Power says IMS road course inner loop would hurt racing

Of the 12 IndyCar races held on the 2.439-mile IMS road course since 2014, Power has won five and taken pole in six, but in March he and Josef Newgarden for Team Penske-Chevrolet and Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda got the chance to run the ‘inner loop’ layout when testing IndyCar’s 2024-spec 2.4-liter engines.

This layout (see diagram below) extends the track to 2.6 miles, as Turn 5, rather than being the first part of the quick left-right chicane onto the back straight, becomes instead a right-hander, leading to a horseshoe-shaped left-hander that leads back to what is termed the 6A right-hander onto the back straight.

On a 2021 Brickyard Weekend Winners Chat hosted by IMS president Doug Boles and therefore also featuring AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric, Power said that while he enjoyed the technicalities of this longer layout, it would reduce the amount of passing at Turn 7, the 90-degree left-hander at the end of the back straight.

He told Boles: “Because the inner loop is quite a long-loading corner, you would definitely lose the front and it would be really difficult to follow closely. So coming out of 6A and heading down to 7, you’re not going to get as good a run, and you’re not reaching terminal velocity soon enough to get a draft…

“I actually enjoyed testing on the inner loop because it gave you more to do, but from a racing perspective, the track we run now is what you want.”

Describing how the long Turn 4 right-hander, and the T5/6 chicane create such a strong passing spot at Turn 7, Power explained: “There are times when you can use up all the exit at 4 and get to the curb and still be wide open through the chicane if you have the wind on the nose. If it’s on the tail through there, you have to leave a little bit more room.

“Our cars roll pretty nicely over the curb, the right hand curb – now you’ve obviously taken the left-hand one out so it’s not really a problem. But I think it’s important for racing for us when someone’s struggling, they have to have a little lift [off the throttle] through there which creates an opportunity to pass into 7. So [the chicane] is doing exactly what you want it to do when you originally designed the new track, because [T7] is a great passing opportunity. I think without the chicane – you know, if you just opened it up – I don’t think you’d have as much passing at Turn 7, because then you wouldn’t have to sacrifice 4 a little bit. It would just be an easy run. Less mistakes would be made out of 4 into the [5/6] chicane.”

Regarding his regular front-running pace at the venue, Power couldn’t explain it.

“Some places click with you, are very natural for you,” he said, “and other places you have to really do a lot of homework. I still have to work very hard for the Indy road course, but just the style of the track suits me so well, and I feel like I’m always in contention there.

“Definitely a very European-style track, quite technical and consistent grip all the way around.”

Regarding the Brickyard Weekend concept, in which IndyCar and NASCAR Cup are on the same billing for the only time in the year, Power said it was important for helping to “grow the overall sport.

“Just watching as Formula 1 grows, NASCAR and IndyCar need to work together, and I think it’s great that we have this event and all the Cup drivers and Xfinity guys can see what it’s like to watch an IndyCar race. I don’t think many of them get to do that because the NASCAR season is so long, whereas we can always watch a [NASCAR] race after our season.

“I think it’s good for the sport, great for the Speedway, I’m glad we do it.”