Penske explains slow diagnosis of Will Power's IndyCar concussion

Power crashed during the first official session of the year in St Petersburg on Friday but regrouped to lead second practice later that afternoon.

The Australian was fastest again in Saturday practice and then claimed pole position before starting to feel dizzy due to a suspected stomach virus.

After sending Power to his motorhome, Cindric started the process to put Oriol Servia on standby.

Power ultimately missed the warm-up and race, with Servia taking over his #12 entry.

During the race, 48 hours after the accident, IndyCar officials confirmed Power had been diagnosed with a mild concussion.

"Will has had some concussions in the past but that was more a discussion when the doctor saw him [on Sunday] morning," Cindric explained post-race.

"He came here with an inner-ear infection that he has been fighting for the last month or so.

"And we had a guy on the team with the stomach flu so looking at all those things we didn't think what happened Friday was that hard of a hit.

"Right now it's a very mild concussion and it should be a 24- to 48-hour recovery period."

While Penske team-mates Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves banked strong points with first, second and fourth in the race, Cindric does not believe Power's title hopes are over.

"A lot of guys have started out in the hole here and sometimes the guys that don't do well at St. Pete are OK," he said.

"We certainly won't give up and hopefully it will all come back around for him."

The next round is at Phoenix on April 2.