As bad as Toronto was for Will Power, it was certainly not the end of his IZOD IndyCar Series title hopes.
I’ve only been able to see bits and pieces of last weekend’s race because of my internship duties, but I did happen to see Power’s ill-fated incident with title rival Dario Franchitti at Turn 3. Franchitti attempted to get to the inside of Power, but wasn’t able to make it work and sent Power spinning out. Power would soldier on until he got knocked into the wall in an run-in with Alex Tagliani, while Franchitti went on to win the race and take a 55-point edge over Power going into next Sunday’s Edmonton Indy.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Power was so upset afterwards and Franchitti assigned himself “more than 50 percent of the blame” for the incident while talking to Versus’ Kevin Lee in Victory Lane. Personally, I don’t think Franchitti had himself in quite the right position to make that pass but at the same time, Power didn’t give him any room at all. As a result, I’m can see why no penalty was assessed to Franchitti.
All of this has put Power in a bit of a hole but it’s one he can certainly climb out of. All it takes is one big mistake for Franchitti and Power’s right up to his rear wing again. Power certainly knows this from experience. A 59-point edge for him was chopped to a mere 23 markers when he was forced to pit for fuel with five laps to go at Chicagoland Speedway last year. Franchitti won that race and from there, the momentum never left the Scotsman as he charged over the final three events to win the 2010 title over Power by five points.
That said, while Power has been strong at Edmonton in recent years, he and the other drivers must contend with a completely new track layout in the Alberta metropolis. Even with his quite prodigious talents on street courses, he’ll have to learn like everybody else…
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Speaking of Edmonton, there’s high hopes in the city that their IndyCar event is finally on the right track under the management of Octane (which may or may not be looking to add to its portfolio). After bleeding money all over the place for several years and then going under entirely for a time, the Edmonton Indy is trying to solidfy itself once again.
So far, it appears that the event’s garnering more of that all-important support from local businesses and there’s movement on trying to build it up into a party that goes beyond City Center Airport. Even better, the anticipation is building over the aforementioned new layout and the quality of racing it can produce. With multiple passing zones and a long straight that will be quite useful for setting up said passes, it could make for some really good stuff next Sunday.
But lest we get ahead of ourselves, we’ll have to keep an eye on the numbers this coming weekend before we can truly declare the revival a success. And even if it is a success, don’t look to see a third Canadian race emerge on the calendar just yet. Randy Bernard said over the Toronto weekend that he wants the Toronto and Edmonton events to keep growing first before mulling over a possible event in Montreal — which would certainly soften the blow for that track if their NASCAR Nationwide Series event goes away after this season.
