Power proud of #12 team and charge from 27th to third at Mid-Ohio

With a potential pole-winning car Power had his fastest two laps deleted in qualifying, after impeding Helio Castronevess when the team failed to warn him of the rapid approach of his former teammate. That relegated the #12 Verizon Team Penske-Chevrolet to 21st on the grid.

A spin on the opening lap was a result of trying to pass – then avoid contact with –Takuma Sato in 19th at Turn 9.

Having dropped to the back of the 27-car field, Power climbed to 23rd by Lap 9 when he made a not-much-to-lose first stop under caution, and then proceeded to climb to a legitimate 18th before the first round of stops commenced on Lap 23. He would have gone longer than the front- and most midfield runners thanks to the earlier splash of fuel on Lap 9 but in anticipation of a full-course yellow that flew on Lap 31, the team chose to pit him, and he would emerge in 12th.

A Lap 39 restart saw him pass David Malukas and Simon Pagenaud on consecutive laps, then Alex Rossi and the mechanically faltering Alex Rossi on consecutive laps. The second on-strategy stop saw the #12 crew get him out ahead of both Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson, and on the final restart, Power took advantage of his fresh alternate-compound Firestone to zap past Rinus VeeKay to claim third. He then looked after his reds over the last stint, rather than wear them out trying to pass runner-up Alex Palou.

Describing the start of the race, Power said that he “went up the inside [of Sato], everyone was very choked up and just got someone's back wheel, trying not to take them out.

“I spun, kept it runningand had passed a few cars then and then pitted, went to the back, and then yeah, just started passing cars. Good pit stop sequence.

“The yellows hurt us actually for the