IndyCar: Will Power looking to bounce back, return to Barber form

By Asher Fair | Apr 5, 2019

BIRMINGHAM, AL - APRIL 01: Will Power of Australia, driver of the #12 Team Penske Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Legacy at Barber Motorsports Park on April 1, 2012 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Will Power has not had a great start to an IndyCar season in several years, and he hasn’t finished on the podium at one of his best tracks, Barber Motorsports Park, in seven seasons. He is looking to bounce back and return to form at the track this weekend.

The last time Team Penske’s Will Power had what could be considered, at least by his standards, a strong start to an IndyCar season was back in 2014, when he opened the season with a victory and followed it up with a runner-up finish and then six additional top eight finishes in a row, including another victory and another two runner-up finishes.

In the 2015 season, he finished in 20th place in the season’s third race after finishing in second and seventh in the season’s first two races, respectively, and while he finished in the top seven in each of his first three starts in the 2016 season, he missed the season opener due to concussion-like symptoms he suffered following a crash during practice for the race.

In the 2017 season, it took until the fourth race before Power finished in the top 12, and in the 2018 season, he failed to finish two of the first four races and finished in the top nine in only one of the other two events.

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Power appeared poised to change that trend after finishing in third place in this year’s season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida and then leading the first 45 laps of the season’s second race, the inaugural 60-lap IndyCar race at Circuit of the Americas, from the pole position.

But then he made a pit stop during the race’s lone caution flag period that resulted in the discovery of a drive shaft issue that ended his race. Additionally, even without this issue, he would have fallen toward the back of the pack since his pit strategy of staying on the track as long as possible before making his final pit stop backfired due to the fact that this caution flag period took place.

A similar trend has developed for Power at Barber Motorsports Park alone over the last few seasons.

After finishing the inaugural IndyCar race at the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) Barber Motorsports Park natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama in the 2010 season in fourth place, he led all 90 laps of the race in the 2011 season before going on to rally from a ninth place starting position to win the race in the 2012 season as well.

It is no secret that Barber Motorsports Park is one of Power’s best tracks. Even with his recent poor results at the track, which are outlined in more detail below, his average finish there is still 6.56 in nine races. Prior to the 2017 season, his average finish at the track was 3.43 in seven races.

But his victory in the race back in the 2012 season is still not only his most recent victory but his most recent podium finish at the track.

The 38-year-old Australian has certainly earned some respectable results at the track over the past few seasons, including fifth place finishes in the 2013 and 2014 seasons and fourth place finishes in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, although his fifth place finish at the track in 2014 came after he went off the track in the race and nearly crashed while leading and had to rally back.

However, the last two seasons of races at Barber Motorsports Park have featured potential victories turn into disasters for Power. After leading 60 of the race’s first 76 laps in the 2017 season, one of his car’s tires suffered a puncture, causing him to make an unscheduled pit stop and relegating him to a 14th place finish.

While running in second place on a restart in the rain that probably shouldn’t have even happened in the race at the track last year, he spun out and crashed.

The race ended up being suspended until the next day, but while this allowed Power to at least compete in it, he entered it several laps down and ended up retiring from it anyway with a 21st place finish, marking the second consecutive season during which he recorded a career-worst result at Barber Motorsports Park.

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Will Will Power bounce back after a disappointing ending to the 2019 IndyCar season’s second race to prevent the start of this season from becoming a complete disaster, as has been the case for him in several recent seasons, and will he do so in the form of not only his first podium finish but his first victory at Barber Motorsports Park since the 2012 season?

The live broadcast of this weekend’s race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, at the track is scheduled to air on NBC Sports Network beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 7.