Will Power looked over a rooftop IndyCar Nashville crowd with destiny firmly in his own two hands.
In both of them sat drumsticks, ready to pound out the stress of a challenging 2025 season as the words of the Red Hot Chili Peppers roared through the bar like wildfire.
As people sang and danced, in between chants of “PO-WER!,” the driver might have been letting go in real time.
Cal-i-for-nia, rest in peace
Sim-ul-tan-e-ous re-lease
The release came in a different form this Tuesday (Sept. 2), an ending most of IndyCar expected but still seems unfathomable, as Power leaves behind his Team Penske work home for the past 17 years.
“It’s been the honor of my life to drive for Roger [Penske] and the Penske organization,” Power’s words read in a carefully choreographed press release. “We have accomplished so much together.”
So, so much indeed. Power leaves with 42 wins and 65 pole positions in Penske cars, easily the most in the organization’s history on both counts. It’s 12 wins more than Helio Castroneves. Thirteen better than Rick Mears. And 30 more than two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr.
Speaking of those Indy 500s: Power leaves with one of his own. Keep in mind four-time NTT IndyCar Series champ Alex Palou also only has one. So does Scott Dixon. Among active drivers only Castroneves, Takuma Sato and Josef Newgarden have won Indy more.
Someone is going to get a Hall of Fame-caliber driver, in position to still deliver the way football’s Tom Brady was when he left the New England Patriots. For 2026, potential redemption is at hand.
But this story is about 2025. What it tells us about Power, the sport he drives in and what was revealed about said sport on a rock ‘n’ roll stage this Sunday night (Aug. 31).
This 44-year-old spent the past six months waking up with an uncertain future. The dollar signs that drive sports come without emotions attached; business decisions couldn’t care less about your sleepless nights. Accomplishments mean nothing, washed away by the anxiety of “long-term corporate strategies.”
Everyone understands that reality, even Power. It’s well within Penske’s right to look for someone younger to fill its seat, someone with a decade’s worth of career left in them, maybe longer, to smile for those Fortune 500 companies. If 23-year-old David Malukas winds up the choice, more power to them.
But there’s a way to approach a change in direction, especially when it’s as sensitive as the longtime face of your program. Roger Penske could have pulled Power aside in May, told him their plan and spent the rest of the year celebrating a man whose contributions will decorate their halls for decades.
They didn’t. Instead, Power was left hanging, forced to face a non-answer on his future every week. Enticed to believe a potential closing effort might lead to one final contract and in fact delivering on the pressure: Power’s late-season Portland International Raceway win was the first of the year for Penske, reigniting the team over the final three races. He finished the year as the highest-placed Penske driver in points (ninth), as the team endured its worst season since 1999.
Still, the questions came. Daily from reporters, reminders Power couldn’t shake. For the phone that mattered at Penske had gone silent, a decision left as a cliffhanger drama for the driver arguably responsible for helping fund the episode.
One could only imagine the emotional rollercoaster Power was faced with daily. Unable to find closure and move on, searching for hope that never really seemed quite there. The end of a loveless marriage where one side drags out the divorce subpoena.
All of that brings us to Sunday night.
On a public rooftop on Lower Broadway in Nashville, IndyCar drivers came together organically to celebrate. This party was no private event; fans mixed with drivers who blended with series support staff. A community of people chose an impromptu place for their own end-of-year banquet celebration.
And then walked in Power.
He was there with family and friends, mingling and mindful of the changes that were likely to come. One by one, the IndyCar community approached, not armed with questions or even comfort. They just treated him like anyone else, with appreciation for Power, the person, in a world where the awkwardness could finally melt.
Of course, as drinks flowed, a different type of pressure built up: getting Power up there to play the drums. As he mounted the stage for multiple songs, the crowd roared their approval — IndyCar drivers of every personality type turning cheers into their version of emotional support.
The Chili Peppers’ words rolled on.
Day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya
A little loaded, she was stealing another breath
I love my baby to death
Conor Daly rallied the crowd mere feet from Christian Rasmussen, Portland rivals finding common ground once again. Scott McLaughlin had left but not before paying his respects. All types of drivers, all types of experience with Power, unified in giving him an emotional boost I’m sure was welcomed after fighting through a summer in No Man’s Land.
It had been a while since I had seen a racing community so unified. A Power-ful moment, indeed, for everyone who witnessed it.
One that NASCAR 2025 could never recreate.
To have this type of moment over the stock car fence, there would have been obvious challenges. The popularity of the sport makes it that much harder to have a dozen drivers hanging out without getting swarmed by fans, autographs and photo requests.
But in a world where Driver Appearance Points seemed a necessary ploy to get NASCAR’s competitors out in public this year … I wonder. In a world where drivers like Carson Hocevar and Austin Hill take turns as public enemy number one, just without the Dale Earnhardt-like resume, the community of drivers frays at the edges.
In the background, a lawsuit drags on with the most famous athlete of his generation (Michael Jordan) at odds with his own sport. Owners, anxious to purchase charters left behind, are turning against each other to do it. If the case goes to trial, a NASCAR win almost certainly excludes Jordan, perhaps the potential 2025 champion Denny Hamlin and others from ownership in the series.
And if Jordan’s group wins? The sport itself will look radically different. It’s a dynamite moment either way, armed with self-inflicted consequences similar to open-wheel’s CART/IRL split in the 1990s.
But on Sunday, in the midst of that Nashville bar, IndyCar showed itself as very much together. Unified and ready for whatever comes next for Power and the series itself.
There’s strength in a community able to pull in the same direction, pulling together to support one of its own. A lesson played out in Nashville, perhaps setting the stage for others to watch and relearn.
Down in the Badlands she was saving the best for last
It only hurts when I laugh
Gone too fast
Follow Tom Bowles on X at @NASCARBowles
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.