Early tire failure ends Power's night at WWTR

Team Penske’s Will Power says he was cruising and saving fuel with the hope of deleting a late pit stop at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 when the right-front tire lost pressure and sent the polesitter into the Turn 4 wall.

Excessive damage to the right-side suspension on the No. 12 Chevy ended Power’s day as he was running second to David Malukas on lap 52 when the car veered out of the groove.

“Right-front tire failure, man,” Power said. “I felt last night when we were running pretty much flat every lap, and I was like, ‘Man, there's a lot of [tire] load.’ Like, when I had a (tire) failure at Iowa, I felt the same. That actually happened. Was unfortunate for us, but yeah, just blew the front [tire]. Nothing I could do there; I've watched it. Feel bad for everyone.

“We had a good car just sitting there, saving fuel, getting a big number to try to get rid of that fourth stop. I know Malukas had taken off. Figured he'd just catch traffic and we’d get to him and probably knock a stop off the race. Nothing was going to stop a tire failure, unfortunately. That's the way it is. But go the next one, see if we can get a win. We always knock on the door, but not today.”