The Australian ace, who has 41 wins and 68 pole positions to his credit, led the first stint of the race on the Firestone alternates, but found his car’s handling was wayward on his first set of primaries, and the wing-adjustment he called for at his next stop actually exaggerated the problem. Finally onto fresh primaries in the final stint, he was able to keep pace with Team Penske-Chevrolet teammate Josef Newgarden who had charged from the back, but the pair of them were beaten into second and third by half a minute by Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.
Power admitted that even though he came into the season finale with a 20-point lead, his nerves prevented him truly relaxing or even deriving true satisfaction from beating Mario Andretti’s all-time IndyCar pole record.
