Will Power’s luckless run of races continued in Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, as the polesitter and driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet saw a sure win evaporate with a left rear puncture inside the final 15 laps of the 90-lap race.
Both Team Penske and Firestone have confirmed the left rear puncture to Power’s car, which forced an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 77.
Despite leading 60 of 90 laps, Power was left to finish 14th – his fifth consecutive result of 13th or worse in the Verizon IndyCar Series dating to Watkins Glen on Labor Day weekend last September.
Power controlled the race from the front of the field, losing the lead only during the various pit stop sequences. He didn’t run as long as Scott Dixon on the first stint – Dixon was able to run 24 laps out of the gate – and then fell behind his recent sparring partner Charlie Kimball after Kimball ran a random off-sequence pit strategy to lead laps late in the race, even though he’d need to pit.
The Australian inherited the race lead once Kimball pitted on Lap 75 and looked poised to snap his recent run of rough luck, but fell victim to a left rear puncture after cutting his tire in the laps previous.
The Team Penske team had told Power to pit for a couple laps, with Power instead going against the call as he thought the tire wasn’t bad enough to merit giving up the lead and losing the race.
But he answered the call to the pits on Lap 77 and that was it as far as his day went. Power fell to 17th place and was only able to recover three positions afterwards.
Speaking to NBCSN’s Robin Miller, Power lamented another lost day.
“It was such a great effort. The car was awesome and so fast. I feel bad,” Power told NBCSN. “It was literally five races in a row. Three mechanical issues. And just yeah, I don’t know what to say.
“I was feeling it. I felt it start to bottom (out). I tried to tell ’em for as long as I could it was alright, but I could feel it. Yep, that’s it. Move onto the next one.”
The next one for Power is next week’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, where he finished third last year in his first start of the 2016 season. After the five P13 or worse races and an eighth at Texas, it’s been since IndyCar’s last oval race – August 22 at Pocono Raceway – where Power last stood on the podium. That race, he won.
Small consolation was that Power did move up four positions in the points standings from 17th to a tie for 13th with Graham Rahal, and is just 10 points outside the top 10. He sits 67 markers behind series leader Sebastien Bourdais.
