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Power: “It wasn’t that easy; we weren’t cruising”

Will Power says that despite topping every IndyCar session on the IMS road course this weekend including winning the race didn’t mean he had a straightforward ride to his first win of the season.

Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Podium: winner Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, second place Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, third place Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Start: Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet lead
Race winner Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

Power led 61 of the 85 laps but admitted that pushing too hard in the first stint had left him vulnerable to chasing teammate Helio Castroneves getting ahead of him after the first round of pitstops, when Power switched to the primary tires, and Castroneves took on a second set of reds.

“It wasn't that easy; we weren’t cruising out front,” the 2014 champion explained afterward. “The tires would degrade, so you had to push without leaning on it too much. In the first stint, I pushed way too hard early and Helio was just all on me. I pulled a gap and struggled the end of the stint and he ended up jumping me.

“Firestone brought a really good tire for racing, had a lot of grip in qualifying, and the grip slowly went away over the race, which created some good strategies and racing.”

Having leapfrogged Castroneves at the next round of stops, Power said his focus switched to Scott Dixon, who was on the same tire strategy as himself, and who passed the primary-tired Castroneves in the final stint.

“I was very conscious of the gap that Dixon was closing,” he said. “I was thinking he's going to burn his tires off, the way he's closing. I reckoned his tires should go off… but he kept coming.

“And then suddenly, boom, [the gap] started to go the other way. I was like, all right, we're in good shape here.”

Power gave credit to his new-for-2017 strategist Jon “Myron” Bauslog for not only the raceday strategy but also the qualifying strategy that meant he was able to set a pole position over 0.4sec quicker than his nearest pursuer.

“[Myron] did a really good job all weekend,” he remarked. “He had a great strategy in qualifying to not sit around and wait till the last minute. He said, ‘Why don't we just, as soon as we're done on black tires, just go straight out [on reds]? And we had a clear track for qualifying every time. “He called a really good race. Yeah; getting real used to having him on the radio.”

Power’s win was his 30th in Indy car competition, lifting him to 11th clear in the all-time list of winners, ahead of Penske legends Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves.

 

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