Good afternoon from Barber

Will Power's #1 Verizon Chevy needed some repairs after the morning warm-up

The sun is finally out here a few minutes after noon at Barber MotorSports Park with the temperature about 75 degrees. Other than Will Power's brush with the cardboard Firestone signs, the morning warm-up was pretty routine. I did ask some of the Firestone engineers if Power might get some sort of bonus for the extra advertising, and they didn't seem to find the same level of humor in the comment that I did.

Also, about Power's crash: he had to replace his back wing , and his car is in tech right now as I type.

Anyway, we're hoping for a safe race today, as always.

My drivers to watch: Power and Juan Pablo Montoya. While Power said he would be happy with finishing second behind teammate Helio Castroneves, we know Mr. Power a lot better than that. As we mentioned yesterday, he has been very focused this weekend, and seems to want a win bad, after a couple of disappointing results at NOLA and Long Beach.

Gabby Chaves says Barber offers multiple overtaking opportunities

As for Montoya, he holds a 2-point margin over Castroneves in the standings and will be keen to not let the on-form Brazilian jump ahead. We expect JPM to be very aggressive coming through the field, as the intra-team battle at Team Penske seems to be intensifying.

Of course, we can't forget about Scott Dixon starting fourth. The Kiwi was aggressive on the start last week, and we imagine he will look to break up the Castroneves-Power-Simon Pagenaud Penske trio at the start today.

One more quick note: we bumped into Gabby Chaves this morning and asked him about passing. He said turn 5 is the best spot, but that turns 1, 2, 3, and 4 offered possibilities as well. We're not entirely sure about Chaves' prospects in say turns 3 and 4, but we do like the 2014 Indy Lights Champion's optimism.

Longtime Formula One analyst Steve Matchett is joining chief announcer Leigh Diffey and analyst Townsend Bell in the NBCSN booth for telecast this weekend.

Lucille Dust reporting from Barber Motorsports Park