Power “stronger and fitter” ahead of 17th Indy car season

Despite being just a week away from his 41^st birthday, the 2014 IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner has never publicly broached the subject of retirement, and his current contract with Team Penske takes him through to the end of the 2023 season.

In describing his prospects for the 2022 season which starts this weekend in St. Petersburg, Power remarked: “I have to say I feel like I'm fitter than I was last year,” and when asked if this was down to an altered workout regimen, he said “slightly different, yes.

“You know, obviously the science is changing all the time and there's new ways, better ways, more efficient ways to work out. Definitely stronger and fitter than I have been. I wouldn't say ‘ever’ – I've been pretty high at some times – but right there. I'm stronger for sure and just as fit.”

Most drivers with more than a year of experience got just one test day in the off-season, and Power emerged fourth fastest of 17 testing at Sebring on Monday last week. But it was enough for him to declare: “I reckon the team has found some pretty good stuff and so has Chevy… We have definitely improved our engine on the drivability side, there's no question. We certainly have more tools at our disposal in that respect.”

For the last three years, Power’s wins have not come until the second half of the season, so he admitted he was targeting victory on Sunday.

“Very focused on the beginning of the season… Like I said before, I think the team has done some good development. I think Chevy has found some good stuff, as well, on the drivability side. We'll see.

“I'm maximum effort… for whatever reason we have struggled early in the season. Not last year. I guess we had a couple of good results early on and then it wasn't that special. But, we've looked at every reason why that is.

“I feel like I've got a very good crew. I've got all the stuff, all the tools available to start really strong, and, yeah, be a contender from the beginning.”

Power, who has 40 wins and 63 pole positions to his name, explained that conquering the opening round of a season shifts a driver’s mental approach to subsequent races.

“You're way more focused because you're leading the championship and you're focused on not making a mistake instead of focused on trying to win.

“I think that's some of the psychology behind it, is that you're not trying to claw back. You set a pretty good base, boom, you've got big points and you adjust, nicely maintaining those points instead of desperately trying to claw back to get back in the game.”