Team Penske's Will Power has revealed a flat-spot was the reason he was unable to claim pole position for the Grand Prix of Portland.
Power will start from the outside of the front row due to losing out to rookie Colton Herta in the final seconds of the Firestone Fast Six by a mere 0.019 seconds.
As Power headed towards the Turn 1 Festival chicane, he had locked up the right-front tyre deep into the apex of the corner which cost the Australian a chance at a 58th career pole position.
"Unfortunately I flat-spotted a tire and had a flat spot the next lap," said the 2014 series champion. "Yeah, it's disappointing. We had a pretty good buffer on everyone. It should have been better."
The Penske driver was happy with the setup of his #12 Verizon-Chevrolet but admits with the short lap of the PIR circuit, he had not prepared the brakes sufficiently.
"[I had] good balance, yeah, definitely couldn't fault it. It was good. I just needed to put it together better there. Basically need to warm the brakes up a bit more.
"I grabbed the brake and flat-spotted the tire. But apart from that, the car is good."
With Power out of title contention, he mentioned he solely focused on the win but how it could also be a 'crazy' race many of the contenders stuck in the midst of the field.
"It's interesting how that all plays out and spices things up. But yeah, I mean, you never know. You saw how nuts this race was last year, the way the yellows fell and all that. Who knows what can happen.
"We'll be just going for a race win."
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