IndyCar Media Conference
Sunday June 3, 2018
Will Power
Press Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: We’ll get started with our Verizon IndyCar Series post-race press conference. Joined now by our second-place finishe, Will Power. Will Power, finishing second in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, started third in today’s race, and it is his fifth podium finish here on the Streets of Belle Isle. Will, you said yesterday that you felt like you worked really hard for a seventh-place finish. How do you feel about your performance today and ultimately the podium result?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I feel like this was about as good as we could get, give how fast Hunter-Reay was. There was just no way anyone was going to beat him. We just seemed to struggle a little bit on full tanks and cold tires, but very happy with the result. You know, I feel like with what we had, that’s the most that we could have got out of that race, so very happy.

Q. Will, Chevrolet kind of struggled this weekend. You finish second in Penske’s backyard. What a race you had. Talk about just coming back from not a good finish yesterday to a great finish today.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think it was all about qualifying. I guess in a way it was good that it was wet because it helped us to get further up the grid. Had very good pace on the blacks at the end of stints or halfway through, so that kind of put us in a good position. Yeah, and like I said, I just think that’s as much as we could get out of what we had today.

Q. Will, it’s been the week that was for you; when you think that a week ago right now you were still celebrating the biggest victory of your career, just what’s it like to have this week over?
WILL POWER: Actually I’m looking forward to going home. I haven’t been home in a month, so just to have like three mornings where I can sleep in a bit will be pretty cool, and be home, spend some time with my little boy and my wife. Yeah, it’s been the most hectic time of the year, and yeah, we look forward to the week off after Texas. I think that’ll be very welcome by everyone in the paddock.

Q. How weird was the start with the pace car incident?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, I just think no one wanted to run over the debris. I think Rossi was the only one that went through it, and Wickens got stalled, and we only had one set of new reds. I felt really bad for whoever was in the pace car. It’s very easy to do as you go over that crest, and the traction control must have been turned off. So yeah, I felt — wasn’t really his fault. It’s just such a bad corner. Like it’s very easy to do.

Q. Will, at this point of the season — the year you won the championship, 2014, you had the same number of wins, so how poised are you and focused towards a championship are you?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, after the 500, it’s just 100 percent focus on a championship. Well, it is all year, honestly. Pretty rough start to the year, a lot of little mistakes by me, but overall in a very good position. Qualified out of the top three once all year. Yeah, we just focus forward, very determined. I felt like I had so many close seconds in my career, so I really want to get another championship.

Q. Back to the pace car incident, what goes through your mind when you’re just sitting there in the middle of the track stopped for so long? Is it tough to keep your mental focus on what you’re doing?
WILL POWER: No, my first thought was just switch my engine off, once the team said switch your engine off and just wait. Took a while, and then I’m thinking with the whole field stopped, that’s a lot of starters, like that would take a long time. I don’t know how long that whole process took, but yeah, that would have been a first to see that whole field stuck in one spot just on the pit lane exit. You know, that’s racing, right? I’ve seen plenty of pace car crashes. Like I’ve seen plenty of people coming off in the wet and crash, and not abnormal.

Q. Will, what were your thoughts after the way Alex had kind of dominated the race? What were your thoughts when he came around that corner and you saw that he was in the runoff area?
WILL POWER: Yeah, what I noticed was he was very quick at the beginning of a stint and then he backed up. I think I knocked nine seconds out of him in one stint, the second stint, and obviously Hunter-Reay was putting the pressure on big time. He just went a little long. I mean, yeah, it’s pretty tough when that happens when you’ve kind of dominated all day, and flats out a tire. But yeah, that’s racing.

Q. This is also ABC’s last broadcast for IndyCar for a while, and just get your thoughts on that, either of you?
WILL POWER: Yeah, you know, they’ve been a great partner. Obviously is it 60 years they were doing the Indy 500?

Q. 54 years.
WILL POWER: 54 years, which is amazing. But everything comes to an end at some point, so looking forward to next year with the TV package that IndyCar has signed. So yeah. But yeah, been great with ABC, great group of guys. They all did a fantastic job, and yeah, obviously sad to see some of those guys go.

Q. We go from the superspeedway of Indianapolis to the street course and then back to a superspeedway at Texas. Your thoughts on that, the diversity of that schedule and adjusting from race to race in the Verizon IndyCar Series?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s just amazing how good you’ve got to be at so many different disciplines because no oval is the same, either. So yeah, Texas is going to be a totally different animal this year with the downforce level. Who knows how it’ll play out. But yeah, you’ve got to just be good changing and adapting very quickly, and that’s what IndyCar is all about. To be a champion, you’ve got to master every single discipline, which there’s many.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports