Former IndyCar champ Will Power is a Renaissance man. In addition to driving race cars for Team Penske, Power has a number of other interests including playing drums — he’s good enough to be professional — not surprisingly, music and he’s also a big fitness buff. But there’s one thing that the two-time champ still has a burning desire to achieve: to drive a NASCAR stock car.
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Power appeared on this week’s edition of the Stacking Pennies podcast with Corey LaJoie and spoke about doing the exact opposite of Kyle Larson: keep driving an IndyCar but potentially have a one-off — or more — behind the wheel of a NASCAR Cup car.
“Oh, yeah, I’d like to do an oval just to feel it,” Power said. “Obviously (it would) be very tough for me. Just the car, it would be so different. I think I’d like to try it.”
Even though his boss, Roger Penske, owns teams in NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA, Power said he’s never asked Penske to give it a go in a stock car.
“No, I’m just trying to keep my current ride,” Power said with a laugh. “It’s got to make sense, they’re not going to put you in a car just to have fun, right? It’s got to be expensive.”
Power did relate a story about a NASCAR Xfinity Series team owner who recently asked him if he’d be interested in doing a one-off to replace a driver. Power didn’t let in on the circumstances, whether the other driver was ill or on the verge of being fired.
He answered, “Someone sent me a text recently, asked me what I’m doing Portland weekend? I can’t remember the team. It would have been for Xfinity. I would do that. Yeah, I love NASCAR.”
But there’s a fine line between reality and fantasizing. Power will always love the idea of driving a stock car, but he knows it likely will never happen.
“Yeah, I would do it (but) I’ve been very focused,” he said. “I had outside opportunities, but just stayed in my wheelhouse and focus hard on trying to win IndyCar races and championships and do the absolute best at that and not sort of spread myself thin in any way.
“But I would love to do a race in a NASCAR, even as a truck, just go and do a race. I mean, it looks awesome. Looks so much fun.”
The 44-year-old is in the final season of his current contract and there are a lot of rumors whether he’ll be back in the Penske fold next season or not.
Team owner Roger Penske appeared non-committal whether Power will return. The Australian-born driver comes into this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course ranked seventh in the Cup standings.
He’s finished in the top-six in five of the first eight races — with his best finish being third in the IndyCar Grand Prix — but has finished only P27 and P14 in his last two races.
“We’ve got a time, negotiating period with Will that we’ve told him about,” Penske told Fox Sports. “He understands that completely… But there’s no secret, his contract is up. He’s done a great job for us. We’re just looking at our options, and I’m sure he will, too. But at the moment, we feel confident that he will be back.”
His average start this season is a career-low 12.0, and an average finish of 11.78 is his worst since 2021.
What Roger Penske thinks of Power’s future in IndyCar
Speaking further Penske mentioned, “There are a lot of things that play in that. You’ve got your sponsors, you’ve got a lot of things. But as far as I’m concerned, he knows what he has to do, and we’re supporting him like we always have…
“And, obviously, his ability to qualify the way he’s done for us has been outstanding. So he’s at the top of the list as far as what we might do next year.”
Ultimately, a win would likely help Power retain his job security for another couple of seasons. He comes into this weekend’s race at Mid Ohio with 42 career IndyCar victories under his belt.
