INDYCAR: Pagenaud says current confidence offers 'unfair advantage'

Simon Pagenaud believes that his current wave of confidence gives him an extra advantage heading into preparations for the 100th running of the Indy 500.

The Team Penske's current win streak stands at three following his victory on the Indy road course on Saturday, and the Frenchman said that he feels well-placed to continue his run of form.

"[What] I think it brings us today is confidence for me as a driver," he said. "Being able to play the game in your head during the race was something that I've been doing really well this year. I feel very clear in my head during the race, which is really good.

"Going into the biggest race of the year, where we have the most pressure, I think the knowledge that we have, the confidence, is a huge advantage. Maybe [an] unfair advantage."

Pagenaud is the first driver to win three IndyCar races in a row since Scott Dixon, who achieved the feat in 2013 when he backed up his Pocono victory with a clean sweep of the double-header at Toronto. Dixon went on to win his third title that year.

"It's incredible right now," Pagenaud said. "The momentum we have now, this little domination that we are having is incredible. Not only because you don't see this happen often, but also, because it's the Verizon INDYCAR Series, and you guys saw it in qualifying: we had 22 cars within 0.6s. So when you can perfect weekends like that several times in one race season, it is incredible. The level of talent that teams have, that drivers have, is incredible.

"Certainly it feels like being on a cloud, living a little bit of a dream. I'm just super excited."

Pagenaud heads into Indy 500 practice with a 76 point advantage over reigning champion Dixon.