DETROIT, Mich.– Will Power had one of the most adventurous paths to a sixth place finish that he’s ever had in his NTT IndyCar Series career during Sunday’s (June 2) Detroit Grand Prix.
After a first-lap collision that created a four-car train, another collision with Rinus VeeKay 40 laps later in the same corner, and four separate penalties from race control, it seemed almost unthinkable that IndyCar’s pole position record-holder would be anywhere near the top 10 finishers.
Then again, Detroit wasn’t exactly a normal race. With eight cautions for 47 laps which included almost the entire stretch of laps from 33 to 73, one look at the box score would give anyone reason to question how Power moved up from last place early in the race up to the top 10.
A lot of it boils down to strategy. Power pitted late under a caution for the incident involving Linus Lundqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Christian Lundgaard and Romain Grosjean. But he did so while the pits were closed. The 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner had to serve a drive-through penalty under green flag conditions but was saved by another caution when Scott McLaughlin and Sting Ray Robb had contact which sent Robb into the turn 5 tire barrier.
The two-time IndyCar Series champion then vaulted up to seventh place as 13 of the 19 drivers on the lead lap hit pit road, putting Power just behind eventual race winner Scott Dixon, Armstrong, Tristan Vautier and the trio of Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi who hit pit road but were done with their service before Power hit the blend line at pit exit.
From then on it was a race of fuel saving. Power had to go the remaining 42 laps of the race on fuel, assuming that enough cautions would take the strategy out of the race.
“It was like sort of rolling the dice, see what happens,” Power told Frontstretch. “I mean, that’s why I said to the guys, ‘just pit me as early as you can because we’ll make it to the end. It’s just going to be yellow after yellow.’
“Actually, honestly the car was really fast at the end. Once I got it sorted and got the fuel, it probably could have finished a little higher, probably could have got Rossi, but yeah, good, good day.”
The race’s final caution for a collision between Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou at turn 3 on the ensuing restart did just that. With Newgarden and Palou stopped at the apex of the corner, race control had no choice but to bring out another…
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