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Will Power: I've calmed down since winning IndyCar championship

Penske's Will Power says he is a different driver to the one that won the 2014 IndyCar championship, as he chases an unlikely second title

The Australian finished second in the championship in 2010-'12 and fourth in '13 before breaking through for his maiden title with Roger Penske's outfit.

He missed the opening race of the 2016 campaign in St Petersburg due to illness, but has worked his way back into championship contention, and is now second, 47 points behind stablemate Simon Pagenaud.

Power believes a new, less-aggressive approach is paying dividends.

"I used to look when Dario [Franchitti] beat me in the championship, I think it was three times," said the 35-year-old.

"I always felt I was quicker in qualifying. He was just so consistent.

"I could see why now. I've learnt from him or learnt from experience.

"I wish I had the energy that I had when I was in my 20s, but the experience I have now. I'm a much different driver.

"I would say I'm driving differently to the way I would drive in 2014 when I won the championship, when I just went for it all the time.

"Now I just let the races come to me. I don't seem to ever get desperate or feel desperate to make something happen.

"It's working now. It's just experience. You start to work out how things fall.

"Almost like life, you have good and bad. You've got to try to roll with it."

Power's latest victory in Toronto was his third in four races - finishing second at Iowa in the other - and he says the remaining five venues are "all good tracks for me".

"It's good to get this momentum going forward for the rest of the championship," he added.

"If we can close that gap going into Sonoma, we can do this, we can win this championship, absolutely."

However he ruled out doing maths on what was required to catch Pagenaud.

"It's impossible," he said.

"How do you know where he's going to finish and where you're going to finish? You just have to execute week in and week out.

"You can look at the points at the end of each weekend, but it's absolutely the wrong focus to be looking at points.

"You know your limits. You know your risks. You know what is a 50-50 move. You know when to take those risks.

"If you're taking them all the time, you're going to get caught out half the time or more.

"If you do it at a time when it's necessary to take that risk, you have a good chance of pulling it off. That's how you got to do it."

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