Malukas, Power debuts become days to forget in season opener

David Malukas made his big debut for Team Penske at St. Petersburg, taking over the No. 12 Chevy from Will Power, and Power made his long-awaited debut for Andretti Global in the No. 26 Honda formerly driven by Colton Herta. How did the duo fare in their first races at significant new destinations?

It was a wash, mostly, as the young and old lions had days to forget.

High hopes for bold starts were dashed first by a long and dramatic brake locking by Malukas, who wore away the rubber on his left-front tire on approach to Turn 1 in the opening laps. The compromised tire survived until the 12th lap, when it surrendered leaving Turn 3 and deflated on approach to Turn 4, causing Malukas to go down the escape road and lose time getting the car back to pit lane.

He’d drop a lap and see his fifth-place start fall apart, but smart strategy decisions by new and first-time IndyCar race strategist Travis Law helped Malukas and the No. 12 Chevy team get back on the lead lap and finish 13th at the checkered flag.

“We made a mistake early on that made our tire explode and sent us to the back of the grid,” Malukas said. “Had a really strong recovery and got it back to P13, so we actually scavenged some sort of points. Not the start that we wanted, but I learned quite a bit. There is a lot of learning curves there from a race perspective. I think with the whole new crew, everything new, it is a big learning curve for the rest of the season. Not the start we wanted, but upward from here.”

It was a similarly unrewarding maiden run for Power at Andretti as he hit the Turn 10 exit wall — the same wall he smacked toward the open of Saturday morning’s practice session — and bent the right-rear suspension. He’d pit and climb from the car as his crew affected repairs that took 30 laps to complete.

The Andretti driver, who started 13th, would get back in and run more laps prior to retiring the car in 22nd when there was no chance of improving more positions.

“Today felt like the same issue I had the other day when I hit the wall,” Power said of a braking matter. “It’s the exact same problem that we’ve been having. I feel really bad for the No. 26 guys who were doing such a good job. The car was really good, and it’s just been like this the whole weekend. I just feel really bad for the team, but we’ll be back on track in a few days, so we’re going to work on getting this worked out for Phoenix.”