Insight: How Long Beach 2009 relaunched Power

ABOVE: Power leads Castroneves – and the car he started the weekend in – on race day.

Will Power went into the 2009 season as little more than Roger Penske's contingency plan. Seven years later, he returns to Long Beach – the site of his first podium for the legendary team owner – as Penske's perennial championship threat.

The Australian was an interesting prospect after parting ways with KV Racing at the conclusion of the 2008 IndyCar championship. Power's three wins had generated plenty of buzz, but it wasn't enough to land a job as 2009 arrived.

Credit a strange set of circumstances that year – Helio Castroneves' tax problems – for opening the door to a Power and Penske mash-up; the Brazilian's drawn-out tax evasion trial in Miami coincided with the start if the IndyCar season and, with an empty seat to fill for the opening round, Power's fortunes changed overnight.

Drafted in to drive Helio's car at St. Petersburg, Power turned in a quality performance to start and finish sixth, but with teammate Ryan Briscoe celebrating with Penske in Victory Lane, there was a significant margin for improvement. That chance would come at Round 2 in Long Beach.

With the Castroneves trial headed toward a conclusion the week of the Southern California street race, Penske had Power waiting on stand-by to drive Helio's red and white No. 3 if the (then) two-time Indy 500 winner was detained after the verdict. There was also a chance Castroneves would be free to drive on the opening day of practice at Long Beach. The timing played in Power's favor as he took over the No. 3 for Friday – but it was short-lived.

A free and happy Castroneves flew west with every intention of taking his car back from Power. Team Penske, however, had a surprise in store for everyone: A third entry for Power that would join the field Saturday morning.

"It was an interesting weekend, obviously," he told RACER. "I was well aware that we had a third car, and all the crew for the car – who were running sportscars at the time for Penske – were just hanging out in the hotel so they wouldn't be seen. I finished practice two on Friday P1. [Penske Racing president] Tim Cindric said the good news is you're P1; the bad news is you're going to have to vacate the car immediately. I went from the very front of the pit lane to the very back."

The overnight switch from Helio's car to his new No. 12 Verizon wireless entry could have been a cause for concern, but Power recalls the experience was rather easy.

"Everything was relatively new," he continued. "It wasn't like I had [Helio's] crew for years. It was all new people for me anyway. Penske does everything the right way so I wasn't worried that I would be put into a car that was inferior. I knew I had good equipment and I enjoyed the challenge, honestly. I remember in qualifying I don't think Briscoe made it through the first round, so Roger came down to my pit and he was on the radio for qualifying. That was pretty cool...the Captain on my radio."

Penske saw nothing but promise in his part-timer, and with Roger overseeing the rest of his qualifying session, Power made sure his boss was rewarded.

"Everything happened quickly," he said. "I set a fast time and told Roger, 'I don't think I can go any faster than that.' He's like, 'Put on the third set of [new] tires,' and the lap I did on them was good for pole, which was really helpful. Roger was like, 'That's the way it should be, good job.'"

Power turned his pole into the lead at the start of the race (ABOVE) and eventually finished second for Penske behind Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti. A win was within reach but, as he shares, a pair of mistakes – including some of Power's patented self-generated comedy – meant taking second behind the Scot was the best he could achieve.

"We could have quite easily won that race," he said. "But it was all new for some of the crew – we didn't plug the radio in before the start of the race and it was tough from that standpoint because there were some communication issues. I was leading, then I lost like five positions because I thought there was a full-course yellow and it was just local [yellow]. So from Turn 1 all the way to Turn 5, I was just coasting and the whole field was packed up behind me. And suddenly someone else cruised past and I'm like, 'Oh, look, it's still green!'

"And you can't imagine the trouble that caused back in the pack, because everyone was just stacked up behind me because I was leading the race, I was on pole, I just backed off, and suddenly, people were, boom, boom, passing me. That was funny. I ended up back in second and I didn't even bother to chase Dario because I wasn't going to catch him."

Helio's super-sub had earned enough points in the first two races to leave Long Beach holding second in the championship standings. Combined with his pole and near-win, Power's performance changed Penske's views on their relationship. The stand-in used Long Beach as a springboard to a long-term opportunity that has resulted in 22 wins since 2009 and the 2014 IndyCar championship.

"After Long Beach, I called Tim and I said if I could do the next race in Kansas, just even start the race, I could go into Indy leading the points," Power said. "They weren't planning to do a third car there so that wasn't the plan, but Roger said he wanted me in the [third] car for Indy, and we went on to have a really good result at Indianapolis – we were fifth. And then it took off from there."

Three more races would be added to Power's schedule after Indy. His win at Edmonton (ABOVE RIGHT) and third-place finish at Toronto made it clear Penske needed to keep the Toowoomba native on the payroll for 2010.

"Obviously, Long Beach was great to show them that I'm qualified to finish a race, and then I got that win later in Edmonton and that helped a lot, but it all could have easily gone the other way for me," he said, alluding to the fact he came close to flying back to Australia and starting over again at home.

"I spoke to them when I was out of a ride at the end of '08, and they said they wanted to get me with Roger to meet and talk, so that was a good sign straight away," Power added. "I met with Roger and I waited quite a while to hear back. I figured it wasn't going to happen so I was literally just about to fly back to Australia and he gave me a call to give me the job to be ready if I was needed, because of what Helio was going through.

"At the time, I was really guaranteed nothing – maybe a couple test days. I got the call to race before the start of the season, fortunately got a race in at St. Pete, got another at Long Beach, and this is my eighth time racing for him [here]. It's pretty cool."

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