IZOD IndyCar Series: IZOD IndyCar World Championship Presented by Honda

Topics:  IZOD IndyCar World Championship Presented by Honda

Will Power
October 14, 2011

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

THE MODERATOR: Will is in the media center now. Will will start 17th. He is second in the championship standings, 18 points behind Dario Franchitti. He has eight poles this year and six wins. Will, just kind of talk about your lap.
WILL POWER: There's nothing to talk about, a lap around this joint, because it's so brainlessly easy flat, but what it did do is put us back in the pack, which is not brainlessly easy. That's very tough.
The race around here is going to be really difficult because it's going to be such a pack race, and that's what manufactures -- it's a track that's so easy to drive, it manufacturers really tight-knit racing, which is really quite intense.
THE MODERATOR: And you're going to be starting side by side with Dario. Does it really matter that you're starting that close to him?
WILL POWER: No, we need to be a fair bit ahead of him to beat him in the championship. It's good that he's back there, because if we were back there and he was at the front, that makes things a little bit more difficult. Yeah, I mean, we just have to be smart in the race, have a good strategy, and see what we can do.

Q. You talked about it being mindlessly numb going around this track flat-footed. In pack racing, there's always the danger of people getting really close and not giving any edge to anybody. What does your strategy have to be then starting from where you're starting?
WILL POWER: I mean, it's just something you can't plan when it's going to be so tight, like you say. There's no real strategy. You know, I mean, I think eventually it's going to end up three wide, so it's going to be very deep in the field, as well, and I don't think you can string out much at all. We'll just have to play it the best way we can, staying out of trouble and so on.

Q. You had such a dominant car at Kentucky, and this is another one and a half mile track. I realize it's different, but can you kind of talk about why the results are so different?
WILL POWER: It's just -- I think this racing, honestly, this oval racing, when you're just flat-out 100 percent, which will probably be the whole race, is just kind of ridiculous. If you get a gust of wind on your qualifying lap, you might happen to be on pole, and it keeps coming down to that.
Kentucky was actually a grip-limited track, so you weren't just running completely trimmed out. It was bumpy and it was actually a little harder, so you could make a difference on setup. But this track, for qualifying it's an engine dyno. That's what it is. It's 100 percent an engine dyno and drag. It's all about drag. Yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Will, thank you. Good luck on Sunday.