Despite Will Power’s dominant display for Penske during the INDYCAR Grand Prix weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with the 2014 champion finally securing victory, there was a sense of mixed emotions within the Penske camp.
Power was the only Penske driver to eventually finish in the top three during the 85-lap race, despite trading the lead of the race with team-mate Helio Castroneves.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 race winner led 24 laps of the race, however he was forced to complete his last stint of the race on the harder and slower black primary tyres.
Throughout the race Castroneves opted for a completely different strategy to that of team-mate Power and the Chip Ganassi of Scott Dixon, however the plan backfired when he plummeted down the order during the final few laps and eventually finished P5.
"I thought we had figured something out with some strategy there at the end, but the car was a handful,” explained Castroneves.
“We decided to take a gamble and get off on tyre strategy and it just didn't work like we had hoped.
“We have five good cars that can all win the race, so someone had to take a chance.
“We probably shouldn't have done it that way knowing we finished fifth, but if we would have won everyone would be looking at us saying wow.”
During the final few laps when Castroneves was dropping down the order, team-mate and reigning champion Simon Pagenaud was one of the drivers who overtook the Brazilian.
Despite finishing a respectable P4 and maintaining his lead in the drivers’ championship by ten points to Dixon, the Frenchman still struggled for speed throughout the weekend.
"It was a difficult weekend for us,” admitted Pagenaud.
“I didn't have the speed this weekend.
“I couldn't find how to feel more comfortable with the tyres; the new Firestone tyres they brought this weekend.
“I didn't have the speed Will had.
“Overall, bringing home a fourth-place finish is good.
“We're still in the lead for the championship which is what I want.”
Further down the order Josef Newgarden endured an embarrassing end to his race, being struck with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits during his final stop.
However, Newgarden’s woes intensified when he was caught speeding once again while serving his initial drive-through penalty, with the Penske racer being issued yet another drive-through penalty on his way to an unlucky P13.
"I don't know what happened,” explained Newgarden.
“I think we ran into some sort of glitch and they dinged us two times for speeding on pit road.
“It was a tough day for us.
We had a really fast car. We really didn't struggle with much today.
“We started a little slower than we had hoped, but at the end the car was a rocket.
“I'm disappointed for our guys because we did everything right and we had great stops, we just had a little glitch there.”
