Power wins Portland IndyCar as Newgarden inches toward title

Australian Will Power won the IndyCar Grand Prix of Portland Sunday as Penske teammate Josef Newgarden stayed on track for the series crown with a fifth place finish.

Newgarden will head to the final race of the season at Laguna Seca this month with a 41-point lead over Alexander Rossi – whose third-place finish behind Felix Rosenqvist moved him into second place in the standings as France's Simon Pagenaud dropped a spot.

Power's second win of the season moved him into a tie with Sebastien Bourdais for sixth place in IndyCar history with 37 career wins.

Power held on through a late re-start to beat Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist by 2.7885 seconds.

The Aussie veteran appeared to be comfortably in control on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile (3.16 Km) Portland International Raceway in Oregon when a late caution led to a re-start with four laps left in the 105-lap race.

"It was a pretty tough race," Power said. "We had Rosenqvist constant pressure. At the end we could slowly pull away and I felt this is going to be good and then a yellow flag and I thought 'Oh, come on, man.'"

But Power maintained command, opening up a 1.4-second advantage on the first lap after the restart.

Newgarden battled back from a 13th starting position to finish fifth, taking his points total to 593 – 41 more than Rossi.

Pagenaud climbed from an 18th starting position to finish seventh but after starting the day 38 points behind Newgarden is now 42 behind the leader.

Both Newgarden and Pagenaud were caught up in a multi-car incident at the start initiated by Graham Rahal.

Newgarden was forced to take to the escape road and dropped to the rear of the field along with Pagenaud, who had been bumped into a spin.

Both benefitted as officials re-set the race order during the caution period.

But it was Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon, fourth in the championship chase, who led midway through the race before an apparent battery issue struck and he had to limp into the pits, handing Power the lead.

Double points will be on offer when the series concludes on September 22 with the Grand Prix of Monterey.

RACE RESULTS

1. Will Power (AUS) 105 laps in 1hr 58min 43.0036sec average speed 104.225 mph
2. Felix Rosenqvist (SWE) at 2.7885sec
3. Alexander Rossi (USA) same lap
4. Colton Herta (USA) s.l.
5. Josef Newgarden (USA) s.l.
6. Spencer Pigot (USA) s.l.
7. Simon Pagenaud (FRA) s.l.
8. Matheus Leist (BRA) s.l.
9. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) s.l.
10. Charlie Kimball (USA) s.l.

STANDINGS AFTER 16 OF 17 RACES

1. Josef Newgarden (USA) 593 pts
2. Alexander Rossi (USA) 552
3. Simon Pagenaud (FRA) 551