Three races into the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Team Penske’s Will Power has yet to finish in the top 12 in any race.
Team Penske’s Will Power is coming off of his first 2nd place finish in an IndyCar championship since the 2012 season. The 2012 season was the third season in a row during which Power led the standings heading into the final race, but went on to finish in 2nd place in the championship.
See his 2012 championship-losing crash below.
In the 2013 season, Power finished higher than 16th place just once in the first five races. For the first time since 2009, he was not a legitimate championship contender right off the bat. Because of that, there was far less pressure on him to perform later in the season.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, Power led the championship standings in three straight seasons heading into the season finale (2010, 2011, and 2012). Under that immense pressure to win the title, he lost the lead in all three of those season’s championship finales.
Like in 2013, Power is coming off of a 2nd place finish in the championship, and he has struggled mightily to open up the season. Issues in the pits at St. Petersburg, a first-lap crash at Long Beach, and a punctured tire at Barber make Will Power’s top finish so far this season just a 13th place effort.
In 2013 following his awful start when there was absolutely no pressure on Power to win a championship like there was in the previous three seasons, Power turned it on. He won the last two and three of the last five races in the 2013 season and actually did shoot up to 4th place in the final championship standings. He even won the season finale at Fontana, the site of his championship-losing crash in 2012.
It’s time for Power to forget about winning the 2017 championship, not for the good of the rest of the field, obviously, but for his own good. He needs to mentally eliminate himself right now.
Power carried that late-season momentum from 2013 that he had actually picked up for once into the 2014 season to win the season-opening race at St. Petersburg. He went on to be the championship leader with one race to go, just like he was in the 2010, 2011, and 2012 seasons.
The early stages of the season finale weekend at Fontana did not look good for Power. He qualified all the way back in 21st place, while Helio Castroneves, the other primary championship contender, took the pole position for the race. It appeared early on that Power would lose his championship lead in the final race for the fourth time in five seasons.
But his awful start in the 2013 season had actually done him good. In 2013, Power found out what it was like to drive without the hope of winning a championship. He found out what it was like to drive without that pressure like he did way back in the 2009 season and in prior seasons.
Despite starting in 21st place, Power went on to lead laps at Fontana before a 9th place finish sealed him the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship, the first of his career. What pressure?
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To Power, the 2017 season should no longer be about winning the championship. It should be about driving without that pressure of winning the championship so he can re-acquaint himself with that feeling going into next season. If he can do that, he may be able to come out of the gates strong in 2018 like he did in 2014, and he may even be able to win a championship like he did that season. He simply needs to take a 2013-like approach to his driving for the remainder of this season so that this can happen and he can become the next two-time IndyCar champion.