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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Will Power sat down at the podium, smiled and said, “Good day.”
The Australian meant it as a greeting, but he most definitely had a good day.
Power started up front and never relinquished his spot to win the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, capturing a race that escaped him last year and doing so without a misstep.
“I can’t think of a race where I’ve been so cool, so physically fine and where I had everything go so right,” Power said, adding that maybe last year at Sonoma was comparable.
Power extended his wire-to-wire lead enough for some comfort in the final laps and finished 3.38 seconds ahead of Scott Dixon on Sunday, while Dario Franchitti was third on the 2.38-mile road course at Barber Motorsports Park.
Power became the first IndyCar driver to stay up front for the distance since Franchitti did it at Sonoma in 2009.
Power dominated in practice and qualifying rounds the past two years at Barber, and stressed how badly he wanted to win after a pit strategy backfired and cost him the lead in 2010 — and perhaps the IndyCar points championship.
“It’s just satisfying not only to get a win here, because I felt we should have won last year,” he said. “We had such a good car, and we didn’t get it. I was very determined to get it this weekend.”
IndyCar’s second race since moving to the double-file restart helped produce plenty of thrills — along with six full-course cautions. Six drivers were knocked out of the race by contact, including Ryan Briscoe, who started in second place.