Any hopes Will Power had to pull off a last-gasp comeback for a third championship in the IndyCar Series evaporated quickly in the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
The 43-year-old Aussie came into the weekend trailing championship leader Alex Palou by 33 points (525-492) and the only remaining contender once the green flag waved.
After starting fourth, while Palou was mired back in 24th, Power progressed to third shortly after taking the green flag. However, he started to drop down the running order to eighth by lap 7 of 206.
By lap 12, though, things became significantly worse as Power called over the radio and cited a loose belt issue. He brought his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet down pit road moments later to get the problem situated, but fell five laps down by the time it was resolved and he was able to return on track.
“Yeah, it actually just popped,” Power said. “Like ‘pop’, like a failure. So it didn’t just come loose, it just popped off. I was in the middle of a battle and I felt it off, like ‘Ah, that’s off, I have to pit’. Then did it again later in the race, so it’s a faulty seatbelt or faulty clasp, whatever it is. Pretty bad situation really, because I didn’t even think about, man if I hit the wall what happens here. If it’s just popping off from a little bit of pressure from my body, I might get thrown out of the car. Yeah, that didn’t cross my mind after we’d plugged it in, but after it did the second time there’s something wrong with it.”
When asked if he had ever encountered something like that before, Power responded, “Never. No, strange one.”
The persistent problems left him eight laps down and 24th by the time the checkered flag fell.
The result also dropped Power from second to fourth in the overall standings. Regardless, though, he was pleased with his season as a whole.
“Yeah, very satisfying,” Power said. “Three race wins, one on an oval, won on a couple of road courses. I had a dominant win, too, which I’ve been waiting to start at the front of the grid. And then, I feel like my race pace is always very good on the road and street courses, it’s just a matter of getting to the front and using it.
“Just a good year for the whole team. Obviously, we would love to win the championship. I think we all had the potential, just you know, Palou is very good. He’s very measured. He’s a tough guy to beat. If you beat him in the championship, you’ve done a good job.”
