A week after finishing 2nd in Sonoma, Will Power wants to repeat in Baltimore

"All the bumps, we loved it last year," he said. "Every stand was full of people. On the parade lap, it was thrilling to see all the stands full. It's inspiring. And the track being physical and almost unbearable, as well, when it's hot, I like it. The more physical it is, the more fit you are, the better you do — and we train like a triathlete."

The street course won't be quite the same. It will still run down Pratt Street for the start and circle round past the Inner Harbor before making that elbow-like turn the drivers call a hairpin at the Science Center on Light Street.

But getting down Pratt and through the first turn onto Light will actually be faster, now that the chicane, the series of small, tight, man-made turns designed to slow cars down before they reached the light rail tracks, has been removed. And the first turn has been widened, encouraging drivers to enter the corner side-by-side.

It is a situation Power thinks will add to the fun of the race for the fans, as well as for the drivers, but he does add a word of caution.

"I think taking the chicane out will make us a good 15 miles per hour quicker," he said. "It will also make the railroad tracks that much bumpier. It might be fine – I hope. If it is you'll be cruising by the time you reach that first turn and that will make it as challenging as it was, if not more so."

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