Stones of the Yarra Valley

Power’s Phoenix Comeback Ruined by Late Contact

· Yahoo Sports

Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.

Power’s Phoenix Comeback Ruined by Late ContactIcon Sportswire - Getty Images

Andretti Global’s Will Power, the two-time series champion whose 2026 season has begun with crashes at both St. Petersburg and Phoenix, started last in the field and worked his way to a brief lead by Lap 201. But what should have been simply a splendid achievement in the No. 26 Honda was spoiled a bit by his contact with Christian Rasmussen and the Ed Carpenter Racing driver’s post-race accusations.

In an incident that looked a lot like the Palou-Veekay jumble earlier, Power and Rasmussen made contact exiting Turn 2 as they sparred for the lead. The left front wing of Rasmussen’s No. 21 Chevrolet hit Power’s right rear tire, cutting it. That ended Power’s Cinderella story at Phoenix. Rasmussen continued on, but he said, “Something feels off.” He was correct, and that ultimately ruined his effort a few laps later.

Encountering traffic for the first time since he engaged with Power, Rasmussen yielded the lead to both Kirkwood and Newgarden with eight laps to go, his wounded Chevy could put up a fight no longer.

During that final caution period, Newgarden picked up fresh Firestones, gambling tire grip over fuel management. The bitterly upset Rasmussen officially finished 14th, not what his boldly thrilling passes propelled him to five leads for 69 laps.

“I think it’s very clear what happened, right? We were the class of the field today, the best car out there,” Rasmussen said. “I was so happy with the car, and you kind of just run people into the wall, which was what happened today. He ran me straight into the wall and after that I had damage—I think lower wishbone front, lower wishbone on the rear, and a toe link. Obviously, some of that was probably from after [the incident], but the car was just impossible to drive after that. And yeah, I just did what I could to sell it today and I crashed a car, but this is frustrating, man, so frustrating, because we should have won the race today and obviously didn’t.”

Read full story at source