Pocono Raceway painted the letters JW on the track at the finish line and Union Jacks flew at half-staff in honor of Englishman Justin Wilson, who died a year ago after being struck by debris in the closing laps of the IndyCar race here. Power won the race.
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That’s how Takuma Sato will remember Monday’s rain-postponed ABC Supply 500 from Pocono Raceway, as the Japanese driver crashed out on Lap 1 after a season-best third-place qualifying effort.
Instead, he experienced one of the big point swings that he was often on the wrong side of before he broke through to win his first IndyCar Series championship in 2014.
He’s won the last three.
But it was after a Lap 163 restart, just after he’d drafted past eventual race victor Will Power, when his engine died and he lost a lap while recycling his electronics system. If I was racing, going around the track would give me some weird feelings. That ties him for 11th on the all-time IndyCar wins list with Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves and Rick Mears.
The first American drivers to sign up for ROC Miami have been unveiled as NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Monster Energy, Haas Automation Chevy and 2014 Indianapolis 500 victor and 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. The Team Penske crew attempted to fix the No. 3 Chevrolet before shutting it down, leaving Castroneves with a 20th place-finish.
“Yeah, that’s good”, Power said of the points situation. “We had to make a lot of adjustments throughout”.
The initial start on Sunday was a “no start”, with the cars out of formation. “So we are really coming back strong”. Hunter-Reay roared through the field early and had been running up front for the majority of the race before the power issue. Turn 1 was fine.
Hunter-Reay climbed through the field after starting last to lead 31 laps of the 200-lap race.
Charging to a third-place finish was Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport. But Power reclaimed the advantage on the next lap and stayed there the rest of the way. Rain delayed the start for more than an hour, then two more rain delays hit. It also erased an nearly two-second lead Power had built over Aleshin. He coasted through the pits trying to restart it, got it going again, but fell a lap down. I was going sideways, and I nearly lost my vehicle a couple times. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if we couldn’t have made our way back to the front if we went back a little”. The 31-race starter has never finished higher than second in a race.
“It’s another example of just hanging out all day, adjusting on the auto and getting the vehicle right, and then booming at the end”, said Power, who started eighth.
Aleshin insists the seat time he didn’t get past year is more relevant now than the injuries that set him back. “I nearly crashed a couple of times behind him”. “I just wanted this win so bad, but it wasn’t the case this time”.
After crashing late, Pagenaud finished 18th in the 500-mile race, which was postponed a day by rain. Coming into Pocono, Power was 58 points back.
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It was the fourth win in six races for Power, the 29th of his career, and cut 38 points off the lead in the standings held by Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud.
