Indy 500 looms for red-hot Penske driver Will Power

Can anything slow IndyCar racing’s top driver at the moment, Australian Will Power? How about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

Power won his third consecutive race Sunday, on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, giving Team Penske four wins in four races so far this year in the Izod IndyCar Series. His teammate Helio Castroneves won the other race.

Power, 31, also won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach two weeks ago and at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala., on April 1.

But all those races were on twisty street and road courses. Now the series is ready to spend the month of May preparing for the Indianapolis 500 on May 27 at its most famous track, the 2.5-mile, rectangular Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

For those chasing Power for the IndyCar championship, including reigning champ Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, who are teammates at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, the upside is that Power — who has less experience on ovals than many of his rivals — has not won the Indy 500 in four previous tries.

The downside: Power’s team owner Roger Penske has a record 15 Indy 500 victories with other drivers, three of them with Castroneves. No other team owner has won the big race even half that many times.

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Indy 500 looms for red-hot Penske driver Will Power