Power, Lundqvist test leads IndyCar’s return to the Milwaukee Mile

The NTT IndyCar Series made its return to West Allis, Wisconsin on Wednesday for a two-car Firestone tire test led by Team Penske’s Will Power and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Linus Lundqvist ahead of the series’ doubleheader return to the Milwaukee Mile. …

The NTT IndyCar Series made its return to West Allis, Wisconsin on Wednesday for a two-car Firestone tire test led by Team Penske’s Will Power and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Linus Lundqvist ahead of the series’ doubleheader return to the Milwaukee Mile.

For Power, who won the 2014 edition of the race, it was a welcome visit to a beloved track where lap times were in the 23-second range. IndyCar’s last outing at Milwaukee in 2015 featured the high-downforce manufacturer aero kits which allowed most of the field to qualify in the mid-to-high 21s range.

“The track has not changed very much — felt very similar to the last race here almost 10 years ago,” Power said after climbing from his No. 12 Chevy. “It’s a really cool oval because it’s low banking, which is good for our cars — really good for racing. So excited to be coming back. We get to do a doubleheader and I think it’ll be a good race — always good racing around this place.”

For Lundqvist, who made his IndyCar oval debut on the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway “Gateway” oval, Milwaukee presented a more colorful trip around its track.

“It’s pretty bumpy, it’s pretty fast,” he said. “It is a really short oval; I did my rookie orientation program last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a very different kind of oval, so it just very much highlighted the differences.

“I think the surface and the non-smoothness that this place has reminds me more of Iowa than Gateway. I raced at Iowa in Indy NXT, so the surface and the bumps are very similar to that. It’s just that this has less banking, which obviously puts a little bit more stress on the car and the driver, so we’ll see how it goes.”

The 2022 Indy NXT champion also welcomed his first chance to test tires for Firestone, which will help IndyCar’s official tire supplier decide on the best compound and construction to manufacture for next year’s race weekend.

“Tire testing is always important; I think more so for Firestone than that myself, if I’m gonna be honest,” Lundqvist added. “But especially I think it’s very good that they go to track that we haven’t raced at since 2015. A lot has changed: The weight of the cars, how they look, the downforce. So it’s good to make sure that everything works.”

Power eager for 2024 reset after troubled IndyCar title defense

Outgoing NTT IndyCar Series champion Will Power is ready to move on from a season where off-track matters have sapped some of the attention and energy that he would ordinarily direct towards the job of wringing lap time out of the No. 12 Team Penske …

Outgoing NTT IndyCar Series champion Will Power is ready to move on from a season where off-track matters have sapped some of the attention and energy that he would ordinarily direct towards the job of wringing lap time out of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet.

Power sealed his second championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year, but comes into this weekend’s race at the same venue looking to fend off what would be his first winless season since his first full-year Champ Car campaign with Walker Racing in 2006. However, with his wife Liz having spent the past year navigating serious health issues, Power said that there have been times during 2023 where driving has not been his primary focus.

“It was a tough year,” Power said. “It was a tough start for me personally, just with what was going on with my family that kind of continued… even at Road America, we had a bit of an issue. It certainly affects your preparation and your mindset. It’s not an excuse, but I know how tough this series is and you can’t have any issues off the track if you want to be good on the track.

“It’s been a real slow process. It’s a tough situation, because if she’s in a situation where I’m not sure what’s going to happen… I was at the point where you probably shouldn’t be racing, because you don’t want your kid to grow up without parents. That was actually going through my mind at the time. Things have improved significantly, so I certainly feel a lot more comfortable.”

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With Liz now making good progress on the health front, Power said he intends to spend the winter looking at where gains can be made in car performance.

“It’s an ultra-competitive series and it’s not hard to lose ground in the championship,” he said. “It just takes a couple of little mishaps, and suddenly you’re trying to claw back. But definitely (it will be) an off-season of really reflecting on what went wrong, and thinking about it, and mental approaches and such, and seeing what we can do about it coming back.”

The fierce competitiveness of IndyCar magnifies the significant of any mishap, Power notes. “It’s not hard to lose ground.” Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

While Power’s struggles have been the most apparent among Penske’s three drivers this year, the entire team fell short of its championship targets. Josef Newgarden, who was the final Penske driver to remain in title contention, was eliminated from the conversation after a late crash at World Wide Technology Raceway. Power said that the team will spend the off-season looking at where it fell short, but he also sees an opportunity for it climb back to the top of the pile when the new hybrid power plants are introduced next year.

“We’ve got to work harder,” Power said. “This series, the teams continually get better and you cannot stop, ever. We’ll reflect; have a good look at everything, and try to understand where we need to develop. But I think there could be a chance to get a jump on the field (in 2024) with a different car, a different style of racing, with the way the hybrid will probably change things. That’s always an opportunity to get ahead of the game.”

Power leads open test at Laguna

Will Power went nearly four seconds below his record-setting 2022 pole time at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Thursday as the NTT IndyCar Series field christened the track’s new surface with a test day ahead of this weekend’s season finale. …

Will Power went nearly four seconds below his record-setting 2022 pole time at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Thursday as the NTT IndyCar Series field christened the track’s new surface with a test day ahead of this weekend’s season finale.

Power set a 1m.07.2762s in Team Penske’s No. 12 Chevy, comfortably shading the 1m11.6127s lap that took him past Mario Andretti’s all-time pole record at the classic Californian road course during qualifying last year.

While the lap was comfortably quicker than the cars could manage last year, it was barely enough to edge out Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard, who came up just 0.03s short of Power’s time.

The Penske/RLL pattern repeated immediately behind them, with Scott McLaughlin going third fastest in Penske’s No. 3 Chevy, and Juri Vips warming up for his second career IndyCar start by planting RLL’s No. 30 entry fourth on the timing screens. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five.

“The new surface is very nice, very smooth; lot of grip,” Power said. “Obviously it’s tough offline. But it’s incredibly fast. You’re almost flat in Turn 9, almost flat in Turn 4. It feels like the same sort of rhythm, same gear, but a lot more speed; a lot more grip. So much so that I couldn’t turn the wheel in Turn 9.”

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Power’s enthusiasm for the new surface was echoed by Alexander Rossi, who ended the day sixth fastest for Arrow McLaren.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It feels like we have really fast, cool, modern race cars. It’s amazing. You feel like you’ve unlocked a lot of stuff, performance- and balance-wise. There’s a lot of grip. It’s a lot of fun. This track was always a driver favorite, but certainly in years past it was fun for a couple of laps and then the tires would start to drop off — which made the race super-exciting, but it was less enjoyably inside the cockpit. Whereas now, as hard as you want to try, and as brave as you want to be, there’s lap time there. It’s pretty cool.

“Not only are you recalibrating your mind to the limit of the car in the corner, but every time you go out there’s more rubber that’s going down, so even on your second, third run on tires, you’re still improving. It’s a moving target for a while but then it will reach a point where it’s not, and that’s where it gets challenging.”

Power’s point about the surface being tricky off the racing line was illustrated by the steady parade of red flags that punctuated the day. The most significant incident was reserved for a driver who comes into the weekend with little to play for: Alex Palou, who sealed the 2023 championship at Portland last weekend, hit the tires at Turn 4 mid-way through the afternoon. The Spaniard was checked by medical personnel and has been cleared to race.

Earlier, Devlin DeFrancesco had an incident at the hairpin, and while the extent of the damage to the No. 29 Andretti Autosport Honda was unclear, the car spent a considerable chunk of the day in the garage, leaving the Canadian with a field-low 26 laps completed.

RESULTS

IndyCar drivers have no set game plan for ‘crazy’ Nashville GP

Will Power and Colton Herta suggest there’s little point in making detailed tactical plans for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, given the number of cautions expected. There were nine caution periods and two red flags in the …

Will Power and Colton Herta suggest there’s little point in making detailed tactical plans for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, given the number of cautions expected.

There were nine caution periods and two red flags in the inaugural race on the 2.1-mile course in 2021, while last year’s edition was interrupted by eight cautions.

Team Penske’s Will Power, who topped opening practice Friday afternoon, was asked what it was like to try and come up with a game plan for the event.

“You can’t,” he responded. “There’s really nothing you can do. It’s luck of the draw…when it’s that crazy. You could try to play it safe. You could start last and win it maybe… Maybe it goes completely normal. I thought that’s what would happen last year; just didn’t. Surprised me…

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“You would expect there’s going to be a yellow. Just expect it. I mean, it’s unfortunate if you’re leading, but just know that’s going to be the deal. If it goes full course [yellow], we’ve got a good pit box.”

Herta was sixth fastest Friday, quickest of the Andretti Autosport Honda contingent. He started the 2021 Nashville race from pole but the cautions kept wrong-footing him, and although he still climbed to second, he crashed trying to hunt down leader Marcus Ericsson. Last year, by contrast, his error came in qualifying and he climbed from 23rd to finish fifth.

“It seems like the fastest way to win this race is crash your car in the first lap, do six pit stops, then pit with six to go and stay out,” joked Herta, recalling Ericsson’s bizarre run to victory in ’21. “I don’t know. It’s a crazy one. Obviously it’s very different to any other race that we go to.

“We always plan for the most normal race possible, then obviously strategies change. In this one, they really change. It’s hard to know what a good strategy and bad strategy is depending on what’s happening. I’m hoping this new restart zone [200 feet from the exit of Turn 9] fixes a lot of the problems we’ve had in the past and it’s a little bit more of a normal race.

“You don’t want a full green flag race because that makes it stale for the racing, but we definitely want to do better than eight or nine cautions that it has been the last few years.”

Power tops opening Nashville IndyCar practice despite minor shunt

Will Power was a quarter-second faster than his nearest opposition in first practice for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville, although he ended the session with a thump on the Turn 1 wall. Christian Lundgaard set the …

Will Power was a quarter-second faster than his nearest opposition in first practice for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville, although he ended the session with a thump on the Turn 1 wall.

Christian Lundgaard set the early benchmark of 1m18.0009s for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, but with 45 minutes remaining, out came the Arrow McLarens. Pato O’Ward, who had run on at Turn 9 on an early lap, got down to a 1m17.4437s on his fourth lap, an average of 97.619mph around the 2.1-mile course. He was soon backed up by teammate Alexander Rossi, 0.3662s behind.

Dominant points leader Alex Palou then produced a 1m17.4116s to edge O’Ward before ducking into the 1m16s. That allowed him to remain ahead of 2021 Nashville pole winner Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport and 2022 Nashville pole winner Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske.

Defending race winner Scott Dixon got into fourth ahead of O’Ward and Power, with hometown hero Josef Newgarden moving into the top six too.

With 18 minutes to go, Power improved to third ahead of teammate McLaughlin, and when the drivers strapped on the Firestone alternates, Power moved to the top with a 1m16.4042s.

Palou’s initial response was a quarter-second off, while O’Ward jumped to third and Lundgaard to fourth. Hugely impressively, series debutant Linus Lundqvist, the Indy NXT champion subbing for Simon Pagenaud in the Meyer Shank Racing Honda, was in the top 10 at this stage, within a second of Power.

With five minutes to go, out came the red flag for a spin and stall for Callum Ilott in Turn 11 after a bump threw him out of line in the braking zone.

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The session had just restarted with 3m30s to go when Power caught the wall on the outside of Turn 1 with his right front. After a little shuffling around, he got going again but then the second red flew for Benjamin Pedersen sliding into the Turn 11 runoff.

Behind Palou, Rossi was fastest of the Arrow McLaren drivers, a few hundredths ahead of teammate O’Ward, while Lundgaard retained fifth to eclipse all Andretti cars.

David Malukas put the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda into seventh, but arguably star of the show was Lundqvist’s whose best effort kept him 11th fastest.

UP NEXT: Practice 2 is Saturday morning at 11:40am ET

RESULTS

Power sweeps poles for Iowa IndyCar doubleheader

Overnight rain delayed qualifying for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway by almost an hour, and once the unique session was complete, pole for today’s 250-lap race was earned by Team Penske’s Will Power with a lap of 181.426mph, and pole …

Overnight rain delayed qualifying for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway by almost an hour, and once the unique session was complete, pole for today’s 250-lap race was earned by Team Penske’s Will Power with a lap of 181.426mph, and pole for Sunday’s 250-lapper was taken by Power as well with a 181.578mph blast around the 0.875-mile oval in the No. 12 Chevy.

IndyCar’s all-time record holder for poles went into the session with 68 and left with 70, his first of the season. Power has teammate Scott McLaughlin alongside him on the front row for both rounds as the Chevy-powered duo were unstoppable.

“Great job by the [team],” Power said. “I’ve been trying to win at this track for a long time and we’ll do our best today.”

With drivers completing two laps of qualifying where the first set the order for Race 1 and the second set the grid for Race 2, the challenge of posting similar speeds was seen as most were quick on one lap but lost pace on the other. Select few were able to qualify up front for both races, with Power and McLaughlin serving as the only two to set matching positions for the doubleheader.

Teammate Josef Newgarden was a prime example as he was disappointed to claim third for Saturday and seventh for Sunday. Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas was another who was dissatisfied with ninth on his first lap but impressed with a recovery to third on the second.

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For this afternoon’s Race 1, the top 10 is led by Power, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta, Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean, Malukas, and Marcus Ericsson.

Race 2 features a top 10 of Power, McLaughlin, Malukas, Ed Carpenter, Herta, Graham Rahal, Newgarden, Helio Castroneves, Dixon, and Ericsson.

All cars were placed in an impound after qualifying and cannot be modified ahead of the race start.

UP NEXT: Race 1, 3pm ET, aired on NBC and streamed on Peacock.

RACE 1 RESULTS

RACE 2 RESULTS

 

IndyCar aces not optimistic blue flag rules will be changed

Backmarkers being allowed to hold up the leaders in an IndyCar race is a topic that reared its head again at in the Honda Indy 200, after AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen proved particularly obstructive on his way to 26th place. Mid-Ohio race …

Backmarkers being allowed to hold up the leaders in an IndyCar race is a topic that reared its head again at in the Honda Indy 200, after AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen proved particularly obstructive on his way to 26th place.

Mid-Ohio race winner Alex Palou saw his lead over Colton Herta shrink from 8.3s to 3.8s while trying to lap the rookie without using up too much push-to-pass boost, which is supposed to be for passes for position.

The fight to stay on the lead lap is understandable, to a degree, since if there is a full-course caution, the driver will get his lap back when the field bunches up. But more surprising was that even once he was lapped by the leader, Pedersen was similarly adversarial to the other frontrunners.

“I think that the blue flag rule, it’s crazy,” said Will Power, who finished third. “You use push-to-pass up and have to race somebody that’s going to be a lap down like you’re racing for position. The series is so tight and competitive, and everyone is so good now that I think we could have a blue flag rule. It’s not like we have yellows constantly, and you’re going to get your lap back.

“Maybe they do it in the second half of the race, but it’s ridiculous when a leader gives up 10s.”

Turning to race runner-up Dixon, Power said: “I think you were 5s down the road, I closed it right up. Probably would have overtaken you if I didn’t get held up while going a couple of laps longer.

“We should have a talk about it,” he continued to the assembled media, before Dixon interjected, “We do every year.” Power nodded, “We tell them every year. They’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we hear you.’ Then… crickets.”

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Asked if there was a simple solution, Power replied: “The problem is, it takes a lot of people to police that because if there’s a blue flag rule and the first guy passes, then you’ve got to have a command blue for everyone. But I think if everyone just understood, if you get the blue flag, you have to let the driver go within the lap.

“That, I think, is their issue – the amount of people in race control that would have to police that. It becomes a bit difficult. But we’re at the stage where this competition is so tough, maybe we have to add some people to do that.

Dixon said that disabling push-to-pass for the backmarker should be part of the solution, to which Power commented, “That was the one where they say, ‘Well, how do we police? Do we disable it for everyone after that?’ It sounded like that was a big problem.

“But it’s not like a ton of people go a lap down anymore anyway. Yeah, disabling the push-to-pass would be a big step if you are going to be a lap down, yeah.”

Although angry at the time he was seeing his lead evaporate behind Pedersen, Palou was calm in front of the media afterward.

“It’s IndyCar; I know the rules,” said the winner, “But at the same time, it’s very frustrating when you are leading and you try to open the gap, and they don’t let you pass, but they are using the overtake, like 20s, 30s a lap, to try to stay up front. On top of that, once you are side-by-side that they are so aggressive defending. Obviously it’s really frustrating when you are leading.

“I knew I had to get past also because you are using more overtake, you are using more fuel, you are using more tires, and you’re not able to do the race you want, just because of a backmarker car that wants to stay on the lead lap.

“The issue is that once you pass them, they let everybody pass because they already lost the lap, right? So, yeah, it’s frustrating. I know it’s the rules.

“I would like it to change. It’s not going to change. So, yeah, whatever. I’m more relaxed now!”

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Dixon, Power praise Palou after his fourth win in five races

Scott Dixon and Will Power, who finished second and third in the Honda Indy 200, have been unstinting in their praise of Alex Palou, who at Mid-Ohio notched up his third straight victory. Between them, this trio has captured the last three IndyCar …

Scott Dixon and Will Power, who finished second and third in the Honda Indy 200, have been unstinting in their praise of Alex Palou, who at Mid-Ohio notched up his third straight victory.

Between them, this trio has captured the last three IndyCar titles, but with nine races gone in the 17-race season, Palou’s points lead is out to 110 points over second-placed Dixon, and 151 over seventh-placed Power. Neither of these two veterans has won a race yet this year.

Said Power, who took his third podium of the season, “Obviously everyone needs to beat Palou, but… that’s going to be a very tough challenge to beat him in the championship this year. He is so on point in every respect. He is not missing a thing, which is very difficult in this series. To be extremely fast, there are a lot of guys that are, but then being able to do all the disciplines as well plus the intricacies of fuel save, tire conservation, in-and-out laps, qualifying… It’s bloody hard to have that all nailed, and he is doing it.”

Dixon said: “As Will commented, it’s not just Alex, but Julian (Robertson, race engineer), the whole No. 10 car group are just doing a phenomenal job… Barry (Wanser, strategist) as well. It’s never a single person. The effort is big I think on all the cars in Chip Ganassi Racing right now, but they’re firing on all cylinders.

“It’s hard. I think we had a pretty good race today, but obviously we still didn’t have enough to overcome that. I think had a few things changed, same as with Will, same as anybody out there, could have been a bit more racier. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to beat.”

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“Yeah, just from a strategy standpoint as well, which I know from the first time he won a championship, that group on that car is very smart,” added Power. “They’re putting it all together. Yeah, it’s an absolute team effort, but he is also nailing it.

“I think Ganassi in general seems to have a very good package right now, all-around. So they’re a tough group, all good drivers, obviously a very strong team. I think we all have a little bit of work to do.”

Asked what he’d seen from inside the team that made Palou special, Dixon replied, “I think he is just covering all bases. As Will alluded to there, the qualifying is solid, the race pace is solid, strategy is solid. It’s just a really good all-around package right now.

“It’s never only one thing, but having quick pace is something that is huge, obviously, with how tight the competition is now, but even today we didn’t qualify on the front. We were fourth and sixth, but he was still able to overcome the three possibly quicker cars in qualifying.

“Some others may have had some problems on pit road or just whatever it was. He has done a hell of a job to cover all bases.”

Asked to compare him with four-time champion Dario Franchitti, with whom Dixon was teammates for five seasons, Dixon said: “I think it’s always different. The racing is definitely different from what we had back then. So the guy we obviously know is a big talent. You see some talents come along that just really are quick but maybe inconsistent or something like that, but he is definitely the full package.

“Dario is a legend of the sport and won a ton of races – big races – and obviously a ton of championships, too. It’s early in Alex’s career. He has a big, wide runway to go yet to see what comes. We’ll see if he even sticks around in IndyCar.”

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Pagenaud walks away from huge shunt as Power tops IndyCar FP2 at Mid-Ohio

Will Power led the field in second practice for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200, but the talking point of the session was Simon Pagenaud’s escape from a shunt that involved multiple high-speed barrel rolls. Eight minutes into the session, Peacock’s cameras …

Will Power led the field in second practice for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200, but the talking point of the session was Simon Pagenaud’s escape from a shunt that involved multiple high-speed barrel rolls.

Eight minutes into the session, Peacock’s cameras captured Pagenaud’s Meyer Shank Racing-Honda broadside but still at high velocity at the end of the back straight. The car launched over the strip of grass, before the right-side wheels dug into the sandtrap, and the car went through six-and-a-half rolls before the belly of the car hit the tire wall with ending up coming to rest on its rollhoop.

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The 2016 champion and 2019 Indy 500 winner radioed to the MSR team to inform them he was OK and that he had suffered brake failure. The AMR Safety Team stabilized the car on its side while Pagenaud slithered out, paused a couple of times to capture his breath, and then walked to the safety vehicle unassisted.

He later told NBC’s Dillon Welch, “It was a hell of a ride, for sure. Something broke and I couldn’t slow down. I tried to make the corner anyway. I know that gravel is deadly. Michael Andretti’s done it, so I’m joining another legend, so that’s cool! But I was just trying to bail out.

“It’s downhill, which is nuts: the car took off, it hit the gravel and I just rolled. I’m just glad I didn’t go over the tire wall. I’m so glad we have the aeroscreen. I’m really thankful for IndyCar and the aeroscreen safety.”

Asked if that was as bad a ride as he’s suffered in his career, Pagenaud said: “Definitely the wildest. Funnily enough, my first crash was exactly the same circumstance. So… yeah, interesting.”

Regarding his return to action for qualifying at 2.45pm ET, Pagenaud declared he was “ready, it’s not a problem” but admitted it would be the doctor’s decision.

When the session restarted, the lap times remained as incredibly tight as in first practice, with Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport-Honda, Friday pacesetter Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet and Scott Dixon covered by just half a tenth with 15 minutes to go.

Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power then jumped to the top with his 14th lap, and clipped 0.28sec from that time on his 15th. That kept him a quarter-second clear of runaway points leader and 2021 champion Alex Palou of Ganassi, who also jumped up the order to second.

Santino Ferrucci brought out the second red flag with an off at Turn 12, although the AJ Foyt Racing machine looked fairly undamaged. That wasn’t the end of his drama as he spun over the hill at Turn 9, but managed to continue without stalling.

Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist also had a spin toward the end of the session, while Scott McLaughlin of Penske was a late improver, jumping to sixth behind compatriot Dixon.

Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey confirmed the improved Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda form hinted at by Lundgaard’s pace at Road America two weeks ago and on Friday here at Mid-Ohio. The trio finished the session in seventh, 11th and 14th.

Another happy surprise was David Malukas, who slotted his Dale Coyne Racing-Honda into eighth, ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and Rosenqvist.

RESULTS

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Road America boss claps back at Power, who pays the joke forward

Road America president Michael Kertscher didn’t take kindly to Will Power’s harsh Saturday comments on the state of the circuit’s offtrack safety and care. “This track’s terrible; when you go off, they do a terrible job here so they need to pick up …

Road America president Michael Kertscher didn’t take kindly to Will Power’s harsh Saturday comments on the state of the circuit’s offtrack safety and care.

“This track’s terrible; when you go off, they do a terrible job here so they need to pick up their game,” Power said after a poor qualifying run left him 22nd on the grid.

Unimpressed with the Team Penske driver’s remarks, Kertscher commandeered one of the road course’s pungent “**** trucks” used to empty the many portable toilets located throughout the 4.0-mile facility and parked it in front of Power’s motorcoach in the drivers’ lot atop the paddock.

Kertscher’s rationale of ‘Call this a **** track, get the **** truck’ was both hilarious and the perfect end to a contentious day where Power was errantly hit and crashed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in the morning practice session. A furious Power shoved Dixon and the domino effect from that early crash and the ensuing repairs left both drivers in an uncompetitive place when it was time to qualify.

Having pranked Power with the odorous truck left in front of his mobile home, Kertscher was kind enough to leave the keys in the vehicle, and with an opportunity to perform a prank of his own, Power climbed in, fired up the truck, drove it down the lot, and parked it in front of Dixon’s bus.

Power’s arrival provided some much-needed humor for the two IndyCar champions who broke the ice and had a laugh. To Kertscher’s credit, no video of the drop-off exists, leaving the track president with plausible deniability. A photo of Power arriving at Dixon’s bus, however, does confirm the vehicle’s appearance in the drivers’ lot…

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