Power was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, the son of open-wheel racer Bob Power. He began his career driving a Datsun 1200 at Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick, and at Carnel Raceway, Stanthorpe. In 1999 he started racing an ageing family-owned Swift SC92F in the Queensland Formula Ford Championship, winning races in a sporadic campaign. In 2000 he ran a full campaign that delivered his first title in the Swift, while simultaneously racing a late-model Spectrum 07 in the Australian Formula Ford Championship and finishing seventh. Running a small family-oriented team in 2001, he upgraded to a Stealth RF95 and finished second in the series behind factory-supported Van Diemen driver Will Davison.
After three years of Formula Ford, Power moved into Formula Holden with the Graham Watson–owned Ralt Australia team, driving a Reynard 94D. He dominated the category, taking the 2002 Australian Drivers' Championship by over 50 points from Stewart McColl with seven wins and three pole positions. Midway through 2002 he was also allowed to drive a Dallara-Toyota for the Bevan Carrick–owned Cooltemp Racing Formula 3 team in the Australian Formula 3 Championship, missing the title by only a handful of points to James Manderson despite skipping the opening races.
In 2003 Power joined the British Formula 3 Championship, racing first for Diamond Racing and then for Fortec Motorsport as tight funding prevented a full campaign. A second place at Thruxton showed his ability, and he mounted a full campaign in 2004 with Alan Docking Racing, finishing ninth with five podiums. That year he also tested a Minardi Formula One car in Italy alongside his Australian Formula Ford and British Formula 3 rival Will Davison.
In 2005 Power competed in the World Series by Renault for Carlin Motorsport, scoring two race victories, four podiums in total, and five front-row starts. He was also a featured driver for the Australian team in the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season, racing the opener at Brands Hatch and taking Australia to a second-place finish behind Team Brazil.
Late in 2005 Power joined Champ Car's Team Australia at the Lexmark Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise, which ended his World Series by Renault campaign; he still finished seventh in that championship despite leaving. He ran strongly in the Indy 300 until being knocked off the track by teammate Alex Tagliani. After Surfers Paradise he signed a multi-year contract with the team, beginning immediately at the next round in Mexico City after Tagliani's teammate Marcus Marshall was released for a described "serious breach of contract".
Power drove full-time for Team Australia in 2006, recording nine top-ten finishes, his first Champ Car podium at the season-ending Mexico round, the rookie of the year award, and sixth in the championship. At his home race at Surfers Paradise he took the first pole of his career in Champ Cars, but contact from Paul Tracy in pit lane and an ambitious move by Sébastien Bourdais bent a steering arm and dropped him to twelfth.
On 8 April 2007 Power won his first Champ Car race at the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix on the streets of Las Vegas, qualifying on pole, leading most laps, and becoming the first Australian to win in the series. On 8 July, in heavy rain at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, he drove from fourth to first in fourteen laps, passing three-time champion Sébastien Bourdais, rookie Neel Jani, and finally rookie Ryan Dalziel via a series of late restarts to take an easy victory. "I was close behind Sebastien and I knew he was quite tentative in the wet and I attacked him," Power said. "It's just about being aggressive at the right time and not hitting anyone." He added podiums at Long Beach, Mont-Tremblant, and Mexico City, and poles at Houston, Edmonton, Surfers Paradise, and Mexico City, finishing fourth in the 2007 standings.
The Champ Car–IndyCar merger left Power's future uncertain after his Walker Racing team declined the switch for lack of sponsorship. He signed with KV Racing Technology to drive the No. 8 Aussie Vineyards–Team Australia car in 2008, won the final Champ Car race at Long Beach — which also gave him his first IndyCar Series win — and finished twelfth overall, outpointed by teammate Oriol Servià. He took pole but crashed out while leading the non-points Surfers Paradise event.
Team Penske announced on 13 January 2009 that Power would replace Hélio Castroneves in the No. 3 car while Castroneves faced federal tax evasion charges. Power finished sixth at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg before Castroneves was acquitted and returned. Penske, having prepared spare cars, ran Power in the No. 12 from Long Beach onward, where he took a dominant last-minute pole and finished second to Dario Franchitti. He finished fifth in the Indianapolis 500 after a final-stop pit gaffe while running second, then was retained for five more races and captured his first IndyCar win dominantly at the Rexall Edmonton Indy. His season ended in practice for the Sonoma race when Nelson Philippe stalled in a blind, high-speed turn 3; Power crashed heavily into him, suffering two fractured vertebrae and a concussion that ruled him out for the rest of 2009.
Power joined Penske full-time for 2010 with Verizon Wireless sponsorship, winning the first two races at Brazil and St. Petersburg — the first IndyCar driver since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2001 to do so — and adding a win from pole at Watkins Glen International. He scored five wins (all on road courses) and a record eight poles, and won the inaugural Mario Andretti Trophy as road course champion.
In 2011 he won six races — Barber Motorsports Park, São Paulo, the second Texas doubleheader race, Edmonton, Infineon Raceway, and the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix — but the season was turbulent. He spun after contact with championship leader Dario Franchitti at Toronto, and at New Hampshire was caught in a melee after a controversial wet restart, displaying an obscene "Double Angry Birds" gesture to IndyCar director of competition Brian Barnhart that drew a $30,000 fine and wide fan support. Contact with rookie Ana Beatriz cost him a likely Kentucky win, and his title hopes ended in the 15-car Las Vegas crash that killed Dan Wheldon; Power was hospitalised and later had surgery for a thoracic compression fracture.
For 2012 Power returned to the No. 12 at Penske and won three straight at Barber, Long Beach, and São Paulo to lead the championship. He built a 36-point margin late but a wet-strategy call at Baltimore and a crash at the Fontana finale handed the title to Ryan Hunter-Reay, leaving Power second for the third consecutive season; he won a third Mario Andretti Trophy as road course champion. A slow 2013 picked up after Mid-Ohio, with wins at Sonoma, Houston, and the Fontana finale to take fourth in points after three wins in the last five races.
Power won the 2014 opener at St. Petersburg after passing pole-sitter Takuma Sato, added a Detroit win for Roger Penske, and won at Milwaukee — his first oval win that year — before finishing ninth at the Fontana finale to clinch his first IndyCar championship by 62 points over Hélio Castroneves, breaking down in tears on the podium. A difficult 2015, including being taken out without fault on consecutive ovals and a collision with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya at the Sonoma double-points finale, still yielded third in the championship; he also lost the 2015 Indianapolis 500 narrowly to Montoya on his eighth attempt.
Power missed the 2016 St. Petersburg opener over suspected concussion symptoms — later attributed to a possible ear or sinus infection — yet finished second in points behind teammate Simon Pagenaud with four wins. He took three wins and five poles for fifth in 2017, then in 2018 won the IndyCar Grand Prix (Penske's 200th series win), the 102nd Indianapolis 500 on 27 May 2018, and Gateway, before a late Portland accident ended his title fight. He kept his streak of at least one win per season alive through 2020, reaching eleven straight seasons. In a difficult 2021 he snapped a 315-day winless streak on the IMS Road Course — Roger Penske's first win at the speedway since buying it — and finished ninth.
A strong 2022 rebound brought a win at the final Belle Isle Detroit Grand Prix, five poles including a record-breaking fifth that surpassed Mario Andretti's all-time IndyCar pole mark, and victory at the Laguna Seca finale to claim the 2022 Astor Cup and IndyCar Series title. His most difficult season followed in 2023: only three podiums, his sixteen-season win streak snapped, and seventh in points behind both teammates. He rebounded in 2024 with wins at Road America, Iowa (his first oval win since 2019), and Portland, finishing fourth as the main challenger to Alex Palou.
Power started 2025 with a DNF at St. Petersburg. Before the 2025 Indianapolis 500 fast-12 shootout, his and teammate Josef Newgarden's cars were found with illegally modified attenuators; both were ordered to start at the back, forfeited qualification points, and were fined $100,000, with key Penske members ultimately fired over the scandal. Power finished nineteenth, later promoted to sixteenth, as the only Penske driver to finish. He earned a podium at Iowa and won at Portland, then closed the season ninth in points at Nashville. Two days later Penske announced Power would leave after 17 years.
The day after his Penske departure, Andretti Global signed Power for 2026 to replace the departing Colton Herta. He started with a 22nd at the 2026 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after retiring on lap 55, then took his first podium of the season at the Grand Prix of Arlington, and currently sits 13th in the points standings.
In 2023 Power was scheduled to make his sports car debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona with SunEnergy1 Racing but was replaced just under two weeks before the event after stepping away to care for his wife following surgery complications. He returned to the team, renamed 75 Express, at the 2025 Tirerack.com Battle of the Bricks and is announced to return for the 2026 24 Hours of Daytona.
Power's brother, Damien Power, is a stand-up comedian. Power plays the drums in his spare time, often at IndyCar charity events. He married Liz Cannon in 2010, having met during his CART days when she joined Walker Racing as a receptionist and later worked in the team's PR; their son was born in December 2016. In 2013 he supplied the voice of the Australian anchor in the animated film Turbo.
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