Power: Defeat a huge disappointment

The Penske driver had been a dominant force on the road and street courses, winning five times. But he could not replicate that form on the ovals, and saw his 59-point lead over Franchitti disappear in the final four events.

Power's championship bid finally ended on lap 34 of the Homestead race when he brushed the wall and sustained suspension damage that would force him out.

"We let a lot of good points go," Power conceded. "Obviously this is a bad result. That's racing. That's how it goes. I know we had a good season, but it's just disappointing."

He said the mistake had happened while he was lapping Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay.

"I was trying to get around Hunter-Reay. He kept changing his line and I wasn't sure what he was going to do each time," said Power. "He was up high, so was I, and I got into the 'grey.'"

At that point Power had got back up to fourth after earlier dropping as low as ninth. But with Franchitti having secured the bonus points for pole position and leading the most laps, Power knew he could not afford to finish behind the Scot, and was attempting to mount a final charge when he crashed.

"I was trying to do everything I could, because at that point in the race I realised that unless I did something special, Dario was going to win this thing because he had led the most laps, at that point he was leading, and he was faster," Power said.

"So I had to really start pushing hard. And I ended up brushing the wall."