Power was running fourth, closing in on Alex Palou and Colton Herta, when he was forced into a splash-and-go stop as the white flag flew after his team miscalculated how much fuel he had used on his final stint.
Team-mate Josef Newgarden was similarly affected but had saved enough fuel to make the finish in fifth place – although his car spluttered to a halt on the in-lap. Power slumped to 14th.
“The fuel estimation was 2% wrong,” Power revealed. “That was the problem. We had a 2% error.
“Even if it was just 1% wrong, we're making it, but 2%... We were on par for the numbers that were given to me. Everyone was expecting that we would make it.
“So it was such a surprise when we saw a fuel light come on, which is triggered by the fuel collector, a little canister in the car.
“Once there's 1.8 gallons left, that gives you the first indication of exactly where your fuel’s at. Otherwise, you're only guessing at what the engine manufacturer tells you.
“You get, I think, 18.4 gallons. So, you're guessing the [usage of] 16.6 gallons – you're at the mercy of what they've seen all weekend of how much fuel it has used over those practices, and then you can guess through that until it gets down to the collector.
“That trigger came on much earlier than we expected, which is from the 2% error.”
Source: Autosport