Will Power Opens Up on Penske Exit: 'Knew in my Gut' it was Right Move

Will Power swears he doesn’t view 2026 as a revenge tour. He hasn’t thrown out his old Penske clothes. He feels the narrative that fans will see an unleashed Will Power is more created drama than reality.

But he also can’t avoid the reality that there are several Will Power personalities. The commercial for FOX even played on that theme.

As he told me at the Phoenix test last week, I was talking to "the race-car driver, not the lawyer."

In a pair of interviews over the last month, the 44-year-old Power described the decision to leave Team Penske.

Will Power is getting a fresh start at 44 years old with Andretti.

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Penske offered him a one-year-deal last summer for an 18th season with the organization. Instead, he signed with Andretti Global to replace Colton Herta, who has moved to Formula 2.

"Late in the game, Roger [Penske] did offer me something, but at that point, I was too far down the road. And honestly, just for myself, I wanted to drive somewhere different," Power told me. "And at the beginning of the year, we talked about it with my manager, and we thought if there was a seat at Andretti, that would be the best spot for us.

"And funnily enough, it just played out like that."

Power will admit he feels rejuvenated, that things got stale at Penske. And now that he has moved to Andretti, he feels more involved in giving feedback to engineers and strategists who don’t know what he wants or would welcome his ideas (since they are hearing them for the first time) as they try to improve.

One of the people he will talk to is the team principal, Ron Ruzewski, one of the Penske executives released from the team last May amid technical violations found on two of the Penske cars.

Ruzewski won’t characterize their working together as one where they want to get back at Penske.

"I like Will, he’s a great driver and happy that he’s here," Ruzewski said. "People say, ‘Oh, he's going to be motivated’ or he's going to want to kick their butt or whatever. And, honestly, I just see a rejuvenated Will that wants to just prove to himself, much like I do. 

"I want to prove to myself that I can do this for me."

Will Power is a sporting a new No. 26 in 2026.

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Who wouldn’t listen to a driver with 45 career victories and two series championships with all but three of the victories coming in his 17 years at Team Penske? That's a no-brainer.

But that decision to leave …

"I just know in my gut it was the right decision," said Power, who won 71 poles at Team Penske. "I knew it at the time. I'm old enough now to go with gut feelings. It was the right time.

"Whatever happens. that's what I wanted to do, and I think it will be good just based on what I've seen so far."

At one point this offseason, Power told the Associated Press, "There's nothing more I want to do this year than beat Penske every single weekend." 

He revised that a little bit when talking to me a week later: "I'm motivated to beat every driver. I'm not just like singling out a team because the only way you're going to win, you’ve got to beat the whole field."

In fact, Power said he would race his former Penske teammates potentially a little cleaner.

"If you're a Penske teammate, you race your teammates harder than you do everyone else," Power said. "That's sort of what they instill in that team for some reason. That was it for the whole career.

"It was like you always had instances with your teammates. I think Roger likes the teammates to have a bit of beef because it pushes them harder. I think that's his philosophy."

Power admits it is weird that he doesn’t drive the Verizon-sponsored No. 12. It has taken some time at testing to go to the Andretti haulers and car as the driver of the No. 26.

"There's no sort of bitterness or anything like that that's driving me," Power said. "It’s business as normal. Penske gave me a great career to this point. So there's no animosity."

Will Power brings 45 career victories and two series championships to Andretti.

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Once he gets in the car and in the meetings, he feels like the race-car driver he always has been.

"It feels just like normal, man," Power said. "I've moved on. It's just once you get down to business, you're just really focused on your job and working with the people and just understanding the direction is fun.

"It's enjoyable. It's exciting every time you go out because you're trying something new. And I think at Penske, you're rolling off the truck pretty good for the most part all the time and we were able to switch philosophies quickly. It was a very well-oiled machine."

He believes Andretti has the tools, some even better than he had at Penske. Power notes that Andretti has had better street course cars while Penske has for a long time shined on the ovals. 

And, again, he swears he’s taking the same approach.

"It's not like I’m going to come in with more motivation, that's just going to push me over the top," Power said. "People look back and go, ‘Oh he's very motivated.' But none of that's changed.

"It's the same. Just methodically going through the stuff that I need to and just having the correct approach."

Power turns 45 on Sunday. He has won two times at St. Pete, but his 2025 season got off to a rough start when he ran into the back of Nolan Siegel on the opening lap, ending the day for both as well as Louis Foster.

So Power could be forgiven if he just wants to get through the first lap in his Andretti debut.

"March 1st will be an exciting day, but that is one of 18 races, so a small portion," Will Power, the racer, said. "They all pay the same points. They all matter, but it’s a small snippet of the season."

That almost sounds like a driver who made a move not expecting to run as well as he did the year prior. Or it could be a driver just confident enough that he won’t put too much stock into one race.

"I had the option to stay at Penske, that's the thing," Power said. "The question was do you want to go through another year of unknowing [the future] if you want to do another year after that? ... It was pleasantly surprising that this [Andretti deal] actually played out like it did.

"It's kind of where I wanted to be. I wanted to try a different team. And it was just the right thing. I knew it in my gut. That's why I haven't even questioned it or doubted it."