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Verizon IndyCar Series standings after Dual in Detroit

By Brittany Frederick

May 22, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon sits in his car during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
May 22, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon sits in his car during practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Four-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon is the new points leader on a busy weekend. Here are the Verizon IndyCar Series standings after the Dual in Detroit.

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend Scott Dixon was in IndyCar’s biggest wreck of the season, and now he’s the league’s new championship leader. Thanks to two top-6 finishes in the Dual in Detroit, Dixon is now in control of the 2017 IndyCar season.

The four-time champion broke a three-way tie for second place in the standings by coming home second on Saturday and sixth on Sunday at Belle Isle. Former points leader Helio Castroneves is now second, eight points behind Dixon and two ahead of Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato. Defending champ Simon Pagenaud is fourth, but there’s a larger 14-point gap between him and the top-3.

Graham Rahal’s back to back victories, plus the bonus points for Saturday’s pole and for leading the most laps in both Dual in Detroit races, catapulted him from 15th to sixth. Likewise, Josef Newgarden being the top finishing Team Penske car in two home races for Penske pushed him from eighth to fifth in his first season for the superteam.

Elsewhere, it wasn’t so much who took a tumble in the points this week as who failed to gain any ground. Even though he finished 12th on Sunday, Conor Daly is still stuck in 21st, the lowest-ranked of the full-time IndyCar drivers. And Charlie Kimball, who snagged an 8th place finish, only moved up one spot to 19th.

We are now just shy of the halfway point of the 2017 IndyCar season, with nine more races still to come including the double-points season finale at Sonoma.

Below are the current Verizon IndyCar Series standings after the Dual in Detroit:

1 – Scott Dixon – 303 pts
2 – Helio Castroneves – 295 pts
3 – Takuma Sato – 292 pts
4 – Simon Pagenaud – 278 pts
5 – Josef Newgarden – 259 pts
6 – Graham Rahal – 251 pts
7 – Alexander Rossi – 246 pts
8 – Will Power – 233 pts
9 – Tony Kanaan – 223 pts
10 – James Hinchcliffe – 216 pts
11 – Ed Jones – 215 pts
12 – Max Chilton – 204 pts
13 – Ryan Hunter-Reay – 183 pts
14 – Marco Andretti – 182 pts
15 – Mikhail Aleshin – 177 pts
16 – JR Hildebrand – 173 pts
17 – Carlos Munoz – 168 pts
18 – Sebastien Bourdais – 136 pts
19 – Charlie Kimball – 132 pts
20 – Spencer Pigot – 124 pts
21 – Conor Daly – 114 pts
22 – Ed Carpenter – 105 pts

Next: Graham Rahal sweeps both Dual in Detroit races

The Verizon IndyCar Series now heads to Texas for the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 on Saturday, June 10. For the latest news throughout IndyCar, be sure to follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.