Two Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans races produced two wins for two very different reasons by drivers who hadn't been in Victory Lane for a while, and demonstrated how exciting and competitive the Verizon IndyCar Series is day-in, day-out.
On Saturday, No. 11 Team Hydroxycut - KVSH Racing Chevrolet driver Sebastien Bourdais used an alternate strategy and some perfectly timed pit stops to win Race 1 and move into a tie with the great Bobby Unser at 35 victories. A day later, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet's Will Power's sheer speed and overtaking prowess helped him best the field for his first win in more than a year.
After starting the race on the Firestone red-sidewall alternate tires, Bourdais pitted three laps into the 70-lap race to take on primary tires, which dropped him to the back of the field. While things didn't look good, a yellow seven laps later allowed him to stop again and turned things his way.
We came in and topped up; that really was the key moment for us,” Bourdais said. “It turned out to be instrumental in how the race was going to unfold later on.”
The move dropped him further down the leaderboard to 18th of 20 cars. It also gave Bourdais a fuel cushion that allowed a quick splash-and-go in the late stages that sealed the win on the on the 14-turn, 2.35-mile street course. The stop put the No. 11 about six laps out of sync with the leaders and meant he could put up some fast laps when his rivals pitted and then struggled on colder tires.
That strategy ultimately put him in the lead in the final stages after a splash-and-dash and he scored his first win since Milwaukee in July 2015.
“It's funny, man: Sometimes things work out and you can't point out one thing that worked out,” Bourdais said.
“As a whole for the race, it goes your way somehow. The common denominator is a quick car and I think we had that today.”
A day later in Race 2, Bourdais proved that things sometimes don't go your way in INDYCAR, after trying the same strategy that delivered the Saturday win, only to see a late caution swing the race in Power's direction. The No. 12 Penske driver seized the opportunity while Bourdais ended the day eighth.
It was a welcome win for the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Power, who had not taken a checkered flag since the May 2015 Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Power’s race strategist, Tim Cindric, took the opportunity to needle his driver by asking him playfully on the radio after the win: “Do you remember how to celebrate?”
While pit stop strategy and fast driving sealed Bourdais' victory a day earlier, the key to Power's victory was a bold outside pass on teammate and championship leader Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet) at Turn 3 on Lap 53 of 70 that made Power the first of the drivers on track who didn't need to stop again for fuel.
Getting another win to his credit ended a long drought for Power, who felt that he did lots right in the past 12 months, but never found the winner's circle for whatever reason.
That's because, as evidenced in Detroit, sometimes things work perfectly and sometimes even the best strategy just doesn't work out.
“It was frustrating last year because I felt I was the quickest,” Power said.
“I had more poles than anyone, led a lot of laps. It just amazed me when yellows would fall, throw you completely out of the game. That's Indy car racing.”