Will Power’s attitude to Saturday’s Music City Grand Prix might be confusing to some people, but he was honest in his assessment of the day.
The Kiwi’s slender championship hopes were dealt a major boost when it was announced that his championship rival Alex Palou would be taking a nine-place grid penalty for an unauthorised engine change.
He needs to overcome a 33-point margin in Tennessee or see any chances of a third IndyCar title evaporate.
He’s going to have to play the long game in Sunday’s race and make sure that his name is still in the hat at the end of the race, hoping that somehow Palou slips up even further than he has already.
Will Power’s lap wasn’t good enough for the pole
Power’s Spanish rival qualified in 15th place after a slow run in qualifying – meaning both cars with be separated by 20 places on the grid Sunday.
You’d think that this is about as good as Power could have hoped for at this stage, and that he would be happy with the result.
However, he remains fully focused on the race and is aware that Sunday is where the majority of the points are won.
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“We’re just gonna do our thing tomorrow, and hopefully have great cars in the race,” Power said.
“Couldn’t do any more than I did in qualifying there. That’s all it had. And you know, obviously wasn’t good enough for pole, but we’ll attack tomorrow. It’ll be what it’ll be, and whoever wins deserves it.”
Palou has a Nashville mountain to climb
Rather unexpectedly, Palou is going to need to put himself in risky situations a lot more than he would’ve wanted to on Sunday.
For example, a ninth-place finish would be enough to secure the title even if Power wins, but he needs to gain 15 places before he can consider that possibility.
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Most dangerously, he’s right in the midfield competing against a bunch of drivers who all have nothing to lose considering that it’s the last race of the season.
Everyone will be incredibly feisty, but at the same time, no one will want to be the person who gets involved in the championship fight by taking out the points leader.
So Power has three places to get to where he wants to be, and will need a lot of patience, while Palou will need to drive with urgency if he wants to keep his title fate within his own hands.