Pato O’Ward slashed 30 points off his deficit to Alex Palou with Sunday’s victory in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. O’Ward drew to within 99 points of the two-time defending NT INDYCAR SERIES champion heading to this weekend’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey.

Can O’Ward close the gap further after 95 laps of racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (3 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network)?

With four races remaining, the title fight is taking shape as a two-driver battle. Kyle Kirkwood (-173) and Scott Dixon (-174) are the only other drivers mathematically eligible to win the championship. However, if either Kirkwood or Dixon leave Laguna Seca trailing by 162 points or more, they will be eliminated from contention.

All three drivers must hope for a productive Monterey weekend if they’re to be within reach of Palou heading to the final month of the season.

“We need to make sure that we continue to have days like Sunday, not just one but a few,” O’Ward said. “I think we're going to keep this conversation going until Nashville (the season’s final race on Aug. 31). That's my goal.

“Obviously, we're at a time in the championship where we're going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that's what I had to do just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race (Toronto). That's the only way we're even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.”

O’Ward has won two of the last three races and has finished worse than seventh only once since the start of May, a 17th-place result at Road America. His form has been especially strong on natural road courses and ovals, which coincidentally make up the final four events this season: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (July 27), Portland International Raceway (Aug. 10), The Milwaukee Mile (Aug. 24) and Nashville Superspeedway (Aug. 31).

O’Ward’s average oval finish is 2.75 this season, with three podiums in four races. He also won one of the two Milwaukee races last season and finished runner-up to Colton Herta at Nashville.

On natural road courses, O’Ward earned the pole position and led 51 of 65 laps at The Thermal Club before finishing second on March 23. He also placed second at the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, was sixth at Barber Motorsports Park and was fifth at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

At Laguna Seca, O’Ward has made four starts in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, finishing fifth, eighth, ninth, and eighth.

The twist? O’Ward might find himself battling Palou for the win again on Sunday. Palou has four victories on natural road courses this season: at Barber, Road America, The Thermal Club and the IMS road course. O’Ward finished second in two of those races.

The only natural road course race Palou didn’t win was Mid-Ohio, where he led 75 of 90 laps but made a late mistake, allowing Dixon, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, to take the win. Palou still managed to finish second.

The Spaniard is also the defending winner at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and has never finished worse than third at the California road course. He placed second in 2021, won in 2022 and finished third in 2023.

Additionally, Honda-powered cars have won all five races at Laguna Seca since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the track in 2019.

Practice begins Friday at 5 p.m. ET on FS2. The series is back in action Saturday with the second practice session of the weekend at 11:30 a.m. ET. NTT P1 Award qualifying to set the 27-car field is at 2:30 p.m. ET. Both air on FS1.

Sunday’s schedule features a warmup practice at noon ET on FS2 with the 95-lap race airing live at 3 p.m. ET on FOX. All sessions are also featured on FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.