Sunday’s ABC Supply 500, the series’ second 500-mile race of the season, was postponed until Monday due to steady downpour at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It’s the first career pole for the Russian, who drives for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Fast facts: With four races left, Pagenaud holds a commanding lead in the standings after four wins this season, 484 to 426 for Will Power and 373 for third-place Helio Castroneves. Look for him to be in the mix to win today. In the past three races, Aleshin has finished fifth at Iowa Speedway (a short oval), sixth in Toronto (a street circuit) and was leading at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (a permanent road course) when the crew released him from the pit box into Newgarden’s path. We are chipping away at [the championship] and obviously there is still a lot to go.
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“It’s probably the hardest race I’ve ever done”, she said after a pause to collect her thoughts, tears welling in her eyes. “We had to make a lot of adjustments throughout”. “It was really sudden, I’m not sure what happened”. Then it became really strong. “I just wanted this win so bad”. “They did a fantastic job today and it paid off”.
Ryan Hunter-Reay’s bid for back-to-back Pocono wins started on a sour note Saturday morning.
But Hunter-Reay’s auto suffered an electrical glitch, and the American star fell a lap behind before making a furious comeback to third place in the last 20 laps. Now he will return to defend his crown in Miami – but first he will have to see off motor sport’s finest competitors from all over the world. However, Hunter-Reay’s vehicle slowed between turns 2 and 3 when his engine inexplicably shut off. Power had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting Hunter-Reay, which allowed Aleshin to get past him for the lead. Power will start eighth, while teammate Helio Castroneves, third in the standings and within striking distance of the top spot if his teammates have problems, will start fourth.
He did, however, have to survive one more restart. It also erased an nearly two-second lead Power had built over Aleshin.
Lap Leaders: Aleshin 1, Newgarden 2-10, Aleshin 11 -31, Rossi 32-33, Dixon 34-35, Bourdais 36-37, Aleshin 38-48, Hunter-Reay 49-55, Aleshin 56-60, Newgarden 61, Rossi 62-63, Power 64-65, Aleshin 66-89, Hunter-Reay 90-93, Newgarden 94-95, Kanaan 96, Dixon 97, Power 98-99, Aleshin 100-119, Hunter-Reay 120-122, Newgarden 123-125, Power 126-128, Pagenaud 129, Aleshin 130-133, Hunter-Reay 134-150, Power 151-156, Bourdais 157, Power 158-163, Aleshin 164, Power 165-200.
“I was pretty confident that even if I did not keep the lead, I would be fast”, Power said. We were at the front with relative ease and we were waiting for the end to go to the front for the final time.
Kyle Busch led 256 laps, but was knocked out in a crash. Hunter-Reay rebooted the electronics and got it running again but not before losing a lap to the rest of the field.
Instead, Power gradually added to his lead. “But I came over here and the first time I tried it, I actually loved it”. I just lost control of the steering.
Coming into Pocono, Power trailed Pagenaud by 58 points.
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Whether it was the shake-up in the league championship picture, an unbelievable day for one driver or a wreck on pit lane, there was no shortage of material to comment on from Monday’s event at Pocono Raceway.
