PLYMOUTH, Wisc — Will Power used both hands to show his displeasure with Scott Dixon following a frightening practice crash on Saturday morning. He later lambasted Dixon after failing to make it out of the first round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Dixon was just the tip of the iceberg in Power’s rough day in Road America.

“Just pissed for what (Scott) Dixon did this morning. It’s ruined our weekend,” Power said after qualifying a disappointing 22nd for Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America (1 p.m. ET, USA, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Power’s No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske was rebuilt between the two sessions, but due to just a brief break between them, they just didn’t have enough time to dial the car in the way that it needed to be to advance out of the first round.

What’s frustrating for him is the fact that qualifying is everything here. All eight races since the series has been back have been won via a top 10 starter. 6 of the 8 from the top 5. 4 of those 6 were won from the front row at that. In fact, even before that, there was 25 races and 24 of them were won from a top 10 starter making them 32-for-33 in producing race winners. 27 of the 33 were won from the Fast Six at that.

It’s not just here that track position at the start is so key. It’s natural road courses in general.

Since 2020, the year the Aeroscreen debuted, 13 of the 23 races (59%) have been won via a front row starter including 9 of the last 13 (75%) and 5 of the 9 (63%) last year. 17 of the 23 (73.9%) were won from a Fast Six starter while 21 of the last 23 (91.3%) from the top 10.

Also, if you don’t make the Fast Six, you basically are playing for fifth place on back. 19 of the 24 podium spots since 2016 were taken via a Fast Six qualifier including each of the last two years.

So, for Power who is currently eighth in points, to be starting where he is, well he’s playing from way behind on Sunday.

Also, on this track, it’s been a tough one to figure out this weekend. With the repave, it’s been a one groove track and if you get outside of the groove, you’re just a passenger. Power, took issue with that.

“This track’s terrible; when you go off, they do a terrible job here so they need to pick up their game,” Power said. “You go off, you break your back every time; done it a couple of times this weekend so they need a kick in the butt.”

Then, he took issue with Romain Grosjean.

Just prior to he and Dixon tangling in Turn 12, Power was riding behind Grosjean on track. Grosjean, moved to his right to block Power who had a run on him entering Canada Corner.

“And Grosjean is a piece of crap,” he proclaimed. “He needs a punch in the face.”