Will Power rounded out the final podium spot following Sunday’s IndyCar race in Portland. Having won the race multiple times before and following a strong qualifying, Power was one of those favored to come out on top of the race. However, the Andretti Global driver’s pace wasn’t enough against Alex Palou’s Sunday showing, and he fell short of passing Felix Rosenqvist.
“Yeah, great day for us. Great day for Andretti. Didn’t quite have the pace I think the top two guys. Probably about a tenth off. But yeah, solid day. Just seriously fast pace all day. Qualifying laps, really good quality. Such a quality field now. That’s why it’s green. People are so good.”
Confusion in the pits at Portland for Power
Will Power suffered from some serious confusion over a pit call at the IndyCar race in Portland, one that possibly cost him a higher finishing position. Stuck behind Sting Ray Robb, the Aussie missed a call by his strategist to pit. This confusion led to Power having to complete another lap before coming in, putting him out behind Felix Rosenqvist.
When speaking to Pit Debrief and other media outlets post-race, Power admitted that had he not missed the call, it may have led to some interesting closing laps, and far less lost time.
“That probably lost me three seconds behind the backmarker I would say in the sequence. Probably a good shot of coming out. I can’t remember the gap as I came out behind Felix. It certainly would have made things interesting.
“Yeah, I heard something, I just didn’t hear it clear enough. Normally the strategists will repeat it multiple times. I never heard it again. Heard in 10. I was waiting, waiting. Was that a call or not? I think I missed a pit call there. Hey, are we pitting? Yes. I believe I missed it, which cost us quite a bit of time.”
A contrarian tyre strategy for Power’s Portland race
Contrary to most of the other drivers on the grid, Will Power and his Andretti team ran a different tyre strategy from the rest of the field in Portland. In a team decision, Andretti chose to hold off on their new compound red tyres until the closing laps of the race, hoping to give Power a boost in case of a restart.
However, the tyre strategy was relatively unknown to Power, who thought that they would initially run the reds much earlier in the race. The two-time champion admitted that it was a smart decision to hold the reds until later, in case of a late-race shake-up, seeing as they were wearing out similar to the blacks.
“I didn’t expect to run them that late. That was a team decision. I think kind of smart if we had a restart at the end. It would have been pretty interesting. Especially early on the reds, the reds are really good initially, then they kind of just plateaued out similar to the blacks.
“Yeah, saving the best for last. Every time I was coming in, it’s like, We’re going back to blacks. Oh, no. Blacks are really hard to hang on to. They weren’t easy to drive. The reds were like a dream. Really forgiving. Yeah, it was a good strategy.”
A race to the finish
Following the conclusion of the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland, defending champion and series leader Alex Palou sits 110 points in the lead. Though it could still be anyone’s championship with 6 races in 5 weeks, and a close fight between Kirkwood and Malukas in 2nd and 3rd.
Sharing the post-race presser with Felix Rosenqvist, the two drivers were asked if they thought anyone could catch Palou, following his dominant performance in Portland.
Will Power was candid in his answer, noting how tough it is to match or beat Palou, despite the leaps and bounds Andretti have clearly made in 2026.
“Yeah, it’s tough, man. He makes no mistakes. He’s very quick. I feel like we’ve closed the gap. We’re there. Just takes time.
“I think we’ve had a year in our team of significant gains in learning in many areas, many areas. Whether it’s pit stops, car builds, car set-ups, road courses, ovals, they’ve all been positive steps forward. Feel like next year we should be in a pretty good position.”
