Will Power dominated most of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, immediately taking the lead from the pole. However, Juan Montoya stalked him through the second half of the race and eventually leapfrogged his teammate during the final sequence of pit stops. Power made a run at him inside of ten laps remaining and tried a dive inside entering turn 10. However, he was not far enough alongside to claim the racing line, resulting in slight contact between the two and damage to Power's wing.

Montoya then cruised home to take his first IndyCar win on a road or street circuit since 1999. "Today was a good day, to be honest with you," Montoya described. "The car was really good on black tires and that was the key. The tires were not falling off and right there at the end I was just running slow to look after them. When I needed to push, I could push. Everybody with Verizon and Team Penske did an amazing job - Chevy as well. This aero kit is amazing to drive."

Power held on for second, while Tony Kanaan beat out Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud to finish third, breaking up the Penske party in the process.

Although there were no major incidents, the day was marred by debris caution, with numerous winglets flying off due to contact. And the parts were flying from the outset, with a caution out shortly after the initial green flag when contact from a number of cars, chiefly involving Jack Hawksworth, left several pieces of debris on the track.

The Penske cars ran 1-2-3-4 when racing resumed, with Power the leader. Last year’s champion led with a challenge through the first stint and retained the lead through opening stops. Scott Dixon, believed to be one of the biggest threats to the Penske team this year, saw his day unravel during his first pit stop when the rear airjack broke. "It seemed like the front would come up, but the rear end would stay on the ground," Dixon explained. "The team did the best they could on our stops, but in reality you can't be competitive in this type of racing when your stops are taking that long." The team used a manual jack the rest of the day, but never recovered the lost ground and finished 15th.

A second debris caution flew on lap 25, when contact between teammates Carlos Munoz and Simona de Silvestro scattered parts and pieces from turn ten onwards. A lap 32 restart saw Montoya, who had fallen to fifth after opening stops, make an aggressive three-wide move inside Pagenaud and Jack Hawksworth to steal third before a third debris caution fell, this time for pieces off of Marco Andretti’s car.

The green flag flew again on lap 38, but came back out on 47, this time for a spin after de Silvestro bumped James Jakes in the final corner, sending the Briton off course. The leaders pitted, with Castroneves actually beating Power and Montoya out of the pits and Tony Kanaan besting Pagenaud. But, Hawksworth and Sage Karam did not pit and restarted first and second, with Castroneves third.

A wild lap 53 restart saw Karam dive inside Hawksworth into turn one, but drift wide into A.J. Foyt’s driver. Castroneves also slipped, allowing Power to rocket from fourth to first by the time they exited turn three. Montoya also climbed up to second during the tussle before another caution came out when Graham Rahal tipped Charlie Kimball into a spin at turn ten. Rahal, who had been in the top, was given a drive-through penalty for the contact.

Racing resumed on lap 58 and the race settled back into a rhythm. Hawksworth, who was off strategy, pitted with 40 laps remaining, which was too far for one tank of fuel. This necessitated a late splash and go, which relegated him to eighth.

Up front, Power kept his lead over Montoya until the final stops began. Montoya pitted on lap 81, while Power pitted a lap later. However, slow stop after the rear airjack did not immediately disengage. Allowed Montoya to jump into the lead, with Power more than three seconds behind.

Power quickly closed the gap and, with less than ten laps remaining pounced in turn ten hoping to take the lead. However, Montoya was firm and would not let him through. The two made contact, causing the right front winglet of Power’s car to fall off. "I saw (Power) make the move, but he was way too far and I wasn't going to give him the position," Montoya said of the incident. "If he was beside me, I would have said, 'OK, go ahead.' When I got to the turning point, he wasn't even close. It is a shame we touched, but it's all good, it's racing."

Power gracefully acknowledged the contact as a simple racing incident. "If I hadn't damaged my wing, maybe I would have had another shot," said the 2014 champion. "He was very strong on the front straight and my exits weren't very good. I thought maybe I would catch him off-guard there. You don't expect someone to pass there, so, yeah, I gave it a shot. I was surprised at how aggressively he turned, but he wanted to win the race and so did I."

Behind them, Tony Kanaan quietly passed Castroneves through the sequence of stops to run a strong third, comfortably ahead of Castroneves and Pagenaud.

Up front, Montoya cruised home to score the victory, his first on a road or street circuit since returning to the Verizon IndyCar Series. His win completed a dominant weekend for Roger Penske, whose cars finished first, second, fourth, and fifth, with Kanaan the only man able to break up their party. "It was a really fun race for us and I'm just so happy that I was able to get NTT DATA Racing a podium finish in the first race out," said a happy Kanaan. "We still have some things to work on to get better as a team, but I'm pretty happy with today's finish. I have to give so much credit to the guys on pit lane. They just did such a great job today. This is a nice way to start the season and after this third-place finish, I'm even more motivated to continue to do better."

Behind them, Ryan Hunter-Reay recovered from a rough start, which saw him go wide in turn one off the start and fall to 17th, to finish seventh, the best of the Honda contingent. "I think that was the hardest seventh-place finish I've seen," he quipped. "That's how it is sometimes, when you have bad days you have to bring home solid top 10s. We fell back to like 18th or 19th after the issue at the start with Bourdais. We rebounded nicely, but to be honest I think that's about the car we had today - a sixth- or seventh-place car at best. We'll take the top 10 and move ahead with the DHL car for New Orleans."

The Verizon IndyCar Series now takes a week off ahead of their next event, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at the NOLA Motorsports Park.

St. Petersburg