Detroit — As the 2025 IndyCar season gets underway, 44-year-old senior statesman Will Power of Team Penske is celebrating his 20th year in the open-wheel sport. With the Detroit Grand Prix less than three months away, Power says the sport has never been stronger.

“It’s been great to watch the series evolve and get to the point where it is at right now with incredible depth of teams and drivers,” said the two-time champion and driver of the No. 12 car in an interview at a sponsor event at the Garden Theater. “With a (broadcast) partner in Fox that is promoting us tremendously — more than I have ever seen. It’s great to see.”

The addition of Fox as the motorsports’ exclusive, 2025 broadcast partner has been a big boost for the sport. The partnership has paid immediate dividends with the season-opening race in St. Petersburg March 2 gaining 45% more viewers than a year ago.

Credit Fox’s relentless promotion of the series (the only North American pro motorsports series with an exclusive TV network partner) on programs like Super Bowl LIX, with ads featuring top drivers including 34-year-old, reigning Indy 500 champ Josef Newgarden, 2024 champion Alex Palou of Spain, 27, and Mexico’s charismatic Pato O’Ward, 25.

Australian-born Power and six-time IndyCar winner Scott Dixon from New Zealand are the oldest full-time racers in the field.

Power enjoys the multi-generational talent in the sport. “(Younger drivers) have always pushed me very hard, and I’m constantly having to elevate my game. I’ve never stopped learning on how to be better. It’s kept me competitive with guys who are 20 years younger than me. I feel like I’m the best I’ve ever been right now.”

The Aussie, who won his last championship in 2022 at the tender age of 41, gives credit to improved diet, exercise, and recovery regimens for extending the careers of professional athletes into their forties.

“You have these people who just specialize in almost reversing aging actually with things you can take and do,” he smiled. But most of all, he credits determination.

“People put an age limit on it and expect people to start falling off at a certain age. I think if you set that in your head and stop working at it, then you will plateau. I believe probably the most important thing is the desire to be competive. If you’re just complacent and picking up a paycheck, you won’t be competitive. To me it’s a lot to do with attitude.”

While a win at Memorial Day weekend’s Indy 500 is the sport’s Super Bowl, the June 1 Detroit Grand Prix one week after the 500 is an important date on Team Penske’s calendar.

“Being a Chevrolet-powered team, it’s a very important event for us because they have been great partners,” said Power who has finished second and sixth in the two Detroit races since it moved downtown from Belle Isle. “To be running around the downtown in Detroit — the home of Chevrolet, the home of Roger (Penske) — it’s a good race to win.”

The tight, rough street course — coming just a week after the 240-mph banking of Indianapolis is a testament to the variety of tracks that IndyCar drivers must race to win a championship. The series is widely regarded as one of motorsports most challenging.

“(Detroit) is a hard one to win,” said Power, who scored the last win on the Belle Isle course in 2022. “It’s quite a difficult track, it’s hard to stay out of trouble and survive. That’s the sort of race that it is and the sort of track that it is.”

At Thursday night’s Accelerate Detroit sponsor event, he previewed a video of his 2024 qualifying lap to be shown to the evening’s audience. Of the four street courses that IndyCar races on its 17-event schedule, Power allows how Detroit is the toughest.

“(It’s) very narrow in spots (and) bumpy. I think it’s great for racing because you have a massively long straight so you can get runs on people. It seems to create mayhem which fans love — though not necessarily drivers, it depends where you are in the field,” he laughed. “No joke, multiple time during the lap you are less than an inch from the wall.”

Like sister open-wheel racing series Formula One, IndyCar last year moved to a hybrid powertrain to be in sync with the electrification plans of its manufacturing partners, Chevy and Honda. Unlike F1, the IndyCar system is not a full battery-electric system. It uses supercapacitors between the engine and gearbox for total drivetrain output of 900 horsepower.

“It’s added weight, its more power and torque,” said Power. “It hasn’t affected things too much, it’s quite a simple system. You push a button out of the corner to switch it on, you push a button to switch it off. I wish they would open up the technology a little more where we could play around with some of that stuff, but now. . . you can regenerate more energy which means more reverse torque when you brake.”

Power did not finish the season’s opening race in St. Petersburg, but his Team Penske teammates, Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, finished third and fourth. The next IndyCar race is in Thermal, California, on March 23. Tickets for the Detroit Grand Prix are on sale at www. https://www.detroitgp.com/buy-tickets/tickets.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes will try to extend their win streak to six games on Friday when they host the Detroit Red Wings.

–

When: Friday, March 14

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. ET

Watch: FanDuel Sports Network South, FanDuel Sports Network App | Learn More

Listen: 99.9 The Fan, Hurricanes App

Odds at Time of Publishing, via Fanatics Sportsbook: Canes -225

–

Canes Record: 39-22-4 (82 Points, 2nd – Metropolitan Division)

Canes Last Game: 4-1 Win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, Mar. 11

–

Red Wings Record: 31-28-6 (68 Points, T-6th – Atlantic Division)

Red Wings Last Game: 7-3 Win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, Mar. 12

• The Detroit Tigers lost, 8-6, to the New York Yankees on Thursday in Lakeland, Florida.
• Tigers prospect Jackson Jobe allowed three runs (two earned) in 3 2/3 innings.
• Former Yankee Gleyber Torres homered for the Tigers.

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost, 8-6, to the New York Yankees on Thursday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Detroit is 9-9 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Jackson Jobe is extremely confident in his abilities as a starting pitcher, as he revealed after his last start by making a bold statement: “Here’s my stuff. If you hit it, great. Odds are, you’re probably not.”

On Thursday, the New York Yankees hit his stuff.

They hit it hard.

MORE ABOUT HIM: What Tigers rookie Jackson Jobe did this offseason to become even more unhittable

The 22-year-old allowed three runs (two earned runs) on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts across 3⅔ innings, throwing 41 of 68 pitches for strikes. The Yankees averaged a 95.5 mph exit velocity on 11 balls in play, including eight balls in play that had at least a 100 mph exit velocity.

“I just gave up a couple homers,” Jobe said. “That’s all it is. I mean, it happens.”

WHAT TO KNOW: Jackson Jobe on Tigers’ Opening Day roster? Here’s what factors into decision

The damage occurred in the fourth inning, when Jasson Domínguez pulled a middle-down 86.5 mph changeup for a two-run home run to right field and Paul Goldschmidt destroyed a middle-middle 96.6 mph sinker for a solo homer over the batter’s eye in center field.

Before Domínguez’s homer, Javier Báez — playing third base for the first time since 2019 — made a fielding error that allowed the leadoff hitter to reach safely.

The homer from Goldschmidt traveled 447 feet.

“Fastball command wasn’t great,” Jobe said, “but the pitches that they hit out of the yard were, I thought, decent pitches. Those are good hitters. Tip your cap.”

[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

Starting off

Not only did Jobe allow hard contact, but he also failed to miss bats at even an average clip.

Despite elite individual pitches, he generated just three misses on 28 swings — for a 10.7% whiff rate — with one fastball, one sinker and one sweeper. He has a 17.1% whiff rate in spring training, which is a little bit concerning because MLB pitchers averaged a 25.6% whiff rate from 2022-24.

Facing the Yankees, Jobe struggled to located his four-seam fastball.

“I think I threw a lot of uncompetitive fastballs, whether it was up or arm side,” said Jobe, whose fastball averaged 97.5 mph. “That’s something I’ll work on. Being able to get the heater down and follow up with offspeed down, I think that helps me. It all starts with the fastball.”

WHO’S ON THIRD? What Javier Báez at third base means for Tigers Opening Day roster prediction

This spring, Jobe has a 3.65 ERA with four walks and eight strikeouts across 12⅓ innings in four starts. Although he is expected to make the Opening Day rotation, the Tigers haven’t guaranteed anything to him yet.

At the plate

The Tigers faced Yankees left-hander Max Fried, who signed an eight-year, $218 million free agent contract in the offseason — the largest contract ever for a southpaw. He allowed one run on one hit and zero walks with three strikeouts across four innings, throwing 57 pitches.

In the first inning, ex-Yankee Gleyber Torres — who signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the Tigers this offseason — hit a solo home run off Fried’s 93.6 mph fastball.

It was Torres’ third homer of spring training.

The Tigers added one run in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth inning. In the fifth, Colt Keith and Báez hit back-to-back doubles against right-handed reliever Fernando Cruz, with Báez ripping Cruz’s 93.5 mph sinker with a 109.3 mph exit velocity.

Both Torres and Keith had two-hit performances.

The Tigers tacked on two final runs in the bottom of the ninth as Yankees relievers Yerry De Los Santos and Hayden Merda had issues finding the strike zone; they issued four straight two-out walks (to Ryan Kreidler, Bligh Madris, Andrew Navigato and Roberto Campos) before Jace Jung flew out to end the game.

On the mound

After Jobe, the Tigers relievers struggled.

Left-hander Andrew Chafin allowed four runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout in the fifth inning, throwing 26 pitches. His sinker velocity averaged less than 89 mph, down from last year’s 91.7 mph average.

This spring, Chafin has given up six runs on three hits and five walks in three relief appearances.

Right-hander Tommy Kahnle, a former Yankee, failed to complete the sixth inning, with one hit and two walks despite getting just two outs while exhausting 26 pitches. In the seventh, right-hander John Brebbia gave up one run but recorded three outs.

Three stars

1. Torres; 2. Keith; 3. Báez.

Next up

Friday (1:05 p.m., no TV) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.