Despite early woes, Power a threat
Mishaps leave 2014 champion 17th in points
Scan the Verizon I NDIANAPOLIS IndyCar Series point standings, and a familiar name shows up in an unfamiliar place. Will Power, sitting 17th. It’s odd enough to find Power, the 2014 series champion and four-time runner-up (2010, ’11, ’12 and ’16) outside the top five, but outside the top 15? One has to go all the way back to 2008 for the last time the Team Penske driver could be found that low after two races.
Yet after getting black-flagged in St. Petersburg, Fla., in the opener and colliding with Charlie Kimball in Long Beach, that is precisely where Power finds himself.
But don’t believe for a second that Power is losing sleep over his standing. Frustrated? Sure. Worried? Not so much.
“I’ve been in the game long enough to know you’re going to have good and bad runs, your ups and downs,” the 10-year IndyCar veteran said Tuesday. “If you’re doing your job and doing your homework, that doesn’t continue. If you’re putting the effort in, it should come around for you at some point.
“You just got to keep chipping away.”
Power didn’t have to dig very deep into his memory to recall another year in which he started slowly only to make a championship push.
Just last season, Power was misdiagnosed with a concussion and forced to sit out in St. Petersburg and take a single point with him into his second start.
But he rebounded with backto-back-to-back top-10s, including a fourth-place run at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., to get in the title hunt.
Leapfrogging the field this year won’t be as easy, Power said. Honda is much stronger, he said, and the manufacturer’s improve- ments on street and road courses such as Barber — site of Sunday’s race — will make climbing back into the points race a tall order.
“The game has changed this year,” Power said. “There are a lot more good guys with capabilities, because Honda has taken such a large step. So a lot of those really good drivers are back in play for the championship.
“Obviously, (Scott) Dixon always was, but now you’re getting guys like (points leader Sebastien) Bourdais and (Ryan) Hunter-Reay and (James) Hinchcliffe and (Alexander) Rossi starting to come on. A bunch of guys like this all vying for wins now that were kind of out of the game last year. It’s a different deal this year.”
Still, Birmingham seems the perfect place for Power to launch his assault on the top 15.
He has taken to the track at Barber seven times in his career and never finished outside the top five, having posted wins in 2011 and 2012. He should be able to manage a decent starting spot, too, as three of his 45 poles (fifth most all time) have come in Birmingham.
“It’s a really nice track, sort of flowing, really the sort of track that I enjoy,” Power said. “Pretty much everywhere we go, I can be competitive, but there are some tracks that really click with you, and I think Barber is one of them for me. From the outset, I’ve been strong there.”
While a win would be great, Power said, he’d settle for a race without incident. Dating to last season, he has endured problems in four consecutive races.
“Whether it’s been mechanical failures or (contact with) Charlie Kimball, I haven’t had a clean race in a while,” Power said. “So I’m definitely due for a good run. And I’m very focused on making sure that happens.”