Will Power defends IndyCar's costly mistake during Josef Newgarden's horrific crash at WWTR

Team Penske star Will Power came out ahead of the IndyCar race weekend at Road America and shared his thoughts on IndyCar's mistake, which led to Josef Newgarden’s crash at the World Wide Technology Raceway. The Australian defended the IndyCar race control and revealed his reasons for the same.

#2 Team Penske Chevrolet driver Josef Newgarden crashed at the WWTR with Louis Foster, which ended the race for the two-time Indy 500 winner. It began with Foster washing wide and hitting the outside barrier going into Turn 4, which spun the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car onto the main straight.

Josef Newgarden, who was following behind Foster and was on course to lap the RLL, ended up colliding with the rookie, which flipped over the #2 Chevrolet and ended the hopes of the two-time IndyCar winner to score his first win of the season. Newgarden was in the effective lead of the race when he crashed with Foster.

While the race stewards had brought out the caution instantly for the previous crashes during the race, their response was somewhat delayed when Louis Foster hit the wall. Had the yellows been deployed instantly, Newgarden could've slowed down and avoided the crash.

As Will Power arrived at Road America for the upcoming IndyCar race, he was asked about the delay made by race stewards and whether Team Penske had asked the official for clarification about the same. The #12 driver defended the IndyCar stewards as he said

“I'm sure they've talked about it. The rave control did a bloody good job, they really do. It's one of those things. We had a lot of groupings of cars, all in one spot, so it's probably very difficult to see.” (0:28 onwards) “Every other yellow is just right on the money. It's just one of those things. Josef was blinded by a car right in front of him. There's not much he could do there. I think we're lucky, very good race control,” added Will Power

Will Power details what possibly caused his crash at the WWTR

Will Power qualified in pole position for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at the WWTR. However, less than a quarter into the race, Power suffered a tire failure, which put him into the wall and ended the race for the #12 Chevrolet driver.

Coming into the Road America race weekend, Will Power was asked whether he had a conversation with Firestone about what caused the tire failure. Power replied,

“Sometimes if you run over the recommended canvas setting, which I believe we weren't, but someone told me that Firestone said we were, and also pressure.”

All three Team Penske drivers retired from the race at WWTR, with Scott McLaughlin being the last one to retire on Lap 216 due to a mechanical failure.

Edited by pranavsethii