Power: “Anywhere else I’d be happy with second. Here, it sucks”

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INDIANAPOLIS – “Anywhere else I’d be happy with second. But here, it sucks.”

Second is not something Will Power is unaccustomed to.

The driver of the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet finished second in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship three years in a row, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

But having finally got one monkey off his back – his elusive first IndyCar championship last August – Power was extraordinarily focused on scoring what was becoming his elusive first Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday.

He entered with the best “feel” of his career heading into his eighth race start.

He came up 0.1046 of a second short.

Yes, in the grand scheme of things, Power had a good day and a good month of May.

He starred in winning both the pole and the race at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis earlier this month.

But he came second in both of the key sessions that mattered for the Indianapolis 500.

He qualified second behind Scott Dixon, and now ended second behind his Team Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in the race.

Are they good results? Certainly.

Are they what he desired? Nope.

“Pole, win, second, second. Not what I was looking for,” Power said. “There was some great battling out there. I have to give it to the drivers in the race. Fair, clean, but close and hard. That’s all you can ask for.”

Power explained how he fell to second in the final stages of the race.

“If Dixon had stayed there, because he was on lower downforce, I could stay out front,” Power said. “I saw Juan get him. I thought I might be safe. I actually felt I could get hit back. I just had an imbalance in leading. Out front, it was loose. When you get behind, I readjusted for that.

“There’s no problem, I was running less downforce. I could draw up really quickly. It just came down to an imbalance. I just didn’t spend enough time in second place understanding what I need from the car. He comes back there, which is a smart move, because it won him the race.

“It’s a difficult position, right? If it goes yellow, you win the race. You want to lead. I really fought hard to make sure I was leading all the time. Then again, if it’s going to go green, you get a bit of experience behind the way these cars draft.

“If the car wasn’t in balance, I would have had no shot at him. Still, Team Penske, 1-2, pretty good.”

And speaking of second, the second place means Power lost 20 points to Montoya in the championship battle. He entered the Indianapolis 500 just five points behind, but he’ll unofficially be 25 behind after this race.

Still in second.

It’s a result he’ll look to change heading into Penske’s home race, the Penske-promoted Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend, next week for IndyCar’s lone doubleheader of the season.

IndyCar results, points after Detroit Grand Prix

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:


RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Lap leader summary

Full lap chart

Best section times

Full section data

Event summary

Pit stop summary

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.


POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Pit stop performance

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.