Aleshin led for 87 laps, but was unable to seal the win as he was runner-up ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started on pole for the first time in his IndyCar career.
Advertisement
“I’ve been in that situation before”.
“That’s what the plan is”, Aleshin said. “It’s good. It’s expected, honestly”. I battled Juan (Pablo Montoya) past year.
Power ended the thrilling race just over a second ahead of Russian racer Aleshin, who dropped down the order briefly during the final phase of the race before managing to muscle his way back to the front. “You always take a big risk when you do that”. “It’s as simple as that”. Rookie Chris Buescher won his first Sprint Cup race as continued bad weather shortened that race.
Due to the ominous forecast, the Verizon IndyCar Series race was postponed until Monday at Noon ET. We’ve gone all out all season and that’s not going to change. We are collaborating with lots of different people to come up with what could be the best solution. If we don’t get along, it’s going to be a nightmare. “It’s a setback. This is really unfortunate that we have to reset”. It’s certainly unfortunate because this will hurt us in the championship battle but our team will never give up. That means our cars are the best. “I think he’s doing all the right things to get back to where he needs to be mentally and emotionally”.
It’s really disappointing because the Menards Chevrolet wasn’t great, but was good enough to score some points.
It is the second time this season rain has affected an IndyCar event. But Power reclaimed the advantage on the next lap and stayed there the rest of the way.
“I’m very proud of my team and everyone who works on the SMP Racing vehicle.” said Aleshin “They did a fantastic job today and it paid off”.
Newgarden is fourth in the standings and won’t be able to race at Texas because he crashed out of the race. I was going through Turn 2 and [the car] just shut off [due to an electronics issue]. Hunter-Reay wasn’t injured, but the left front of the Honda was demolished, forcing his Andretti Autosport team to switch to a backup auto. “I would have been crashed out of the race”.
For Power, as the season dwindles his mind still wanders back to St. Petersburg. “You want to get those pole victories”, Newgarden said. “I’m still on the pole”.
“If I win the championship it would not even be a factor”.
Haunting, too, is the memory of Justin Wilson, who died a year ago after being hit in the helmet by debris from a late-race crash at Pocono. He turned a fast lap of 220.454 miles per hour in his No. 7 Honda to edge Josef Newgarden for the top spot.
Takuma Sato qualified third, followed by Helio Castroneves, Carlos Munoz, Aleshin’s teammate James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter. He is having a tremendous year, leading the point standings.
The latest came at Pocono Raceway in the rain-delayed ABC Supply 500.
After Monday’s race, a number of drivers came up to Hunter-Reay to congratulate him on his effort.
Officials finally called it after more than three hours of delays. After just 38 laps, the race was halted.
Advertisement
However, on lap 65 of 90, Aleshin pulled out of his pit stall and made contact with Newgarden’s auto, then clipped a member of Juan Pablo Montoya’s crew.
