Will Power closed his point deficit to IndyCar series leader Simon Pagenaud to just 20 points Monday, winning the rain-delayed the ABC Supply 500 by 1.1459 seconds over pole-sitter Mikhail Aleshin.
Pagenaud, meanwhile, crashed out of the 250-lap race and turned up 18th overall. 2014’s Pocono winner Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed the final spot on the podium after starting from the last position on the grid.
Aleshin battled with Power throughout the race, leading 87 laps and finishing second – tying his best ever Verizon IndyCar Series finish. The 29-year old Russian has run a series of strong races this year, having also led the most laps at Mid Ohio last week before a mistake on pit road put him out of contention.
“I’m very proud of my team and everyone who works on the SMP Racing car No. 7,” Aleshin said post-race. “They did a fantastic job today and it paid off.”
“Will was just faster in the end and I couldn’t do anything with him,” the Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports driver added. “When I was catching him, I almost put my car into the wall a couple of times but I still couldn’t overtake him. He has a fair win, for sure, but I’m happy to be in second place because we had some difficult moments this race and this year, so this is a good position to move forward.”
Stewards threw a yellow flag for debris with 20 laps to go, setting the field up for a restart. The green flag saw the entire field jockeying for position, but after just a few laps, Power and Aleshin would again extend a sizeable lead over their competitors and battle  for the win. Power proved to be the faster of the two, with the Australian later commending his Team Penske engineers for the “awesome,” car.
A major talking point of the day was a strange incident on pit road involving Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi. The rookie was travelling down pit road on Lap 64 when he made contact with Charlie Kimball, which sent Rossi’s car over the top of Helio Castroneves’. The scary incident ended Rossi and Castroneves’ days and ruined Kimball’s chances at a good finish. Rossi received a 20-second penalty for his part in the incident.
IndyCar continues on the oval next week as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway to continue the re-schedule Firestone 600. The race will kick off under the lights on Sunday, August 28th at 9 P.m. ET. Click here for full results from Pocono.
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