Will Power opens up about infamous Plower Move: 'I just want it to go away'

Fox Sports

2 days ago

Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com
MOORESVILLE, North Carolina — "I just want it to go away."
That's what veteran INDYCAR driver Will Power said in the wake of the controversy involving him and the now infamous Plower Move that he made during practice at last week's Detroit Grand Prix.
Power is one of the most accomplished and respected drivers in the INDYCAR SERIES. Although he is a highly aggressive driver, his peers enjoy racing against the two-time INDYCAR champion and former Indianapolis 500 winner at Team Penske because they know Power will race them hard, but cleanly.
That is why last Friday's Plower Move on Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global was surprising.
It was early in practice last week and Power's No. 12 Honda entered the slow Turns 5 and 6 area of the Detroit street course in front of the Renaissance Center. He encountered another slow car, Kyle Kirkwood's No. 27 Honda.
It's the slowest portion of the race course and Power was trying to get a gap. But on an extremely narrow race course that is also very short at 1.645-miles in length, that can be a maddening experience at Detroit.
Power drove up from behind and put the nose of his car under the rear attenuator of Kirkwood's Honda and at slow speeds, pushed him up the course similar to a tow truck trying to push-start a passenger car with a dead battery.
Once Power was past Kirkwood, the Andretti driver put his hand in the air, similar to someone on the highway asking another driver, "What the hell?"
But the incident became a viral video.
As FOX Sports Motorsports Insider Bob Pockrass called it, Will Power gave new meaning to the term push to pass.
The nose on the No. 12 Chevrolet had cosmetic damage. Kirkwood's crew had to repair a hole in the floor of the No. 27 Honda, but Kirkwood was able to return to practice.
INDYCAR officials reviewed the incident and because it did not bring out a red flag or a local caution, there were no penalties.
It was similar to an official in the NBA Playoffs ruling, "No harm, no foul" and not whistling a foul on a hard basketball play.
"I think they said it was a 50-50 sort of deal where he had stopped in the middle of a corner when I was coming hard and we made contact," Power said. "INDYCAR did speak to me."
A week later, Power believes the incident has become overblown and would like it to fade away, just as a non-call in the NBA is quickly forgotten.
"I just want it to go away," Power said.
But Power did go into a detailed explanation of what he thought in last Friday's opening practice session for the Detroit Grand Prix.
"From my perspective, we were doing about five to 10 miles an hour to be honest, and he (Kirkwood) stopped in the middle of the corner," Power recalled. "I made contact, and at that point I thought he was going to then drive off and he didn't. And I started putting the throttle down and he started braking and I thought at any point he could have just put the throttle off and driven off and he never did.
"It was just a misunderstanding. I shouldn't have done it, basically. I certainly wouldn't do it again."
Was it the long, grueling month of May at the Indianapolis 500, combined with an extremely bumpy and narrow street course five days later that created a moment of road rage? Or was it simply an unfortunate incident?
Power explained.
"You're on a lap and the guy stops in the middle of the corner," Power said. "I don't know why I did it.
"It is frustrating at these tracks, how tight it is, it just is, it's just very frustrating. I felt he could have moved out of the way. But, you know, I don't know.
"I have a lot of respect for Kirkwood. If I'd known it was him, I wouldn't have done it. I can't be making enemies in the paddock, man, right now."
This is an important time for Power because he is in the final year of his contract at Team Penske.
Power is one of the most successful drivers in INDYCAR history. He is INDYCar's fourth winningest driver with 44 wins and the record for most poles with 70. He won the INDYCAR Series championships in 2014 and 2022 and won the 2018 Indianapolis 500.
At 44, he is just as fast as ever. But Team Penske may be considering a younger driver, such as 23-year-old David Malukas of AJ Foyt Racing, to take his place in a move for the future.
Power has enlisted former driver Oriol Servia as his agent, but for now, the driver remains under contract with Team Penske and is not allowed to talk to other teams about the potential of joining their operation if a Penske deal is not offered.
That is why Power was a bit sensitive about discussing the infamous move in practice.
"For me, it just felt like I was back playing iRacing or rFactor," said Malukas, who was on the track in that area when Power pushed Kirkwood. "I was like, 'Yeah, I'd totally do that in a video game.'
"…But it was interesting to see. I couldn't believe it. I was very confused at the start. I thought something was wrong with Kirkwood and Power was towing him across like the "Cars" movie.
"It was interesting at first, but then I realized it was not that, so..."
It was certainly unconventional, but Kirkwood understood why Power did it after the practice concluded.
"The track is not big enough to fit all the cars, and he got frustrated," Kirkwood said last Friday after he was the fastest in practice despite the incident with Power. "I'm not upset. I don't care. We had damage from that, too, so maybe we (could have been) a little bit faster."
Power made sure to talk to Kirkwood and explain the incident.
"I didn't get to see him after the session," Power recalled. "I went to look for him. I saw his guys, I apologized. When I saw Kyle the next day just before the session … we kind of laughed about it because it was obviously at an incredibly low speed with the very bottom of first gear just sort of idling along, I guess.
"It wasn't like we're doing 100 miles an hour so we're doing literally 15 miles an hour or something, if that.
"I thought it was Marcus Ericsson, and he had held me up a couple of times in the previous races, so I had a little bit of frustration there, but had I known it was Kirkwood's car, probably wouldn't have happened."
Because Kirkwood was able to have a successful practice and ultimately win Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix for his second win this season, he was able to laugh it off with his teammates, including Ericsson and Colton Herta.
"I think he was laughing about it, but he was definitely surprised," Ericsson said. "He said that as well. He never experienced anything like that previously in his career.
"I think he was probably a bit shocked when it happened for sure. I think we all would have been."
Although Power originally thought it was Ericsson's car that he was pushing instead of Kirkwood's, Ericsson has a great deal of respect for the Team Penske driver from Toowoomba, Australia.
"For me, I only have good things to say about racing with Will," Ericsson said. "I've always had good and fair fights with him. So for me, we've always been racing hard but fair. And like you say, you know, he's a legend of the sport and a very unique character.
"I always enjoy racing him and having him around in the paddock."
Ericsson, however, believes some type of penalty should have been issued for the move, such as missing 10 minutes of practice.
"Obviously, nothing more serious happened, but I think we should not as drivers use our cars to show our frustration like that," Ericsson explained. "I think that's not the way to do it.
"I'm sure Will wasn't intending to put Kyle in the fence, but it was not that far from happening. He was shoving him for quite a while there and then it doesn't take much to lose the car there. So yeah. I think the consequences and also like if he had shoved into David Malukas there and they both crashed into the fence, I'm pretty sure INDYCAR would have ruled in a different way."
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing continues to lead the championship by 110 points over Pato O'Ward and 111 over Kirkwood.
Palou thought last Friday's incident in practice was interesting and concerning at the same time.
"I would say in between," Palou said from his home in Indianapolis. "I don't think it's funny.
"I mean it's funny when you look at it after and it looks like a video game. But that's the fact that it's not a video game, so I don't think it's funny.
"I don't think it's overly crazy either, but I would say that this cannot happen again. I think INDYCAR should have said something about it."
He added: "Now it's like this is okay to do and somebody else could do it and you cannot penalize somebody else because they didn't penalize Will.
"I think maybe INDYCAR should have stepped on and said, 'Hey, 10-minute penalty for Practice 2, don't do it again' and we would not see that happening again."
Palou believes every driver in INDYCAR gets frustrated at Detroit because of the nature of the street course. It can't be expanded or widened because the City of Detroit owns the streets, so the course is pretty much set.
Palou is another driver who has great respect for Power as one of the most experienced drivers in the series.
"I love Will," Palou said. "I have great battles with him, but I'm a big fan of him. So, yeah, honestly, I think coming from Will, it's like it's okay, right? Because it's Will.
"I spoke to him, and he actually told me and told Kyle that he wasn't feeling like he was super upset or anything. He just thought, 'Oh, having this position, let's just continue pushing and see if I can get a gap and it worked.'
"I was surprised to see that anybody would be able to do that in an Indy car. Like I would never think of like, oh, this is possible to do."
Scott Borchetta is the Founder and CEO of Big Machine and the first to sign Taylor Swift to a recording contract.
Borchetta is also a race team owner, a promoter and a partner of the INDYCAR Championship Race at Nashville Superspeedway on August 31.
While Power is genuinely sorry that he made his Power Move, Borchetta believes it generated some organic interest.
That helps sell tickets, especially for Borchetta's race at Nashville Superspeedway that will conclude the 2025 INDYCAR series season.
"That's Will Power," Borchetta said. "Will wears his heart on his sleeve, and the guy always wants to go fast.
"Not that we encourage that kind of behavior, but bring it, man. It's elbows out. These guys want to win. They want to win every practice. They want to win qualifying. They want to win every race.
"Those are the drivers we want in the series."
Bruce Martin is a veteran motorsports writer and contributor to FOXSports.com. Follow him on X at @BruceMartin_500 .
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