By Andrew Cutler
November 20 2009

When Will Power signed up with Team Penske in early 2009, he had no clear idea what the season would hold in store for him past his playing the role of keeping Helio Castroneves' car & pit crew ready should the Brazilian be able to return to the IndyCar circut after being aquitted on tax evasion charges.

When that happened, in time for the second race of the season (at Long Beach, CA), Roger Penske was able to repay Power for his help by arrainging for him to run six more races (he had already competed in the season opener at St. Petersburg, FL). While a practice day crash at Sonoma CA would bring an early end to his season, Power ran up an impressive string of results in the six events that he did compete in, claiming the pole twice, never finishing out of the to ten and winning at Edmonton, Canada.

Now his efforts on Team Penske's behalf in 2009 have paid off - big time. Roger Penske has shuttered his Rolex Grand Am Series squad in order to run a third IndyCar full time in 2010, with Power as the driver.

The twenty-eight year-old, who hails from Toowoomba, Australia, couldn't be happier. "I have very good equipment, and the way I look at it we have probably the strongest driver lineup (Castroneves and fellow Aussie Ryan Briscoe, who was in the thick of the 2009 championship fight ) in the paddock. We have three very good engineers and crews so I expect to be very competitive. I think the best mind-set is what I had this year. I didn't have to be concerned about points so it was all about getting a good result every race. I think that's the way I need to approach the championship."