Will Power wants badly to win Indy

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

Will Power has 18 victories since moving to America, where he’s one of the most decorated drivers in open-wheel racing.

But his resume has some glaring holes: He’s never won an Indianapolis 500, and he’s never won a championship.

“I’d just love to win something, just one time win something of significance,” he said. “I’m so sick of it.”

The most dominant driver in IndyCar the last three seasons isn’t content with his results.

In 44 career starts since joining Penske Racing, Power has 15 wins, 20 poles, 24 podiums and has led at least one lap in 34 races.

“You think about his record with Penske Racing over the last three years, and he’s won almost one out of every three races he’s been in, and he’s been on the podium almost two-thirds of the time,” Rick Penske said. “It really establishes him, from the road racing perspective at least, as the top driver out there right now.”

But Power wants more and his chance to cross the Indy 500 off his list comes Sunday, when he’ll start fifth. He goes into the race as IndyCar’s points leader, and has won the last three races this season.

So this might just be the year for Power to finally breakthrough. Maybe it will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the race his team owner cherishes above all over. Or, maybe it will be in the title race, which he’s lost the last two years to four-time champion Dario Franchitti.

Even if Power never wins another race — something the intense Australian often frets about — he’s still accomplished far more than he ever expected.

There are still knocks on Power, unrelated to his failure so far to knock down a big win or a title. His weakness is clearly on ovals, and his 2006 race at Milwaukee while in Champ Car was his first event on anything besides a street or road course. So when he won last summer at Texas, it was proof that Power can succeed outside of his comfort zone.

“I think he’s close, but he needs to get more time,” Penske said. “Maybe some people take him for granted on the road course. But the fact there is less ovals now and our not being able to test on ovals makes a huge difference. In the old days, we had weeks and weeks and weeks of testing on ovals, and he’s never had that luxury.”