Reigning champion Power finished just 0.7s behind Newgarden following a late-race yellow flag that led to a three-lap sprint to the end of the race.
But Power thinks he could’ve moved ahead of his team-mate after the final pitstops if he wasn’t delayed leaving his pit box by Marcus Ericsson, who was pitting ahead of him just as he was ready to leave.
When asked if he had a car capable of challenging Newgarden for the win, Power replied: “Yeah, I really did. I was right within [striking range in] that last stint going into the pitstop, and I had to wait for Ericsson to pit, or it was going to be interesting.
“I obviously look at it very closely. I felt like we finally had it once we made those adjustments to run with Josef. We came into the pits with him, but I had to wait for Ericsson. It was just bad timing on our part to not pit a couple of laps early.
“I was watching my mirror because I saw [Ericsson’s team] set up, and I knew that he would be coming, so I sat there watching. There was confusion on the radio but I was, like, not going to have one of these [unsafe release scenarios].
“It sucks because you just watched almost three or four seconds tick by. A chunk of time. I came in the pits right on Josef. When we came out, I could hardly see him.”
Source: Autosport