'Very dangerous' seat belt failure robs Aussie in quest for third IndyCar title
Will Power's quest for a third IndyCar championship was ended by a "very strange" seat belt failure.
One of only two drivers in contention for the title at the season-ending Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Power was running inside the top-10 when his seat belts came loose on lap 12, which forced him into the pits.
He emerged five laps down and all but out of contention. The issue reoccurred later in the race.
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Power said his Penske team would be sending the belts back to the manufacturer to investigate the cause. Drivers lap the Nashville track at speeds of about 320km/h.
"I was just driving down the front stretch there and I just felt a pop on the lap belt," the 43-year-old from Toowoomba said.
Will Power's quest for a third IndyCar title was ended by a loose seatbelt. Stan Sport
"I was like 'man, that's weird' and I felt kind of loose in the car in the seat. I came out of turn two and I was feeling around and I felt the end of the belt.
"I'm like 'man, my belt just came off, we're going to have to pit'. It took five laps.
"It happened a second time at the end of the race so we learned real quickly.
"That's a very abnormal thing. I don't know what went wrong. We'll have to send it back to the manufacturer. Very strange failure."
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Power crossed the line in 24th, eight laps down on winner Colton Herta. The result saw him drop from second in the championship to fourth.
It also meant his championship rival Alex Palou was able to cruise to his third title in four years.
"When I saw (Power) going to pit lane, at first I was like, 'Oh, what strategy are they going to do?'" Palou said.
Will Power suffered two seatbelt failures in Nashville. AP
"Unfortunately, that's not the way. Obviously, you don't want your biggest competitor to go down that way in the season finale. It was very dangerous what happened to him."
It was Herta's first career victory on an oval and his second win of the season for Andretti Global. Herta topped Pato O’Ward in a wheel-to-wheel battle in the closing laps.
“I couldn’t ask for a better ending to the year,” Herta said.
But all attention was on the championship race as Palou, a Spaniard who won his first title in 2021 in his first season driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, won back-to-back IndyCar titles.
“He never broke a sweat,” said team owner Ganassi, who celebrated his 16th IndyCar title in 29 years.
“I don't know too many guys who have three championships, not that many, but he's in pretty rarified air right now,” Ganassi continued. “His name has certainly got to be in the conversation of great drivers.”
Palou became just the 13th driver in IndyCar history to win at least three championships. He's just the seventh to win three titles in four years with Dario Franchitti — also for Ganassi — the last to do so from 2009 through 2011.
“I had no idea it would be this much fun or he would be this successful,” Ganassi said about signing Palou before the 2021 season.
Alex Palou kisses the trophy after winning his third IndyCar championship. AP
Palou is also the second-youngest driver to win three championships. Sam Hornish Jr. was three months younger when he won his third title in 2006.
The competition for the crown was only between Palou and Power, who won his last title in 2022 sandwiched between Palou's run.
Power had two chances in the last two races to reclaim the crown but failed to capitalise both times. Palou had an engine issue two weeks ago at the Milwaukee Mile and Power was briefly in position to win the race until he spun on his own and finished a disappointing 10th.
Power congratulated Palou after the race. AP
That allowed Palou to take a 33-point lead into Nashville, where the downtown street race had been shifted to the existing concrete oval because of construction on the Tennessee Titans' new stadium. Palou had never before raced on a concrete oval, while Power finished 11th in his only career race at the superspeedway, IndyCar's final visit in 2008.
Things were looking up for Power when a disastrous qualifying effort had Palou languishing in 15th, which was then followed by a nine-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change.
Palou would start 24th, while Power would start fourth.
But it was still going to take a lot of work for Power to give Team Penske the title – Palou only needed to finish ninth to win the title no matter where Power finished. He finished 11th.
Power won his last championship in 2022. AP
With his victory and Power's struggles, Herta jumped to second in the final championship standings ahead of Scott McLaughlin.
The Kiwi ended the season as the highest-ranked Team Penske driver for the second consecutive year.
Pato O'Ward finished second in the race and fifth in the overall standings, while Nashville native and two-time reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was third in the race but a distant eighth in the standings.
Scott Dixon finished 17th in the race, which dropped him to sixth in the overall standings. The six-time IndyCar champion had not finished lower than fifth in the standings since 2016.
