Leaving Infineon Raceway will feel a lot better to Will Power this year.
Last August, Power sustained two fractured vertebrae and a concussion in a vicious crash with Nelson Philippe during practice at the Northern California road course. But on Sunday at Sonoma, the IZOD IndyCar Series championship leader got even by leading 73 of 75 laps en route to victory in the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
Not that it was completely a Sunday drive for Power. Things got a lot more interesting toward the tail end of the event, when contact between three drivers brought out a full-course yellow with 10 laps remaining and bunched up the field. When the green flag came back out with six laps left, Power had to deal with his rear view mirrors being filled by Scott Dixon.
But while the two-time IndyCar champion stuck close behind him, he couldn’t get around Power, who now holds a 59-point advantage over Dario Franchitti with four races left in the season. Franchitti finished third in the race, absorbing an 18-point hit in the process (Power was up 41 markers heading into Sunday).
Now the championship shifts to the season-ending quartet of ovals, starting this Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway (7 p.m. ET, Versus). In a wise move, Power pooh-poohed any talk that he was close to wrapping up the 2010 crown.
“No, I don’t think this championship is almost mine,” he said after winning his fifth race of the year. “There’s a lot of racing to go. Four races, a lot can happen. Really, whatever it is, the buffer, 15 or something points, you can lose a lot of that in just one race.
“We’re going to work really hard. I’m going to race those ovals like I want to win the championship. I think I got enough experience now and I think we’ll be very strong.”
As for Franchitti, he looked ahead to the upcoming races at tracks that he and Target Chip Ganassi Racing have performed well at in the past.
“It’s a fairly large [points] deficit, but [the ovals are] four tracks we’ve run well on,” he said. “We’ve won at Chicago. [Dixon] won in Japan. We both won at Homestead. Won at Kentucky as a team. I haven’t won at Kentucky personally. There’s places we can do very well at.”
He also felt that Power would be a major threat to win on the ovals, even though the Australian’s been inconsistent this season at those tracks (12th, eighth, 14th, fifth).
“I don’t underestimate the challenge at all,” Franchitti continued. “Will is going to be quite strong. People are writing him off because of his lack of experience on the ovals, but he’ll be right up there. We have to do a better job. We’ll be pushing 100 percent.”
Runner-up Dixon said his failure to knock Power off the top spot was “the downside” in an otherwise strong day for TCGR.
“The tough decision for our side was what to do with Dario because obviously he’s the closest in points to Will,” he said. “We felt we were in a good position to maybe challenge Will and get close to him and maybe win the race and take some points away from him that way. We didn’t have enough. Obviously, Will won the race. We probably didn’t help Dario’s chances in that.”
But as much as the championship continues to loom, the bigger story may be Power’s domination at the track that brought him trouble in 2009.
Before his injuries at Infineon, he had shined in a part-time role with Team Penske and it appeared that a full-time promotion was imminent. Instead, his season ended in mayhem and Power, a driver that has dealt with shaky job prospects during his career, was left to wonder about his future.
However, it turned out he didn’t have to worry.
“The sort of the guy [team owner] Roger [Penske] is, he called me probably not long after I arrived at hospital and said, ‘Look, don’t worry about it. We’ll look after you. We’ll have something for you next year, even if it’s not full-time,'” said Power. “That’s just the sort of guy he is, the sort of team he runs. It gives you confidence as a driver because I’ve been in so many situations in my career where you don’t feel that. I can’t thank the whole organization, Roger, [Penske Racing president] Tim [Cindric], the Verizon guys, for sticking by me, giving me a chance. We’re going for the championship.
“I tell you, at the end of 2008, I was almost ready to go home to Australia and race V8s. Had I not gotten this opportunity, I never would have known what my potential was.”
Five victories later, it’s clear that the potential has become reality for him. But will an IZOD IndyCar Series championship become reality as well?
He’s in the position to make it happen.
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IZOD IndyCar Series
Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma
Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.
Final results
1. 12-Will Power, Penske, avg. speed of 92.063 m.p.h.
2. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, -0.7432 of a second
3. 10-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, -6.6132 seconds
4. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, -7.8607 seconds
5. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, -10.4594 seconds
6. 22-Justin Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold, -10.9095 seconds
7. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, 75, -11.5246 seconds
8. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, -11.8938 seconds
9. 02-Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas, -17.5019 seconds
10. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, -18.2069 seconds
11. 32-Mario Moraes, KV Racing Tech., -20.2411 seconds
12. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, -20.6759 seconds
13. 78-Simona De Silvestro, HVM, -21.8239 seconds
14. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, -22.4858 seconds
15. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, -24.2879 seconds
16. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, -46.1339 seconds
17. 06-Hideki Mutoh, Newman/Haas, one lap down
18. 5-Takuma Sato, KV Racing Tech., one lap down
19. 8-E.J. Viso, KV Racing Tech., one lap down
20. 36-Francesco Dracone, Conquest, four laps down, contact
21. 2-Raphael Matos, DFDragon, eight laps down, contact
22. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, eight laps down, running
23. 34-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, ten laps down, contact
24. 24-J.R. Hildebrand, Dreyer & Reinbold, 37 laps down, contact
25. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, 75 laps down, contact
Race Statistics: Time of race: 1 hour, 52 minutes, 34.1915 seconds; Margin of victory: .7432 of a second; Cautions: Four for 10 laps; Lead changes: Two among two drivers.
Lap Leaders: Power 1-55, Dixon 56-57, Power 58-75.
Point Standings: Power 514, Franchitti 455, Dixon 419, Briscoe 384, Castroneves 370, Hunter-Reay 360, Kanaan 330, Wilson 290, Andretti 284, Wheldon 269.
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All quotes were taken from today’s post-race press conference transcript.
