Power then held off Pagenaud and Ryan Hunter-Reay to take his first of 2016, and his first since the 2015 Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. "It's been a long time since the No. 12 has been in victory lane so I'm very happy for the whole Verizon crew," said the Penske driver. Josef Newgarden enjoyed a strong run to fourth after starting 17th, while Scott Dixon overcame contact with Juan Montoya and a flat tire to finish fifth.
The initial start of Race 2 was mired by contact back in the field. Charlie Kimball squeezed into Carlos Munoz, who in turn squeezed James Hinchcliffe into the wall as they took the green flag. Max Chilton also went into the wall in the aftermath, while Takuma Sato spun in avoidance but continued on. An angry Hinchcliffe initially blamed Carlos Munoz, but after seeing a replay, he recanted and didn't assign blame. "A silly racing incident ruined our day," said a frustrated Hinchcliffe. "The Arrow Electronics car had a reasonable start. Charlie Kimball and Carlos Munoz were going at it and we were just victims of circumstance there. So, there's not a whole lot to say. When you start back there, you open yourself up to stuff like that."
The green flag came back on lap 3 with Pagenaud jumping out into the lead, which held through the opening as he dominated the first half of the race. However, the strategies changed on lap 34, when Juan Montoya, just out of the pits after his second stop, clouted the wall exiting turn seven and spun to a halt in turn eight. "
The caution began the strategy plays as it occurred midway through the second stint and a number of drivers had just pitted. The order when racing resumed on lap 40 was Pagenaud, Castroneves, Hunter-Reay, Power, Newgarden, Dixon, Bourdais, Kimball, and Daly. They had all pitted by lap 50, except Castroneves. However, his strategy was done in on lap 51 when Jack Hawksworth stalled on the back stretch, causing a third caution. Castroneves pitted under caution and subsequently fell down the order. "
Up front, Sebastien Bourdais, Charlie KImball, Graham Rahal, and Alexander Rossi stayed out, choosing to wait for their final stops. All four led the way when racing resumed on lap 53, and they tried sprinting away from the field ahead of their final stops for fuel. Meanwhile, Will Power, who emerged right behind Pagenaud after their stops, made a quick outside pass as they entered three, putting him at the head of the queue for drivers who were done pitting. "The guys did a great job in the pits, got me out in front of the (Ryan Hunter-Reay), then obviously on the restart, I thought, 'I've really got to capitalize here, otherwise, we're not going to win,'" Power of the move.
Power drove smoothly from there and assumed the lead when Bourdais, Kimball, Rahal, and Rossi pitted for fuel. From there, he held off Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay to take the checkered flag. Teammate Pagenaud, who settled for second, said he needed to think of the big picture while battling for the lead. "I didn't feel comfortable on cold tires - a really good car on long runs but I struggled on cold tires," he explained. "He saw it and took his chance and that's how you win races. At that point you've got to be smart and think about the big picture."
Third place Hunter-Reay admitted he got everything he could out of the car to land on the podium. "It's nice to be top Honda today but we're here to win. There at the end, had we had a track position, we might have been able to do it. It's a solid finish for sure, we had a pretty decent car today. I was pushing as hard as I could," said the Andretti Autosport driver.
The Verizon IndyCar Series now heads to the Texas Motor Speedway next week for the Firestone 600.
