RHR banks podium finish

As tends to be the case in a season finale race, plenty of good stories get overlooked in the wake of the champion being crowned and the race winner being decided.

It was no different again in Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma to cap off the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

Beyond race winner and champion Scott Dixon, championship rival Juan Pablo Montoya suffering an inglorious defeat and Graham Rahal’s dream season finally coming to an end, these were some of the stories of note on Sunday:

• Ryan Hunter-Reay continued his final quarter surge with a runner-up finish to cap off the season. His last four races from Iowa to Sonoma? First, seventh, first and second – and a leap from 14th to sixth in the points. “It was a good finish to the season, that’s for sure… we finished sixth which is crazy coming from 11th in the championship this morning,” said the driver of the No. 28 DHL Honda.