Will Power reels off dominant Portland win

Will Power found sweet consolation in winning the Grand Prix of Portland despite being out of the championship hunt.

Colton Herta broke away from outside polesitter Will Power to hold the early lead as Scott Dixon and Jack Harvey fell in line through Turn 1. Further back, Graham Rahal triggered a four-car accident when he contacted Zach Veach's right rear heading into the right-hander Turn 1.

Veach's spinning car came into the path the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry of James Hinchcliffe. The other SPM entry of Conor Daly was also eliminated while Rahal's teammate Takuma Sato drove away with minor damage.

None of the leaders stopped under the 11 lap caution, and Herta once again defended the lead with Scott Dixon snatching the second spot away from Power. Turn one became a trouble spot once again the next lap when Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed into Jack Harvey in Turn 1.

The action got back underway on Lap 18 with Dixon attempting to pounce on the IndyCar rookie heading into turn one. Herta kept him at bay and moved him back into the clutches of Power heading through the festival curves.

The action stabilized up front as Penske's championship leader Josef Newgarden was climbing through the field. The Tennessean picked off drivers with little effort and was running seventh by Lap 21.

Herta's initial solid pace began to slow as his option red tyres began to give up grip, putting him right into Dixon's grasp. Dixon saw a chance on Lap 37 and drafted him heading down the backstretch before passing him heading into turn 10.

The slide continued for Herta as he then was dispatched by Power, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist. That prompted him to kick off the first round of green stops on Lap 39 along with Carlin Racing driver Charlie Kimball.

The leading quartet of Dixon, Power, Newgarden and Rossi made their stops on Lap 42 with Dixon leading the race off pit road.

Rosenqvist stayed out a lap longer before making his necessary stop. His CGR crew delivered a lighting quick stop which allowed the Swede to move into third ahead of Rossi while Dixon retook the lead after the final drivers stopped.

Dixon had three seconds in the bank over Power and was in clean air when an electrical problem suddenly brought him into the pits on Lap 52. A feverishly long stop to replace the battery on his No. 9 PNC Bank Honda cost him three precious laps and has effectively ended his championship hopes.

That moved Power back to the lead with around a second lead over Rosenqvist. The Australian saw the sense of urgency rise and steadily built up a 2.7 lead over the next 20 laps while Rossi ran third.

Newgarden ran fourth but soon relinquished the spot to Herta as his reds gave off pace.

Power swapped the lead over to Rosenqvist when he made his final stop on Lap 73. The lone opportunity for Rosenqvist to make up time came and went when he stopped the very next lap. The stop was roughly eight seconds long and he could only watch as Power zoomed by at full speed and retook the lead.

All looked to be smooth sailing for Power until Santino Ferrucci slowed to a halt on the front straightaway. That brought out the yellow flag and brought the Swede right to Power's rear wing for a four-lap shootout.

Power performed a clean restart and was nearly 1.5 seconds ahead by the end of the lap. He never faltered from there and picked up the checkered flag with ease.

He admitted while he controlled most of the race's final half, Rosenqvist's pace forced him to stay on his toes.

"Rosenqvist caused some pressure. At the end we could slowly pull away and I felt like oh yeah, this is going to be good; and then we got that yellow flag, and I'm like oh, come on, man! But, I was determined to get a good restart and just so stoked to get into Victory Lane. It helps the teams and the other guys take some points away. Awesome. I'm exhausted. I'm mentally exhausted."

Rosenqvist's second-place matched his career-best finish, having finished second at Mid-Ohio last month. Alexander Rossi rounded out the podium but only gained four points on Josef Newgarden in the championship chase. Newgarden's fifth-place finish leaves him with a comfortable 41 point lead heading into the final round.

Sandwiched between the championship pair was polesitter Colton Herta, who picked up his first top-five finish since his win at COTA in March.

Pagenaud rebounded from a slow qualifying time to finish seventh while AJ Foyt Racing driver Mattheus Leist was the biggest mover - improving 13 spots to finish eighth.