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Power Leads The Way At Long Beach

By Joe Jennings
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Updated: April 17, 2009

Long Beach, Calif. – Even though Will Power will be handing his car over to Helio Castroneves on Saturday, the Australian whiz led the way in the first day of IndyCar Series practice at Long Beach on Friday. Power, the 2008 Champ Car race winner, zipped off a lap of 100.424 miles per hour to top the speed charts.

Castroneves will arrive in Long Beach by Saturday, and he will take over his familiar No. 3 Team Penske car and Power will switch to the No. 12 Team Verizon Wireless car, a third entry for Penske Racing.

“My car was very sharp and very consistent,” Power said. “But it is hard to get an advantage here, and the difference between the black and red tires should be more noticeable this weekend. Regardless, tomorrow I will be in a new car but I will take my set-up over to the new car.”

Commenting on his brief tenure with Team Penske, Power expressed pleasure with what he has experienced and he pointed out he is eagerly looking forward to participating with the accomplished team for the upcoming Indianapolis 500. “It is a great pleasure to run with them, and you never know what will happen in the future.”