Power’s fourth IndyCar title chance is his best yet

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For the fourth time in the last five years, Will Power heads into the final round of the IndyCar series this weekend with a chance to capture the championship.

He’s finished runner-up on all three occasions so far. But he approaches Saturday’s race with a strong lead in the points, making this his best chance yet to secure the title which was repeatedly eluded him.

Indeed if this was last season, Power’s 51-point lead over Penske team mate Helio Castroneves would mean he had the title virtually locked up. But as this weekend’s finale at Fontana is a 500-mile race it offers double points, with a maximum haul of 104 available.

That means Castroneves is very much in the running, and three other drivers are mathematically in contention: Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon. Realistically, as anyone who places 33rd or higher takes at least ten points, the latter two are almost certain to drop out of contention as soon as Power starts the race.

But Power knows all to well how quickly fortune can turn against a driver in a championship showdown. Two years ago he went to Fontana 17 points ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay, but crashed while overtaking his rival, and it was Andretti driver who scooped the championship.

The brutally high speeds at the Auto Club Speedway – where IndyCars have in the past hit mind-bending average lap speeds in excess of 389kph (242mph) – make it a venue where drivers can take nothing for granted. Last year only nine cars were still running at the chequered flag, five of them on the lead lap.

But significantly, they were led by Power, who has shaken off the tag of being a driver who could dominate on IndyCar’s road and street courses, but never seemed entirely comfortable on an oval. Perhaps it helped that he went into last year’s race without the pressure of a championship contest – not a situation he will enjoy this year, even if he does hold a strong points advantage.

Castroneves’ oval credentials are not in doubt – he is a three-times winner of the Indianapolis 500. But while many rate victory in that great race above winning the IndyCar championship, it remains an accolade which has eluded him despite spending a decade and a half with a top team like Penske.

He has won just once this year, in Detroit, but consistent points-scoring had him in the lead of the championship as recently as three races ago. But he’s been out of the top ten in the last four, which has handed the initiative to Power.

Meanwhile Simon Pagenaud continues to impress with Sam Schmidt’s smaller team. Fifth as a rookie in 2012 and third last year, Pagenaud has repeatedly highlighted his credentials as a driver who deserves the backing of one of IndyCar’s top outfits. But he goes into the final race as a clear outsider for the title, and has never so much as led on an oval never mind won.

This weekend’s race rounds of an earlier than usual end to the IndyCar series, as its management strive to enhance the profile of the series by reducing the time between races. It should mark something of a watershed as well, as the intention is it will round off the last season with identical-spec cars, which has been the case since Panoz cars dropped out of use eight years ago.

Next year’s race at St Petersburg in March is supposed to see the overdue introduction of aero kits, which will add variety and new development opportunities to the Dallara DW12 racer in its fourth year of service.

Whether that comes at the expense of the close races and championship IndyCar has come to take for granted remains to be seen. Saturday’s crucial race will be the ninth year in a row the title has been decided at the last race.

2014 IndyCar Fontana 500 on F1 Fanatic Live

As usual we will be following the final IndyCar race as it happens on F1 Fanatic Live. For those of you in the UK that means an early alarm call – the race coverage starts at 2:30am BST on Sunday.

UK television coverage is on ESPN who are showing the race live, then repeated it at 10:30am.

2014 IndyCar Points Standings

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2014indycardrivercolours.csv

DriverStPLonAlaIGPIndDe1De2TexHo1Ho2PocIowTo1To2MidMilSon
Will Power5393125149234285326370386405446462484520548602626
Helio Castroneves365566102220254307331353366446471512533544563575
Simon Pagenaud306092143211219247279295346402421454462484510545
Ryan Hunter-Reay4054107148274288299310336364388439448464485494534
Scott Dixon325187102132152184214225237297331361387440472523
Juan Pablo Montoya15475670152170187223263289391405417428447488519
Tony Kanaan28406282104139161189206226267305340380389425443
Sebastien Bourdais17334881143160170180212242271282336358400418437
Carlos Munoz13485561160186210227262270340358371384416424435
Marco Andretti8327389192213227235259281325337351375383400424

Over to you

Is this finally going to be Will Power’s year? Who do you think deserves the title most? Have your say in the comments.

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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13 comments on “Power’s fourth IndyCar title chance is his best yet”

  1. I can’t see Pagenaud winning it, given his poor oval form. It will be tough for Castroneves to win it, but motor racing is a funny thing, anything could happen.

  2. Even if he misses out on the title once more, the driver with perhaps the best name in motorsport could still become the Stirling Moss of IndyCar.

  3. Will Power – PLEASE don’t spin this year. Just do what you have to do to win, instead of trying to finish in front…

    1. He won last year’s edition of the race ;-)

      1. I think he means “this race” rather than “this year”. If you weren’t watching the race at Sonoma, he spun whilst trying to get back through the pack after a pitstop put him back in the pack when a safety car came out.

  4. It does seem a little odd that Power and Castroneves are the only drivers with a realistic chance of the title, particularly when this hasn’t been a great year by either of their standards. Power is really lucky to be in this position given how many points he threw away during that seemingly endless run of silly penalties for pitlane speeding and blocking (especially in the double-pointers). Meanwhile Castroneves has had great races but has been anonymous in many others. Not to mention that daft crash in Houston.

    Having said all that, though, it’s difficult to think of a driver who hasn’t had a decidedly mixed season. In addition, Power and Castroneves are both top driver and are both long overdue a championship, so I’m not going to be disappointed if either of them win it.

    It’s a little off the radar, but I’m also going to keep an eye on the ‘battle’ for 21st place. I think it’s interesting to note that Saavedra is the current occupant of that position – currently the last placed full-time driver. He’s 74 points ahead of Ed Carpenter, but we know how good he is at Fontana. How bad would it be for Saavedra, who has done every race this year, to be beaten by someone who will only have raced on 6 occasions?

  5. Good article, Keith.

    I’m pulling for Montoya to win the race and I think Power finally gets him championship. I wish the Indycar season was a little longer!

    1. With some outside North American events..(Spa or Monza maybe..??)

      1. @ernietheracefan You’re like me in not wanting to stay up watching the races a little bit past midnight that many times a year, aren’t you? :)

        1. Not really, I’m just looking for the full races on YT..

  6. Mark in Florida
    30th August 2014, 8:07

    I have really enjoyed the racing in IndyCar this year. The races were exciting to watch and the competition close. Simon has put on some great drives so has Sebastian he has come alive this year finally. Can’t wait for the race.

    1. The racing is a bit more like junior formula racing since the chassis are all similar.

      Still some teams are better than others, just like ART is in GP2 most of the time, but the relative advantage a team can create in terms of car performance is never going to be as big as the one Mercedes has now (although thats also in large part the engine) or RedBull has enjoyed over the past half decade before that.

      It makes the racing closer, more position changes and less predictiable outcomes.

      Sometimes I wonder whether F1 would be better off with private teams, the same chasis but different customer engine manufacturers too.

      This would produce better racing but also help in the cost cutting. Watching Ferrari, Mercedes, Redbull amd McLaren spend upwards of €250m is actually a bit rediculous imho

      1. The teams in Indycar are able to play around with a lot more components than teams in most junior categories are.

        Will be even more so in 2015 when the various aero packs will be introduced which will make for some big differences between teams running different aero packs in both looks & performance.

        For next year there will only be 3 choices, The standard Dallara kit as currently used & aero kits designed by Honda & Chevrolet. However going forward that will be opened up & the teams themselfs could come up with there own aero kits should they want to.

        For anyone who doesn;’t know, The idea behind the aero kits is that you get the chassis from Dallara & everyone will run that chassis & certain other components again from Dallara. However most of the bodywork, Wings etc… can be changed-
        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115430

        In theory at least we should see some very different looking cars next year between the 3 kits available.

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