Will Power had the luck of the draw for the second race in Saturday night’s Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway.
Power, who selected the third starting spot during a random draw for the final 114-lap event, grabbed the lead from pole sitter Tony Kanaan on lap 39 and then dominated from there to claim his first win on an oval track in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Power took the lead for the final time with six laps remaining. He finished 0.95 seconds ahead of Scott Dixon, who started 18th.
It was Power’s ninth career IndyCar win. His first eight victories came on road/street courses, including Birmingham, AL and Sao Paulo, Brazil this season. Kansas City Star
“This means so much to me and the (Verizon Team Penske) boys,” said Power, who posted his third victory of the season. “We’ve been chasing this for so long. It was a fun race and great day. It was a good battle with Kanaan at the start and then (Scott) Dixon came on strong. This is what we need for the championship.”
Franchitti, who earned 27 points by winning the first race and leading the most laps, drew the 28th starting position for Race 2. He weaved his way to finish seventh but lost five points through the two races under the lights.
“It was a tough race,” Dixon said. “Thought we had enough for him toward the end there. I just burnt the rear tires off and was too loose and lost a bit of time going into that last pit stop and could never really get it back.
“Second race, you could see it sort of trickling down with the draw that it wasn’t looking too good for (himself and Franchitti). Obviously, myself starting from 18th and Dario 28th, it’s a huge deficit when the competitor for the championship starts third and with not too much competition in front of him. “
Ryan Briscoe finished third and Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves was fourth. Kanaan finished fifth, and Marco Andretti advanced 21 spots to sixth. IndyCar.com
“That was definitely unfair for Dario and Scott, anyone that was a championship contender,” Power said. “For him to start 28th and me third, it just isn’t fair.”
As Power was charging down the backstretch inside the final 10 laps of the finale for his last stop, he suddenly had to swerve toward the inside wall to avoid contact with Graham Rahal, who had apparently run out of fuel. Power got in with no problem, then got a splash of fuel and new left tires.
“I’m glad he stayed straight,” Power said. “That could have been pretty big and gone the wrong way.”
With no cautions and an average speed of 206.693 mph, that was the second-fastest race in IndyCar history. Trailing only a 400-mile race at California in 2003 when there was only one caution and an average speed of 207.151.
The second race lasted only 48 minutes, about seven minutes shorter than the opener.
The first race was on a blistering pace of more than 207 mph before the Indianapolis 500-winning car driven by rookie Wade Cunningham, not Dan Wheldon, was involved in a crash for the only caution to set up the final 10-lap sprint. The average speed was 181.649 mph. The Associated Press
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IZOD IndyCar Series: Firestone Twin 275s at Texas - Race 2 Results
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