MADISON, Illinois – Another “Mario Andretti Milestone” has fallen in less than two weeks. Team Penske driver Will Power scored a record-tying 67th career IndyCar Series pole Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
On Aug. 7, Scott Dixon scored his 53rd career IndyCar victory, breaking a tie with Andretti for second place on the all-time victory list with a win in the Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.
Friday afternoon on the banks of the Mississippi River in the shadows of the famed St. Louis Arch, Power sped around the 1.25-mile oval for two laps averaging 182.727 miles per hour in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Power, who leads the NTT IndyCar Series points by just six over Dixon, was the last driver to make a qualification attempt. By the time he completed his two laps, he had knocked this year’s Indianapolis 500 winning driver, Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing, off the pole. Ericsson’s two-lap speed was 182.070 mph.
Ericsson was attempting to win his first career IndyCar pole. Nobody in the history of IndyCar has won more poles than the driver that knocked him off.
When Power was racking up poles earlier in his IndyCar Series career, he really had no idea what the record was. He was simply doing what he did best and that was drive around the track faster in qualifications than nearly any other driver in the field.
It wasn’t until September 12, 2020, when Power claimed pole No. 60 in Race 1 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio doubleheader that Power thought he had a legitimate chance at Andretti’s record.
“It’s something I’ve had my eye on for a while,” Power said. “I think when I got to 60, I was like, ‘This could be possible.’ Yep, it’s definitely a big box to tick. Now focusing forward on the race. That’s really the big thing on my mind, is having a good day. Yeah, everyone’s at the front, so it’s just going to be…
“It’s pretty typical of IndyCar, right? It’s just going to go down to the last race. The way I see it, even on points right now, it’s that close, it can just flip. It’s going to be about who can finish ahead of who. Simple as that.”
Before the season began, Power sat in his basement at his home on Lake Norman, North Carolina and confided to SPEED SPORT how much he wanted to get the record for most poles. He didn’t believe he would be able to accomplish it in 2022, however.
But when Power scored two poles for two different races in the same qualification session for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Doubleheader Weekend at Iowa Speedway on July 22, it was just the boost he needed to close in on Andretti.
“When I got the double pole at Iowa, that’s when it became really realistic,” Power said after scoring poles No. 65 and 66 at Iowa Speedway. “The year before I had one pole. I think the year before that I had three. It was getting increasingly harder to get pole position. I was kind of thinking, ‘This is going to be pretty hard to beat.’
“But the double pole in Iowa was really key. Yep, great team, great engine, great crew. That’s what I’ve had. I’ve been lucky.”
For Ericsson, he came so close to getting his first career IndyCar pole, only to ultimately lost out to IndyCar’s Master of Qualifications.
“Of course, you want to get that first pole,” Ericsson said. “Will did a very impressive run in the end. We’ll just have to try to get the win tomorrow instead. I thought my run was really good, so I thought I had a shot. If there’s one guy you don’t want to go after you when you’re standing on provisional pole, it’s definitely Will Power.
“Either way, I’m really happy we’re on the front row, the car felt so good. The team did a really good effort today to give me such a qualifying car.”
Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden was third in the No. 2 Chevrolet at 181.629 mph, followed by Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin’s 181.406 mph in the No. 2 Chevrolet.
Defending IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was fifth at 181.289 mph in The American Legion Honda, followed by Dixon at 180.954 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Pato O’Ward was seventh at 180.303 mph in the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Amazingly, those are the top seven drivers fighting it out for the 2022 championship with three races remaining.
“I think it shows how competitive this series is,” Ericsson said. “Like you said, all the top guys are up there tomorrow. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough to battle it out, try and beat the guy next to me here. It’s going to be very tough.
“But we’re going to give it our best shot. I think we have three cars up there, so we know we have a good package as well. Just try to do our best, race our race, see what we got.”
That is why Power was quick to shift his focus from tying the legendary Andretti for No. 1 on the all-time pole list to battling for his second career IndyCar Series championship.
“It just shows no one’s letting up, no one will until the end,” Power said. “Yep, pretty tight battle to the end. It will be very interesting to see how it unfolds. All you can do is just do your best. Do your best. Can’t control some things, so see what happens.”