Fort Worth,TX : Power prevails in crash-filled TMS thriller on June, Saturday 10th 2017
Three of the fastest drivers in the Verizon IndyCar Series engaged in a furious 19-lap battle to the finish Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, and Will Power escaped with the victory in the Rainguard Water Sealers 600K when Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon crashed behind him with five laps remaining.
Sato, the Indianapolis 500 champion, was looking to the inside of Dixon for second when he stuck the left tires of his No. 26 Honda in the grass and lost control. His crash took out Dixon, Conor Daly and Max Chilton.
The crash-filled race fittingly ended under caution, with Power's No. 12 Chevrolet leading Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud, Graham Rahal and Gabby Chaves across the finish line.
The final restart came on Lap 230 after a competition caution on the track that was repaved and reconfigured over the winter.
Power's 31st career victory is his second in Denton County, after the nightcap of a doubleheader in 2011. He led a race-high 180 laps and now is third on the all-time list for laps led at TMS. The Australian said he was glad to win again in the home state of his wife, Liz, who is from Plano.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, top, and Carlos Munoz (14) wreck in Turn 3 as Conor Daly (4) drops down to avoid the accident during an Indy car race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Fort Worth. (AP Photo/Larry Papke)AP
Ryan Hunter-Reay, top, and Carlos Munoz (14) wreck in Turn 3 as Conor Daly (4) drops down to avoid the accident during an Indy car race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Fort Worth. (AP Photo/Larry Papke) AP
"I'm so stoked to win in my second home where my wife is from, Texas. All the family is here. It just feels awesome," Power said. "We were just talking about it and her cousin said, 'Man, you haven't won for me here yet.' ... You don't understand how good that feels."
Dixon remained the series leader with 326 points. Pagenaud (313) is second, Sato third, Helio Castroneves fourth and Power fifth (286).
The final shootout featured constant side-by-side racing as Power and Dixon battled for the lead and Sato looked for a way around them. Pagenaud and Kanaan, who rallied from a late penalty that put him two laps down, raced Sato as the top eight cars ran in tight formation at 220 mph.
Sato made a three-wide pass for third with seven laps to go, then tried to go three-wide on the outside for the lead with six remaining. He had a run to the inside of Dixon with five to go but ran out of asphalt.
"It was very intense," Power said. "I could see Dixon was able to pass me at the start/finish line, so I was starting to think about what I was going to do there at the end."
The first half of the race saw the surprising Tristan Vautier continuously battle Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Power and others for the lead. Vautier would get a run to the outside of the leader entering Turn 1 and run side-by-side for laps at a time.
The first caution came out when 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi found himself three-wide between Kanaan and Dixon entering Turn 3. Rossi bounced off both Chip Ganassi Racing cars and spun into the outside wall on Lap 37 of the 248-lap race on the 1 1/2-mile oval.
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Power prevails in crash-filled TMS thriller