ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- As he crossed the line with 10 laps remaining at Road America, Simon Pagenaud thought he had the Kohler Grand Prix under control.
The Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader had moved from fourth place to second by passing Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan in quick succession before banging in the fastest lap of the race just before his final pit stop. Now Pagenaud had the same tires (Firestone blacks) as the leader -- his Team Penske teammate Will Power -- and he was ready to attack for the lead and the race win.
Then Conor Daly crashed in Turn 1, setting up a restart and a six-lap sprint to the finish. Right away when the green flag waved, the Frenchman knew something was wrong. His Chevrolet engine was down on power.
"Same as at Indy," he lamented.
"Dropped a cylinder," confirmed Team Penske president Tim Cintric. "It's unfortunate, because Simon was in a good position in terms of the championship."
Instead of challenging for what would have been his fourth IndyCar victory of the season, Pagenaud tumbled down the order to a 13th-place finish while Power went on to win over Kanaan and Rahal.
The loss wasn't as demoralizing to Pagenaud as it could have been, because four-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon had an even rougher day, dropping out with what appeared to be a Chevy engine problem of his own after completing just six laps.
But the result put Power -- the 2014 IndyCar Series champion and a favorite going into this season -- back into the championship picture. Power is now 81 points behind Pagenaud, with their Penske teammate Helio Castroneves between them, 73 points out.
It left Pagenaud frustrated and ruing what might have been.
"It's a wasted opportunity, that's all," he said. "That's what it is. Not much else to say, really.
"We had a beautiful car and it was all going perfectly. I think we could have had [Power], sure."
Power is not so sure of that. He was confident that on black tires he would have no problem holding off his teammate. The bigger threat, he reasoned, came from Kanaan, who ran his last stint on a brand-new set of red-sidewall Firestone alternate tires.
Kanaan lost most of a four-mile lap trying to get past a slowing Pagenaud when the Penske driver had his problem, and he quickly closed on Power. But the Australian had saved five bursts of "push-to-pass" turbo boost and he was able to keep Kanaan's Ganassi Racing Chevrolet at bay.
"You always dread that late restart, but I knew I had push-to-pass in hand," Power said. "If I didn't have that, TK had a very good shot of getting me. He was very quick, and on reds too.
"I feel like I'm back where I was and that's a very good feeling for me."
Power incurred half of his 81-point deficit to Pagenaud when he missed the season opener and the Frenchman finished second. Pagenaud went on to win three consecutive races and added another pair of runner-up results, while Power continued to ramp up his fitness after offseason issues with food allergies and the severe sinus infection that kept him out of the car on race day at St. Pete.
Now Power has won twice in the past three weeks, adding the victory at Road America to his triumph at Detroit on June 5. Whether or not the road to the championship goes through his Penske teammate, Power is ready to set off in pursuit.
"I'm finally back to my normal fitness level and the way I do things," Power said. "Obviously the start of the season was very tough for me. I couldn't train in the offseason and missed the first race.
"Now I've got my normal energy back and can perform like I normally do. That's the difference. He's obviously had a very good, fine season up to this point, but we're very determined to be there and want to win the championship. It's as simple as that."
It sets up an interesting championship battle within the Penske team, with Dixon lurking 90 points back despite his DNF at Road America. Josef Newgarden (-92) and Kanaan (-95) are also still within striking distance of Pagenaud.
Pagenaud has maintained a 70- to-80 point cushion for the past month, but he's not pulling away from the field like he did in April and early May.
"Obviously things can change so quickly," Power said. "At the last race [of the season, featuring double points at Sonoma Raceway] there can be an 80- or 90-point swing if the guy you're racing has a bad day and you win. Then you've got seven more races [between now and then].
"There are so many points left and so much can happen," Power added. "You've got to continually finish ahead of that guy. That's how you win the championship from here. Every time, you've got to knock him off every weekend."
Pagenaud is still the guy to knock off, and until the engine problem slowed him in the closing laps on Sunday, he looked ready to maintain his position as the championship favorite.
But as Power said, things can change so quickly. So Pagenaud was left wondering about how he managed to lose when he thought he was in position to win.
"I think it was good racing today," he said. "You really had to manage your tires and be smart about it, and that's what we did.
"It's very frustrating when you feel like you had a win in hand again. With this engine issue, we didn't maximize the opportunity we had."