IT’S WIRE-TO-WIRE WIN FOR POWER

Will Power counted down the laps Saturday, struggling to maneuver around the lapped cars in front of him.

At least once, he even pleaded with an old friend to let him by.

Eventually, Power managed to break free and then held off hard-charging Colton Herta by 0.8932 seconds to win the second Harvest GP race at Indianapolis this weekend.

“It was pretty intense because you had cars in front of you, that was the biggest problem,” Power said. “As soon as I had a bit of a gap, it made it easier. I think we’re the only series in the world where lapped traffic actually races you. It’s insane.”

Power had no complaints about his car, though.

He claimed his 61st career pole in qualifying, second alltime to Mario Andretti (67). He led all 75 laps, earning his first wire-to-wire win since 2011 at Barber Motorsports Park.

For most of the day, the gap between Power and those chasing him was at least five seconds and he was so strong Herta and thirdplace finisher Alexander Rossi, teammates with Andretti Autosport, acknowledged they weren’t going to get past the 2014 Indycar champ and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner without a mistake.

It’s Power’s fourth victory on the speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course, and his 39th career win ties Al Unser for fifth in Indycar history.

Another story was developing behind Power as defending series champion Josef Newgarden continued trimming Scott Dixon’s points lead.

Newgarden, a two-time series winner, cut a 71-point gap to 40 by winning from the front row on Friday. On Saturday, he closed to 32 points by finishing fourth. Dixon, of New Zealand, finished eighth after damaging the underwing of his car early in the race.

Elsewhere

Justin Haley stormed into the second round of the Xfinity Series playoffs with a win at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, his third superspeedway victory of the season. Haley, who in 2019 won the Cup race in July at Daytona, has three career Xfinity Series victories, all this season, all on superspeedways.

Raphael Lessard , a 19year-old Canadian rookie, won his first career NASCAR national series race in overtime under caution at Talladega Superspeedway. Lessard was racing side-byside with Trevor Bayne on the final lap of the two-lap overtime shootout when a pack of trucks running four wide triggered an accident that froze the field.