Power dominates Indy GP for first win of season

Will Power finally finished where he started Saturday and drove off with his first win of 2017.

Starting from the pole for the third time this season, Power led 61 of 85 laps in his Verizon Chevrolet and scored the 30th victory of his career – breaking a tie with Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves – and also jumping right back into the championship fight.

"Yeah, it's about time and it feels good," said Power after finishing 5.2 seconds clear of Scott Dixon. "I've been stuck on 29 for a while but we had a great two days and it paid off.  This is a great way to start May."

Even though Power dominated (he was also fastest in all three practice sessions), his second triumph on the IMS road race was challenged for quite a while by his teammate.

Castroneves was the only driver who had anything for Power all afternoon but, in the end, he didn't have the right tires in the final stint to keep things interesting.

After leading Laps 24-45, Castroneves was again in top spot when Power pitted for the last time on Lap 64. But in his final stop the three-time Indy 500 winner had to use Firestone's black tires instead of the softer, faster optional reds. He came out of the pits in second, a couple seconds behind Power, and faded all the way back to fifth by the checkered flag.

"I thought we had figured something out with some strategy at the end but the car was a handful," he explained. "We decided to take a gamble and get off the tire strategy and it just didn't work like we had hoped.

"We probably shouldn't have done it that way but if we would have won everyone would be looking at us, saying 'wow.'''

Dixon, who started fourth in the NTT Data Honda, passed Castroneves for second on Lap 69 and set out trying to erase his five-second deficit.

"I thought we could close the gap but Honda's power was too much for my rear tires and I couldn't keep the power down," said Dickson, who closed to within 10 points of Verizon series leader Simon Pagenaud. "But it was a good points day and now we can start preparing for the big race."

Ryan Hunter-Reay charged from eighth to third in the DHL Honda while Pagenaud recovered to salvage fourth after struggling much of the day.

"It was nice to finally get a good, solid result," said the 2014 Indy winner. "I had some great battles, especially with Simon, and we can start our season now."

Graham Rahal was the day's biggest mover as he marched from 20th to sixth in the Soldier Strong Honda.

There were no caution flags and only one incident as Marco Andretti spun out Tony Kanaan on the opening lap, but both continued with Andretti serving a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.