{"id":30338,"date":"2025-02-14T17:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T22:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30338"},"modified":"2025-02-14T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:32:11","slug":"indycar-101-the-points-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/14\/indycar-101-the-points-system\/","title":{"rendered":"IndyCar 101: The Points System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we get closer to the beginning of the 2025 season it only makes sense to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/10\/a-beginners-guide-to-indycar\/\" target=\"_self\">break down some of the basics<\/a> for everyone getting introduced to the sport this year. <\/span>Generally, it can be a little overwhelming when you don&#8217;t know where to start so hopefully LWOS can help.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today we\u2019ll be discussing all the different aspects of the IndyCar points system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Point System is a bit Different in Comparison to Other Racing Series<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/13\/from-pencil-to-track-how-single-seaters-of-formula-1-are-born\/\" target=\"_self\">Formula One<\/a> only has drivers earn championship points during a Grand Prix or a sprint there\u2019s a few different ways to gain points during an IndyCar race weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This difference makes the race for the championship title tighter and leads to some great battles throughout the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Race Points\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, one of the easier ways to understand the IndyCar point system is by getting familiar with the way points are distributed after a race. One important thing to note is that it\u2019s impossible to finish a race without any points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The leaderboard in a race goes as follows:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>P1: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50 points,<\/span><b> P2:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 40 points, <\/span><b>P3: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">35 points, <\/span><b>P4:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 32 points, <\/span><b>P5:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 30 points,<\/span><b> P6: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">28 points, <\/span><b>P7:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 26 points, <\/span><b>P8:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 24 points,<\/span><b> P9:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 22 points, <\/span><b>P10:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 20 points, <\/span><b>P11: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">19 points, <\/span><b>P12: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18 points, <\/span><b>P13: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">17 points, <\/span><b>P14: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16 points<\/span><b>, P15:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 15 points, <\/span><b>P16: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">14 points, <\/span><b>P17:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 13 points, <\/span><b>P18:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 12 points, <\/span><b>P19: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11 points, <\/span><b>P20: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 points, <\/span><b>P21: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9 points, <\/span><b>P22:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 8 points,<\/span><b> P23: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7 points, <\/span><b>P24:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 6 points, <\/span><b>P25 &#8211; 33:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 5 points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pole Position Points<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IndyCar drivers can be awarded bonus points in certain situations. One of those situations being the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.indycar.com\/Standings?standings=P1Award\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pole position award.<\/a> During qualifying, if a driver manages to secure<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/06\/07\/indycar-all-time-poles-list\/\" target=\"_self\"> pole position<\/a> for the race they\u2019re awarded one extra point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The point will be added on to that driver\u2019s race result regardless of where they finish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EdHsKtB6UuE?si=R_fk8iTIC-oCXHYQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/05\/20\/mclaughlin-storms-to-record-pole-for-the-108th-indy-500\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">McLaughlin storms to record pole for the 108th Indy 500<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><b>Leading a Lap\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, there\u2019s at least three points up for grabs during a race when it comes to leading a lap during a race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, any driver who leads a lap at any point during the race is able to secure one extra point. Two more points are awarded to the driver who leads the most laps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if a driver leads 10 laps, they\u2019ll be able to secure one extra point but if another driver leads 35 laps they would be able to receive all three points that are associated with the \u201claps lead\u201d category.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Indy 500 Qualifying\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/05\/looking-back-on-indy-500-history\/\" target=\"_self\">Indy 500<\/a> being the biggest event of every IndyCar season, there\u2019s some extra points up for grabs after qualifying. A majority of the positions, including the pole position award has more merit during the Indy 500 weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pole sitter earns 12 points, the second fastest driver earns 11 extra points. After this, the points will decrease by one-point increments with the driver who qualifies 12th fastest only earning one point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And there you have it! A beginner\u2019s guide to understanding the IndyCar point system. In the upcoming days to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/27\/rookie-recap-taking-a-look-at-nolan-siegels-first-year-in-indycar\/\" target=\"_self\">Grand Prix of St. Petersburg,<\/a> LWOS will have more articles on the IndyCar basics. Topics to be on the lookout for are qualifying, the tracks, and the IndyCar and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/02\/off-season-updates-the-new-faces-in-indy-nxt\/\" target=\"_self\">Indy NXT<\/a> rosters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Featured Image Credit: Penske Entertainment: Chris Jones. 9\/16\/2024<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/10\/a-beginners-guide-to-indycar\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to IndyCar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we get closer to the beginning of the 2025 season it only makes sense to break down some of the basics for everyone getting introduced to the sport this year. Generally, it can be a little overwhelming when you don&#8217;t know where to start so hopefully LWOS can help. Today we\u2019ll be discussing all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5230,"featured_media":30361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1663],"tags":[811,539,1514],"class_list":["post-30338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","category-ntt-indycar-series","tag-championship","tag-indy-500","tag-pole-position"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30362,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions\/30362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}