INDIANAPOLIS – Just three years ago, Team Penske’s Will Power was celebrating an Indianapolis 500 victory in victory circle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It was 2018 and Power had just checked off the box on the final entry missing from his career.
This past Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Power experienced the relief of simply making the field of 33 in the last row.
“It was very stressful,” Power said. “I’m so relieved. I can’t thank Roger enough for sticking with me all of these years, I’m so happy to get the car in the show. The team did a massive effort in the offseason so I’m really happy to be in the show.”
How ironic that Power is the greatest pole winner of his generation with 62 poles, second only to Mario Andretti’s 67, but he barely got into this year’s Indy 500 through the Last Chance Shootout.
“Put it this way, I can say in my career I have experienced everything,” Power said. “You remember the day back in your career where you just got in with the brush of a wall.”
It was on Power’s fourth qualifying lap that he came out of turn two too high, and the right side of his car pancaked the SAFER Barrier.
Power scraped the wall and bent the rear tow of the car.
“It was on the limit,” Power recalled. “That was all I had.
“The car was moving a lot. It was loose. I moved it to the wall and scraped that wall and then I had to pray it would stick in Turns 3 and 4 with the tow bent. I’m very happy to get the Verizon 5G car in the show. Verizon has been with me a long time.
“The car going through Turn 3 was unknown and if you could just get through turn four, you would be OK. Man, it was so close.
“It would have been upsetting to be on the sidelines and miss the show. I had to hold it wide open, or I was going to miss the show. I had no choice.
“Stressful, man, stressful.”
It was a stressful experience for a driver who at one point in his career had made the Fast Nine 10 years in a row.
After Power completed his qualifying run, he thought his speed might hold up, but he also anticipated a surprise before the end of the session.
“This place, you just don’t know,” the Team Penske driver from Australia said. “You can’t come here and think it’s a given you are going to get in the race.
“Now, I focus on the race. Our race car is good. Our car is strong. We have run well at the front of the train, but now we have to learn how to get it to handle at the back of the pack.
“You never know. You can win from where I am.”