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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Will Power casually walked through the nearly empty fan base at Daytona International Speedway in a simple, white suit devoid of any Penske or Verizon Wireless logos. One of the most successful drivers in IndyCar history was nowhere to be seen at an unfamiliar track where few would have seen the Australian.<\/p>\n
But suddenly a crowd appeared.<\/p>\n
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“Will Power! When you put your foot on the gas in an IRL car, there’s no stopping you,” said one man as he cried for a selfie.<\/p>\n
Others gave him diecasts of his legendary No. 12 Team Penske car to sign. They praised and admired and gave Power a warm welcome at Daytona’s inaugural Rolex 24. He will drive the 75 Express, the team of fellow Australian Kenny Habul, in the GTD Pro class next week.<\/p>\n
It was a confidence boost Amandla didn’t know she needed.<\/p>\n
“It feels good just to be recognized,” he told one fan.<\/p>\n
A new chapter<\/p>\n
Power has driven for Roger Penske since 2009 and set the series pole record (71), building a career that saw him rank fourth on the all-time wins list with 71 victories – one of which was the Indianapolis 500 – and two IndyCar titles.<\/p>\n
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But those numbers couldn’t compete with the clock and Power, who turns 45 on the same day the IndyCar season opens on March 1 in St. Petersburg, he doesn’t have much time left in his racing career. It led to Team Penske selecting 24-year-old David Malukas as his replacement, a transition that took more than a year to complete, but the lack of transparency forced Amandla to hang around in uncertainty for most of the 2025 IndyCar season.<\/p>\n
With Amandla still at the top of his game, Penske late last season was apparently willing to offer Amandla a peace offer of a one-year contract extension. But the damage to Mandla’s ego, pride and state of mind had happened; he told his boss of almost twenty years that he was not interested.<\/p>\n
Power instead signed a contract with Andretti Global, now owned by TWG Motorsports and Dan Towriss, a team eager to add his veteran leadership to its quest to return the organization to the top of IndyCar. Avoiding a return to Penske didn’t sit well with the manager, who held Amandla out of a contract that expired on December 31 and suspended him from the start with Andretti until the first of this year.<\/p>\n
Malukas, on the other hand, was selling at Penske and enjoying his new job all the while Power was sidelined, unable to do anything with his new team.<\/p>\n
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Power, a career Penske expert who meets all the definitions of “Penske Material,” was crushed by the way his rift and animosity at his former organization played out during the final four months of last year.<\/p>\n
The results could come back to bite Team Penske, which is coming off one of its worst seasons in years: Power begins 2026 with a midnight New Year’s run decked out in Andretti gear. He was at the shop two days later to meet his new team, sit in the seat of his new car and start working on a campaign he was determined to make Penske regret firing him.<\/p>\n
“There’s nothing else I want to do this year than beat Penske every single weekend,” said Power. “And I understand why I have not been allowed to start at Andretti so far because we are only two weeks into the year and we are already working very hard on everything we need to start working.”<\/p>\n
Andretti helps celebrate<\/p>\n
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Towriss in one incident snubbed Ron Ruzewski, one of three Team Penske executives fired during the Indianapolis 500 cheating scandal, as IndyCar team principal. Ruzewski and Power know Team Penske inside and out and bring valuable experience to the Andretti organization that last won the IndyCar title in 2012.<\/p>\n
One of Power’s first actions in early January was to ask Ruzewski for a team meeting that included teammates Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti’s leadership to discuss priorities and Power’s first session on his new Honda, a test earlier this month in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
“Will is one of the nicest, greatest guys in the series and one of the greatest competitors in IndyCar and I love him so much,” Kirkwood said. “He’s ready for us in just a few weeks. He’s working day in and day out to make sure he’s one of the most competitive drivers in the series and that’s a plan I think we all hope to have.<\/p>\n
“He definitely feels like he has something to prove, and combined with Ron, there’s no doubt that the two of them will go a long way toward improving Andretti’s short oval program.”<\/p>\n
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The power is complementary.<\/p>\n
“I’ve done it,” said Power. “Roger was very smart not to let us start until the start of the year because he knows how much experience we bring to Andretti.”<\/p>\n
He secured the Indiana town to be close to the race team while maintaining his full-time home in North Carolina. He spent the day in Honda’s simulator earlier this week before heading to Daytona for the first time participating in North America’s most prestigious endurance race.<\/p>\n
Penske rarely allowed Power to compete in events outside of IndyCar but had authorized Power to race for Rolex in 2023. The race ended when Power’s wife contracted a near-fatal staph infection and he had to withdraw from Daytona as he sat by his hospital bed.<\/p>\n
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He is finally back at Mandla’s bucket list event but with mixed feelings. He believes the two weekends he spent at Daytona cut down on the time he could spend working with his new Andretti engineers. Also, his life has completely changed from where he was three years ago as a veteran Penske driver with a sense of security due to the loyalty he had given the program for so long.<\/p>\n
The beast is unleashed<\/p>\n
The entire IndyCar field is excited to see what Power brings this year to Andretti because they believe he has never been more motivated.<\/p>\n
“He’s going to be very fast, he’s going to be very good, especially on the street courses and on the roads,” said his former Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin. “I know what Will is like and he’s very organized about what he likes and how he likes things and what he can give Andretti. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the pole in St. Pete.”<\/p>\n
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Those were the assets Towriss was looking for as he began his second season as Andretti’s full-time owner. He is clearly disappointed with Penske’s refusal to allow Amandla to work until early January, especially since Team Penske has been working with Malukas for months.<\/p>\n
“He comes with a crazy good attitude. He thinks about running all the time,” Towriss said. “We want to win and if you want to have a job or just work for a race team, go somewhere else. Come here with us because you want to be a part of something and build something special. We know we got it in Will Power.”<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
AP Auto Racing: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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