Indy Lights at Portland.
Josef Newgarden (+550)
We mentioned earlier that a former champion is making a bit of a late run to win the championship. That would be Josef Newgarden, who comes into this race after taking the checkered flag in the last race at Gateway. That was his 2nd win in the last 4 races and it has him now sitting in 3rd in the driver standings, just 22 points out of the lead. Newgarden went on a similar run last season and came up just short, finishing 2nd overall. He has won it all twice in the past, so that experience is going to serve him well in the final 3 races of the season. He has not been great in Portland, but he is going to need to be good this weekend.
Pato O’Ward (+550)
Despite going on a run with just 1 podium finish in the last 5 races, O’Ward is still sitting at the top of the driver standings, albeit with a lead that is shrinking. He did help his cause last time out with a 2nd place finish, but he has to be feeling the pressure from Newgarden. There really isn’t much to go on when looking at O’Ward in Portland, as this will be his first race at that location in IndyCar. That would make me a little nervous about playing him to win.
Scott Dixon (+550)
There has been no better driver in IndyCar over the last decade or so than Scott Dixon, but it is increasingly looking as though his chances of winning this year are slipping away. He has been especially poor, by his standards, over the last 2 races and probably doesn’t have a way back at this point. Still, this is a guy who knows how to win, which is why he is always among the favorites.
