Pagenaud’s points lead slashed due to “weird” accident

Pagenaud’s crew chief Kyle Moyer believes low tyre pressures were to blame, as his charge was on his first flying lap after a pitstop, and also confirmed he'd taken some downforce out of the car during the stop.

Pagenaud’s car took off up the track, after bottoming out, and suffered a heavy impact with the SAFER barrier, which tore up its right-hand side.

He was classified 18^th, so his 58-point advantage has now been trimmed to 20 ahead of Pocono winner Power – who now matches Pagenaud’s tally of four races wins this year.

“We just had a crash,” admitted Pagenaud. “The car bottomed and I went straight to the wall.

“Really weird because I had bottoming but not to that extent. I just lost control of the steering.

“It felt okay leaving the pits. Turn 1 was fine. Turn 2 was fine. I don't know.

“That one's weird but it's definitely a bit of a shame. We didn't have a really good car today but still it was important to score points. It was important to save fuel and stay in the top seven.

“It was really difficult in Turn 3 all day [with the wind]. Turn 1 changed when the wind shifted and died down.

“All we can do now is race on to the end of the year.”