Sunday Morning Update from Sonoma

Power kicks up dust on the track

Good morning from Sonoma International Raceway. It is a warm, sunny morning with temperatures in the mid 60's. We expect temperatures to be 75 degrees by race time. The final race of the season should prove interesting with all the different team strategies.

Qualifying yesterday had some surprising twists. Will Power, the Team Penske driver who has won four poles this season, did not make the Fast Six. Power will start 7th today. Power explained to the media. " I did two laps on my reds in the first run because a bunch of people backed up. I said, Okay, we need to do one lap in the next session. I went across the line, pit, thought we were okay. It was a bad call on my part. Should have done another lap. I think we would have got in."

Alexander Rossi, the only driver that can get enough points to defeat Dixon for the Championship, also surprised us all with his qualifying run. The crew frantically changed his springs right before the Fast Six. Rossi added his take of his 6th place qualifying position. "We tried something a little different in hopes it would pay off, did the Firestone blacks for the Fast Six. But at the end of the day it clearly, as Will will attest to, is probably not the right decision."

"At this point we're trying to hit some home runs and get it done. It wasn't meant to be. We knew the farthest we could fall down was sixth. That's what happened."

The points leader, Scott Dixon was also not happy about his second place qualifying. Dixon's run was almost flawless and then he made an unusual move to give the pole to Ryan Hunter-Reay. Dixon explained, " Huge driver error there. Just needed to get through a right and left, it would have been looking pretty decent. The car felt good. Huge credit to the team. They've done a good job. I think between Portland and here, we came with a pretty different car. It rolled off really well. Happy with that. Just came up short."

Kanaan making his 300th start

Tony Kanaan will make his 300th start today. The proud father of a brand new baby girl, Nina, was also disappointed with his qualifying run of 18th. Kanaan won this race in 2005.

Today is bittersweet because it is the final race of the 2018 season. The first year of the new car has proven to be a challenge on the ovals but outstanding on the street courses. Having new teams provided different outlooks and insights to the series.

Thank you to Verizon for being the title sponsor for the last five years. We hope the Verizon IndyCar app continues to update us.

Thank you to Sonoma Raceway for hosting an IndyCar race for the past 14 years. The staff of the media center is always helpful and the facilities here are up to date and accommodating for the media.

AR1 would like to congratulate Robert Wickens for winning the Rookie of the Year award. Wickens drove like a true veteran of the series this year. All of us want to wish him a speedy recovery.

Lucille Dust reporting live from Sonoma Raceway