Will Power won at Sonoma Raceway for the third time in four years Sunday, earning his first victory of the IndyCar season by taking advantage of Scott Dixon’s penalty for making contact with Power’s Team Penske pit crew.
“I don’t like to see the call that had to take place, but everybody saw it,” Roger Penske said. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way racing is.”
Dixon led until he received a drive-through penalty with 15 laps to go for clipping a tire in the left hand of Power’s tire holder when Dixon’s Honda left his pit directly behind Power’s Chevrolet. The tire holder went flying into another crew member, and a third member was injured by an air gun or hose.
Dixon thought Power’s crew got in his way on purpose, leaving him angry and confused by IndyCar’s latest call against him.
He finished 15th and lost a bit of ground on overall IndyCar leader Helio Castroneves, Power’s Penske teammate, who finished seventh. Castroneves’ lead over Dixon grew from 31 to 39 points (479-440) with four races left in the IndyCar season.
“That’s probably the most blatant thing I’ve seen in a long time,” Dixon said. “You watch most pit guys, they try to get out of the way of other people, so that was a bit of a (classless) move, to be honest. … If that’s the way they want to try and win, that’s pretty bad.”
–With files from the Associated Press
