By David Morgan, Associate Editor
LEBANON, Tenn. – Chalk one up for Will Power.
In the battle to see who will take home the Astor Cup when the checkered flag flies on Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway, qualifying could not have gone in more opposite directions for the two drivers that are vying for the championship in the NTT IndyCar Series season finale.
Power, the 2014 series champion and driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, will roll off from the outside of the second row in fourth place on Sunday, while his championship rival Alex Palou, who is looking for his third title in the past four years will be way back in 24th place at the start of the race.
“We needed the pole, but that was as fast as I could go, is wide open all the way round,” Power said of his run. “There’s nothing more I could have done. Gotta work through the cycles of the pit stops and see if we can get to the lead and lead laps. Not a bad place to start strategy wise, to be honest. It’s actually not terrible.
“You know, you can sit back and you can play off other people when you’re there, when you’re leading. A little bit tough on that first stint to lead and sort of get to the traffic and all that. So, if I didn’t have to get the point, I’d be like, yeah, this is about where I want to be.”
Palou didn’t appear to be shaken by the struggles in qualifying and having to start so far back, chalking it up to a balance issue with his car that didn’t allow him to go flat out during his run.
“We just didn’t have the balance right like this morning,” Palou said. “This morning we were able to be flat. Like you have to be to be like top 10 at least even top 12. And I couldn’t. So, yeah, Lap 1 wasn’t great and it just started going downhill.”
He added that having to start at the back of the field will help cement his strategy for Sunday knowing he won’t be able to bide his time and try and work his way forward conservatively, instead he’ll be hammer down from the drop of the green.
Palou need only to finish ninth or better and the championship is his no matter what Power does on Sunday.
“I don’t think I can take a very conservative approach starting 24th. We need to move forward, man. It’s different when you are ninth, eighth and maybe there you can take it easy. You get 60 laps going on and then decide from there. But from P 24, I think I need to start moving very…
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