Power closes to within five points of Franchitti after victory at Baltimore

In warm and humid conditions, Power triumphed on an eventful afternoon that included a pile-up involving nearly half the field to cross the line just over 10s ahead of Newman/Haas Racing's Oriol Servia.

"I've never driven so hard in my whole life," Power said. "I gave it absolutely everything. I'm exhausted. I reckon that's probably one of my best race wins ever."

The result brings Power to within five points of current championship leader Dario Franchitti.

Tony Kanaan recovered from an airborne crash during warm-up that forced him to start from the back of the field to finish a remarkable third, the Brazilian's result being achieved through a combination of good strategy, good race pace and a bit of opportunism when the pile-up took place on lap 37.

The crash, which occurred on a restart following an earlier caution period, was triggered when Ryan Briscoe made contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay while trying to pass the Andretti driver for fourth at Turn 3. Hunter-Reay spun, triggering a huge concertina behind him.

Briscoe was penalised for his role in the incident, but remarkably only Giorgio Pantano and James Jakes were forced out with damage. Nevertheless, the traffic jam prompted a dramatic reshuffle of the order between positions six and 28.

Franchitti finished fourth; the Scot surviving a brush with the inside wall that knocked him into a half-spin.

The Ganassi racer was on target for second, but lost out when he rejoined the track after his final stop to find himself in a train of cars that had formed behind Servia, allowing Power to escape down the road.

Franchitti's team-mate Scott Dixon managed fifth despite suffering two punctures, with Danica Patrick sixth.

Results - 75 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team                     Time/Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske              2h02m19.4998s
 2.  Oriol Servia         Newman/Haas            + 10.2096s
 3.  Tony Kanaan          KV                     + 10.8557s
 4.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                + 11.0831s
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi                + 11.5032s
 6.  Alex Tagliani        Sam Schmidt            + 17.7124s
 7.  Danica Patrick       Andretti               + 18.5661s
 8.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti               + 18.9269s
 9.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                   + 22.3096s
10.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi                + 22.6977s
11.  Martin Plowman       AFS/Sam Schmidt        + 23.7405s
12.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                    + 24.7568s
13.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest               + 29.6042s
14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                 + 30.9855s
15.  EJ Viso              KV                     + 50.6756s
16.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold      + 60.5667s
17.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                    + 1 lap
18.  Takuma Sato          KV                       + 2 laps
19.  JR Hildebrand        Panther                  + 2 laps
20.  Ed Carpenter         Sarah Fisher             + 2 laps
21.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi                  + 2 laps
22.  Tomas Scheckter      Dreyer & Reinbold        + 4 laps
23.  Mike Conway          Andretti                + 11 laps
                                                 
Retirements:                              
                                                 
     James Hinchcliffe    Newman/Haas              54 laps
     Marco Andretti       Andretti                 40 laps
     Giorgio Pantano      Dreyer & Reinbold        39 laps
     James Jakes          Dale Coyne               37 laps
     Sebastien Bourdais   Dale Coyne                9 laps