INDYCAR: Power holds off Kanaan at Road America

Team Penske's Will Power mastered the Road America circuit on IndyCar's return to the beloved Wisconsin track, scoring his second consecutive win after claiming the final round in Detroit. The Australian also jumped from seventh in the championship standings to third (294 points), and now trails teammates Helio Castroneves (301) and Simon Pagenaud (375).

Power withstood a charge from Tony Kanaan whose gripper Firestone Reds allowed the Chip Ganassi Racing driver to pull within 0.742 seconds of Power, on Blacks, at the checkered flag.

"TK had the Reds on and was coming hard," Power said after leading 46 of the 50-lap race. "I just did everything I could to get ahead. Stoked to get the Verizon car in Victory Lane."

Related Stories

The victory was Power's 27th, which ties him with Johnny Rutherford for 13th on the all-time win list, and appeared to confirm a swing of momentum within the Penske camp from Pagenaud to the 2015 title winner is taking place.

"I was talking about a championship before this race," Power added. "We're still in it. We've gotta go for it.

Of Road America he added: "It's just a great place and so stoked to win in that way. I badly wanted to win another race – and, man, I needed that one."

Power also led his 2,999th lap on the road to Victory Lane.

"We had the Red tires which made us a little quicker than him," Kanaan said of his best result so far in 2016. "In the end we had one push to pass; [Power] had three. What a great race."

With a Chevy 1-2 on Sunday, Graham Rahal gave Honda a fine third in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry.

"A spectacular weekend and there's a lot of support for IndyCar," said the Midwesterner. "Nice to get a podium; good points, we needed that, but we need to get a win this year."

After fighting the flu all weekend, Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay dug deep and helped Rahal to make it a Honda 3-4.

"All considering it was good finish to the weekend," he said after surviving some wildly aggressive driving conduct during the final laps. "There was some good driving in the end – and some dirty stuff."

Pagenaud was close to Power for most of the race, but sank like a rock as he developed a misfire with just a few tours to go. The Frenchman fell from second to 13th as his Chevy survived on five cylinders when the race went back to green after its one and only caution period for Conor Daly's crash on lap 39.

Daly looked to be on the way to a top-six result when an apparenta mechanical failure sent the Hoosier into the barriers at Turn 1. If the damage to his Dale Coyne Racing Honda wasn't bad enough from the crash, the No. 18 car received a double whammy when it was dropped by the tow truck operator, which extended the caution one more lap.

The charge to the checkered flag when the race returned to green on lap 44 (abve, LAT photo) featured a decent amount of shuffling inside the top 10, and by the end of the somewhat short 1hr39min race, the Ed Carpenter Racing duo of Josef Newgarden and Spencer Pigot captured impressive eighth- and ninth-place finishes. For Newgarden, who started 20th and dealt with a broken clavicle from his crash two weeks ago in Texas, it was a gutsy drive, and for his rookie teammate, a clean run to ninth was his best from six starts.

Among the other notable performances, Jack Hawksworth overcame a spin on the first lap to match his season best in 11th. Ganassi's Max Chilton starred in qualifying and was strong early but ran out of fuel and lost two laps, which left the British rookie 20th.

The big surprise of the day came from Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, who qualified second and entered the race holding second in the standings, but finished last after an engine malfunction. The Kiwi's Chevy-powered car coasted to a stop in the runoff at Turn 5 on lap 6 with his engine silent and smoke and a small fire trailing from behind. The 2015 IndyCar champion entered the race second in points and leaves in fourth.

Beyond anything that took place on the track, the greatest result on Sunday came in the form of the jam-packed crowd that welcomed IndyCar back to Road America with such great enthusiasm. The track announced the Kohler Grand Prix set its all-time attendence record, and also revealed the date of next year's race--June 25.

The raw energy and happiness found throughout the 4.0-mile circuit was something that has been missing from IndyCar events outside of Long Beach and Indianapolis for quite some time. Along with the growing gem at Barber Motorsport Park, and the upcoming return to Watkins glen, the open-wheel series is adding more strength to it calendar.

Provided it continues to make smart moves, there's every reason to believe IndyCar is capable of restoring most of its former glory.

Up next: Iowa, July 10.

RESULTS: