Will Power shoots down 'young guns' in 2022 IndyCar title race

Will Power dialled back his all-or-nothing aggression to clinch a second IndyCar title to go with the first he won in 2014. For all the talk of the new generation headed by Alex Palou, Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward, America’s premier single-seater championship was won in 2022 by a 41-year-old who played the long game.

Power only scored a single victory this season, his 41st in IndyCar, on the streets of Detroit. Rewind and compare to 2010 and 2011 when he won five and six times respectively – and missed the title. This time, consistency was key. A pair of seconds and six thirds were the backbone of his success and put him into a position of strength heading into the Laguna Seca finale in September.

Five drivers arrived in California with a mathematical chance of snatching the crown, but realistically only team-mate Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon were genuine threats to the title.

Power did just enough and secured his title with a third-place finish, and now joins Newgarden in a long list of two-time IndyCar champions (in all its forms through the decades) that includes the likes of Rodger Ward, Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva and Alex Zanardi.

Power, also an Indy 500 winner in 2018, not only belongs in such exalted company but can add another record: on the Saturday he broke Mario Andretti’s record for most IndyCar pole positions by claiming his 68th, triggering a pleasing moment in the pitlane as the great man came over to offer congratulations.