When Will Power starts winning, he becomes really hard to beat; first at Pocono, then the IndyCar race at Portland International Raceway where he earned his second win in three races.
Power led the most laps of the day with 59 and seemed to have the race under control once Scott Dixon had a battery issue on lap 52, even a late Caution with Santino Ferrucci did not slow down Power, he was able to pull away on the final restart, and cruise to victory. Felix Rosenqvist finished second, with Alexander Rossi finishing third and early leader Colton Herta finishing fourth.
“It was a pretty tough race,” Power said. “I had constant pressure from Rosenqvist at the end, we could pull away and I thought ‘oh this is going to be good’, and then the yellow flew and I thought, ‘oh come on, man’. Stoked to get in victory lane. Awesome, man. I’m exhausted. Mentally exhausted.”
“I’ve had enough rough luck in races, I’ll take them anywhere I can get them,” when asked whether he could have caught Scott Dixon.
After the first caution, there was a second caution right after, Ryan Hunter-Reay trying to keep his teammate Alexander Rossi back he overshot turn one and slammed right into Jack Harvey, taking out Harvey and putting himself several laps down. Then the race calmed down with Herta leading the field until lap 37 when his tires gave out and Scott Dixon and several other cars got past him. Dixon led until lap 52 when he had a battery issue and his car just stopped on pit road, costing him three laps. From there Will Power led the rest of the laps outside of cycling pit stops. Santino Ferrucci’s mechanical failure on lap 98 caused a quick caution which bunched up the field but did not change the overall outcome. As a whole the race had five leaders, eight lead changes, three cautions for 16 laps, and 16 cars finishing the race.
The championship now only has three drivers left in contention, Josef Newgarden leading with 593 points, Alexander Rossi in second with 552 points and Simon Pagenaud in third with 551 points.
The season finale for IndyCar will be on September 22 on NBC at 2:30 pm EST at Weathertech Raceway at Laguna Seca, with double points at it can be any of the three’s title to win.
