Will Power wants improvements to IndyCar rear ends after struggling with gearbox damage following a shunt in the Nashville race.
The #12 Team Penske entry was among those which copped a hard hit from behind when the pack concertinaed just after the second of eight restarts during an afternoon of madness on the streets of Music City.
Power fared better than those who were either out on the spot or rejoined laps down after repairs, but the impact had a lasting effect given the loss of semi-automatic gear changing.
He dropped from eighth to 13th between that incident and his second pit stop, after which he emerged in fourth spot once the fifth Caution of the race fell his way.
However, Power lost positions hand over fist when the green flag flew again on Lap 56, down to 12th spot in less than seven laps.
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“We had the gear thing pretty early, pretty early,” the Queenslander said on the NBC Sports telecast which is carried by Stan Sport.
“It’s probably done not even 30 laps and got hit from behind, and whatever it is they have on the gearbox – I’ve had this a couple of times and multiple people have – maybe they should change that.
“If you get hit from behind, it knocks out your shifting, so you have to manually shift – you have to lift and you have to blip the throttle – so it made it a very interesting day.
“But I sat back and watched so much mayhem. I mean, you wouldn’t read about it.”
Pato O’Ward was among those who did retire from the Lap 26 shunts, hit by Graham Rahal, and he too reported gearbox damage.
“I don’t know who caused the check-up,” said the McLaren SP driver.
“I saw cars slowing down, [and] I had to get on the brakes. What Graham did to me I was going to do to Will.
“Sadly, there’s only one way to look at it, and it was a big enough hit to break probably a gear or something in the gearbox.
“When you hit the attenuator with a pretty solid hit, that’s usually what happens.
“I couldn’t get it into any gear, and that’s our day.”
Power retained the series lead despite missing the top four, let alone top 10, for just the fourth time this season.
He put distance on O’Ward and Ericsson given their dramas, while his team-mate Josef Newgarden, who led a dozen laps, had to make three stops to get home on fuel.
The 2014 champion thus still holds sway, albeit by just a six-point margin over Nashville winner Scott Dixon.
“I mean, we thought this was a bit of a wildcard race,” said Power, after nine Cautions in the Nashville street circuit’s debut in 2021.
“There was going to be a lot of mayhem and if you survive it somewhat – which we did – we’re still in a great place, still digging deep and see what we can do in the last three [events].”
IndyCar heads to Gateway for the final oval affair of the campaign on August 19-20 (local time), with final practice, qualifying, and the race live and ad-free on Stan Sport.
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