Rain postpones IndyCar race at Pocono until Monday

The race was postponed due to the rain until Monday.

It’s a step up the ladder for Aleshin, who returned to the series in 2016 after a forced year off. The race will resume Sunday at noon.

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – Will Power chalked up his latest milestone to experience.

Will Power stole a stealthy victory Monday in the rain-delayed ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway in a race that Ryan Hunter-Reay or Mikhail Aleshin looked destined to win.

Next week’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway is a makeup from a race in mid-June that also was postponed by rain – after the drivers had completed only 71 of the scheduled 248 laps.

Power moved methodically through the field from the eighth starting spot to control the last quarter of the race, and had a main threat, Ryan-Hunter-Reay, peel away with a mechanical problem.

The driver with the fastest and best vehicle on the day and who twice charged from the back of the pack to the front of the field was Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Power’s fourth win of the season was a team effort.

Following a late race caution Hunter-Reay got back on the lead lap and once again headed for the front, making daring passes to the inside and outside of competitors.

The hard-luck season for Ed Carpenter continued as he lost power on lap 57. Suffering from mechanical issues following a restart on Lap 163, the reigning ABC Supply 500 victor fell back to 12th position, also losing a lap.

Around Lap 135, things began to turn in Hunter-Reay’s favor.

When the checkered flag dropped, the driver of the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda settled for a third-place finish. “I had wiggles and I just couldn’t get him”. Sato said he was unsure of the cause.

ALESHIN SHINES: Aleshin was fastest in first practice on Saturday, fastest with the pole on the line and very fast on Monday. He was just too fast.

“At the start of the race, the auto was not that good”, Power said.

“It’s different for me”, Karam said at the racetrack, where Union Jacks flying at half-staff in honor of Wilson.

HUNTER-REAY’S BAD LUCK: Hunter-Reay, who started last because of a crash in practice that prevented him from qualifying, was poised to win at Pocono for the second straight year and get the chance to celebrate that he didn’t last year after the late crash that fatally injured Wilson. “Then you turn around and see all the confetti going off and someone else in Victory Lane”, Hunter-Reay said. A debris caution allowed him to regain the lost lap and he surged to a podium finish. While leading the race and seemingly in control his vehicle inexplicably shut off due to an electrical malfunction. What more could happen? “I just kept it flat”. It’s been that way. “This is going to be a hard one to put behind me, but you have to do it”.

PAGENAUD PLUMMETS: Pagenaud hit the wall on lap 158 after his No. 22 Chevy bottomed out. Sato exited his AJ Foyt Racing without assistance and was treated and released from the infield care center.

Pagenaud said his vehicle bottomed into the corner, causing him to lose control. “We needed some work together”, Aleshin said.

PIT FALLS: Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves were involved in a weird pit road accident on Lap 63. He exited his pit and was clipped by Charlie Kimball, which sent the Indianapolis 500 winner’s No. 98 Honda over the top of the No. 3 Penske Chevrolet driven by Helio Castroneves. However, the accident on pit road all but knocked Castroneves out of championship contention; he’s 113 points behind Pagenaud with three races left.