While it might hardly rank as an upset for Team Penske to sweep IndyCar’s Iowa Speedway doubleheader, having Will Power as the front man for Sunday’s second half might looked a tall order from the Australian’s 22nd-place starting spot, the result of a brush with the wall on his second qualifying lap. Given the challenges most drivers experienced with passing on the 0.875-mile oval this weekend, even a car with winning potential wasn’t going to be enough to overcome that. But Power figured out how to make the most of whatever breaks fate offered up, and made the most of them when they appeared,
“Yeah, I had a very good car. My plan from the beginning was to sit back and save a lot of fuel, just get the best possible number using the speed, lifting,” explained Power. “In that gap, prayed for a yellow because I knew there would be out-laps. That would be when people would be prone to mistakes. That’s exactly what happened.
“Even if it didn’t, we were just going to jump people by staying out. They come in, you’re just faster. Jump a few people to a sequence, as well. Either way we were going to go forward. But that was the big one, getting that yellow.”
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That yellow, following a spin from Augustin Canapino, enabled Power to pit from the lead and still emerge in second place behind Alex Palou — a massive gain in track position for the Verizon Chevy but still not quite enough. Power wasn’t done, though.
“I felt like we had a better car than Alex. Set back, saved fuel again,” the Penske driver related. “Went long. Jumped him over in that sequence. Good in-, out-laps. Amazing stops as usual by my guys. They’re the best in pit lane. Don’t have to take my word for it — just look at the times every time. I’m lucky with that.”
Lucky, but also taking full advantage. Power held off Palou over the final phase of the race to claim his 43rd career win, lifting him out of a tie with Michael Andretti for fourth on the all-time list.
“Fast in-lap, fast out-lap, fast pit stop. Good strategy, good car. That’s how you get to win in this series — and every now and then catch a Scott Dixon yellow,” Power said with a grin. “I need another 15 of them to catch up over the years. Colton Herta said to me, ‘Dude, if you didn’t get caught out by yellows early in your career, you would have another 15 wins or something.’ I’ll take them every time and not feel bad. I’ll be like, ‘Yep, I deserve that!'”
The win was all the sweeter for coming at an oval — his first on one since 2019 — and particularly at a track he’d never won on.
“It’s funny because I was trying to win this for so long. Even last year I finished second. I think I finished second a few times before the repave,” Power mused. “I didn’t really think I’d win today.
“You know how life goes, it just happens like that. Yeah, been trying to win this one for a long time. Stoked to tick that box. I’ve won a lot of races at a lot of tracks. When you tick a box at a track you haven’t won on, it feels pretty good.”