In the race, Power started in third place. He pushed hard to take the lead, especially during the restart on lap 68 out of 85. But the decisive moment came when he couldn’t quite pass Alex Palou, the leader. This left him 6.106 seconds behind, finishing in second place, his third runner-up finish in four races.
Power, a two-time IndyCar Series champion, said, “Anytime you’re finishing on the podium, it’s a good day. It really is. It’s a tough series. But yes, it is frustrating seeing that it’s right there for you even on a restart. We’re pretty determined. You can only do what you can do. It’s just only so much risk you can take without having a bad day if it doesn’t come off. Yep, definitely on my mind often to try and win a race, but also fighting for a championship is nice. We’ll see. If you keep knocking on the door like that, I just know eventually you’re going to get a win.”
Despite his disappointment at not winning, Power is currently second in the overall standings, just 12 points behind Palou, the reigning and two-time champion.
This result was particularly satisfying for Power because two key members of his team were suspended by owner Roger Penske after a push-to-pass scandal. However, despite this setback, Power’s race engineer, Dave Faustino, handled the extra workload and strategy calls for the weekend.
Power commented, “It has run very well this weekend, even with everything that’s happened. Everyone has got their head down. They’re working hard. Yep, disappointed all that sort of played out. But focusing forward, not even thinking about sort of the penalties. It is just one of those things. It was a mistake, and it happened. When you’re a top team like Penske, people certainly like to really blow everything up and make a big deal of it, although it was just a mistake. It was actually a mistake. I know, I was testing when the software was put in. It was just one of those things. Man, I’ve just kept my head down, tried to block out all the noise. Looking forward. That’s my job. My job is to turn up every week and give my absolute best and be professional and race to the best of my ability, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m working hard and trying to get a win but just being smart.”
