'(Grosjean) needs a punch in the face': Will Power still fuming hours after practice crash

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. – Having already put hands on Scott Dixon earlier Saturday after the pair’s heavy practice crash, Will Power said he believes Romain Grosjean “needs a punch in the face” for playing a small part in the Ganassi and Penske drivers’ massive collision.

The threat was but a small part of a furious Power tirade on Peacock after he failed to advance during the first round of qualifying at Road America. The Team Penske driver had just hopped out of the car after taking his latest off-road run on the permanent road course while pushing hard over a single-lap shootout in hopes of trying to jump from 11th in his Round 1 group to somewhere in the top-6 in hopes of advancing after a late red flag briefly paused his group’s 12-minute session.

Penske driver heated: Will Power shoves Scott Dixon after practice crash at Road America

Instead, he’ll start 22^nd in Sunday’s race at the end of a weekend he entered 8^th in points, 101 back of the lead as the defending champion. Irked at a variety of things after he’d started Saturday morning with “a really quick car,” Power pulled no punches – starting with the track’s bumpy surface in the runoffs.

“This track is terrible when you go off. They do a terrible job here. They need to pick up their game,” Power said. “Anywhere you go off, you almost break your back every time. I’ve done it a couple times this weekend, and they need a kick in the butt at this place.”

Then, Power turned his ire to Dixon, who in the morning practice, spun in Turn 12, made it back onto the right side of the track and looked in his mirror and only saw Grosjean in pursuit. Unbeknownst to Dixon, Power was in hot pursuit of Grosjean – having actually made an earlier attempt to pass the Andretti driver before Power was squeezed off-track and forced to lift.

Once Grosjean passed him, Dixon pulled out into the middle of the track, giving Power nowhere to go but run right into Dixon’s left-front with his own right-front wheel. Both cars made heavy contact with the outside concrete barriers, forcing massive overhauls of the entries in the two hours before qualifying.

To show his disdain, Power flashed Dixon the middle finger at least three times and grabbed the collar of the Ganassi driver’s fire suit before shoving him away.

“I’m just pissed that what Dixon did this morning has just ruined our whole weekend. Just a terrible move all over,” continued Power after qualifying. “The guys did a great job. Unfortunately, we had a screwdriver (in the cockpit), and it took a lap to get that (out) and get going, but everyone thrashed and did a fantastic job. We went out there and did everything we could, but it’s just so hard in this field if you’re behind the 8-ball.

“It’s frustrating. I just felt like we were really quick this morning. I’m disappointed with what happened, just really disappointed.”

But before he finished, he needed to get one more thing off his chest.

“And Grosjean is a piece of crap with what he did in practice,” Power said, believing Grosjean blocked him and caused the crash with Dixon. “He needs a punch in the face.”

IndyCar qualifying results at Road America

1. Colton Herta

2. Pato O'Ward

3. Alex Palou

4. Josef Newgarden

5. Alexander Rossi

6. Kyle Kirkwood

7. Christian Lundgaard

8. Marcus Armstrong

9. Marcus Ericsson

10. Benjamin Pedersen

11. Santino Ferrucci

12. Devlin DeFrancesco

13. David Malukas

14. Graham Rahal

15. Rinus VeeKay

16. Felix Rosenqvist

17. Callum Ilott

18. Scott McLaughlin

19. Romain Grosjean

20. Simon Pagenaud

21. Augstin Canapino

22. Will Power

23. Scott Dixon

24. Jack Harvey

25. Sting Ray Robb

26. Helio Castroneves

27. Ryan Hunter-Reay

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Will Power says Romain Grosjean 'needs a punch in the face'