PORTLAND, Oregon — As Will Power started to warm up his tires before leading the field at the start of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, something was amiss.
The Verizon P1 Award winner suddenly didn’t have first gear in his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Power managed to lead the initial seven laps, six under caution, before the mechanical malfunction worsened and not only cost him the race but a realistic shot at a second Verizon IndyCar Series championship.
“Eventually, I didn’t have any gears,” he said.
Power couldn’t control the car and slid through Turn 11 and into a Turn 12 tire barrier on Lap 43. By the time his crew repaired the gearbox and replaced the front wing, Power was seven laps down and destined for a disappointing 21st-place finish.
The 37-year-old Australian had arrived at Portland International Raceway third in the standings. But he won the pole to reduce his deficit to 67 points on leader Scott Dixon and was hopeful he could still contend for the title with a win.
Instead, his worst fears were realized. Power had said during Thursday’s test at Portland that he just didn’t want to show up at the season-ending, double-points INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma without a chance. Now trailing Dixon by 87 points and tied for third with teammate Josef Newgarden, Power would need a lot of help.
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES: Driver standings
After the race on Sunday, he understood the predicament.
“Well, obviously we’re out of the game now, so we’ll just try to go to Sonoma and win it,” he said. “What are the points?”
Given the bad news how far he had dropped behind Dixon, Power shook his head. Then Power was told how Dixon escaped a first-lap incident involving seven cars and came back to finish fifth.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “It was a day where it would have been better off starting last.”
Newgarden, the reigning series champion, also saw his chance to repeat fade. He led eight laps midway through but eventually faltered to 10th place. Newgarden is tied with Power with 511 points, though Power officially holds third in the standings by virtue of a tiebreaker.
“You can't predict these INDYCAR races,” Newgarden said. “I wish we could get Lady Luck on our side one of these days. It just seems to walk away from us as of late. Dixon, he was able to take advantage of it today. Those guys are having a great year and luck falls on their side.
“Now, we will just go and try and win the season finale and do what we can. I don't think we have much of a shot at the championship. We've given it a good effort here at Team Penske and you can't ask much more out of the team.”
Power has said for weeks that it’s rare for a driver to enjoy a year without having a bad race. But just like this day, Dixon has managed to salvage decent results on difficult days.
Power has also said for weeks that sometimes it’s just a driver’s year. He thought that when he won his only championship in 2014.
Now that he considers himself basically eliminated, Power said the same about Dixon and his rival’s pursuit of a fifth series title. Dixon has a 29-point lead on Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi entering the season finale.
“Sometimes it is absolutely just your year,” Power said. “You can’t do anything wrong, even if you don’t have the pace or you don’t qualify well, but it still falls your way. I remember in ’14, I had some of my worst qualifying (sessions) and it still fell my way.”
The year will still be considered memorable. Power celebrated a career accomplishment in winning May’s 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. That more than offsets any adversity he has encountered from an up-and-down season with three wins and five races he didn’t finish.
“Man, it’s a tough sport,” he said. “It’s too bad because it was actually going to be a reasonable day. We were on a path for two (pit) stops, but that’s racing.
“Now, we just go to Sonoma, have fun and win. Hopefully, (we) have a good day and have a good finish to the year.”
The INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma airs live at 6:30 p.m. ET Sept. 16 on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.