Power Back In Victory Lane Leading Team Penske Podium Sweep At Road America

By RacingNation Crew
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Updated: June 10, 2024

Will Power celebrating a NTT INDYCAR Series win for the first time in two years. [Pete Gorski Photo]

Elkhart Lake, WI – It’s hard to believe that it has been two years since Will Power has parked his NTT INDYCAR SERIES ride in victory lane. But, his last victory was June 5th, 2022 in the final race at Belle Isle for the Detroit Grand Prix.

A lot has happened for Power in that time both on track and off. On track, there still were podium finishes: two in 2022, four in 2023 including two runner-up finishes, and three runner-up finishes in a row this season. But the wins didn’t come.
Off track, his wife Liz’s struggle with health issues were constantly on his mind. “You start thinking. When that was going on, you start thinking should I be racing at all. If something happens to Liz and something happens to me, is she going to get better, what’s going to happen. The doctor said this can come back at any time. Should I be racing. That was the thing that was planted in my mind last year.”

Liz is better, at the races and now back in Victory Lane. “It was very special,” Power said. “She was in tears. So was her mother. Had Beau there. Yeah, been a rough trot. It was last year we didn’t get a win. She wasn’t at a lot of the races. She is a big part of my preparation. She does a lot for me. We’re back as a team again.”

Power was racing up near the front all day, but so were his Team Penske teammates, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden. Out of the 55 laps of the race, Power led 9, Newgarden 10 and McLaughlin 18, totaling 37 for Team Penske.

The final pit cycle proved to be the turning point for the three Penske drivers. McLaughlin pitted from the lead with 13 laps remaining. Newgarden dropped in on the next lap and returned to the circuit ahead of his teammate. Power waited one more lap and was able to jump both drivers, take the lead on lap 49 and never look back.

“Yeah, I sat back. I kind of couldn’t get Scott without using a lot of push to pass. I sat back. I knew I had a lap of fuel on him. I was making the reds last,” explained Power. “My in-lap was super quick. Gave me enough of a gap on Josef to be able to get up to speed on the cold tires. Yeah, so the car was phenomenal. I haven’t had a car like that for a long time in a race. It was very fast.”

Behind the Penske drivers were defending race winner Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood in the top five. Colten Herta, who started on the front row, was caught up in a crash exiting the first turn on the opening lap but rebounded to finish sixth. Romain Grosjean jumped up seven spots from his start to finish seventh. Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal completed the top ten.

Pole sitter Linus Lundqvist recovered to finish 12th after being part of the first lap accident when he was spun by his Andretti Global teammate Kirkwood.

Power’s win was the 42nd of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career and ties Michael Andretti for fourth on the all-time winner list.

The sweep of the podium by Team Penske last happened in the series in 2020 when the Andretti Global drivers, Herta, Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay finished 1-2-3 at Mid-Ohio.