AVONDALE, Louisiana – Heading into the second race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season the two Team Verizon drivers are leading the standings.

It must be in their sponsorship contract.

Team Verizon driver Juan Pablo Montoya defeated fellow Team Verizon driver Will Power in the March 29 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Montoya hounded the defending IndyCar Series champion until the final pit stop of the race. Power’s Team Penske crew was just a tad slow on the pit stop, forgetting to pull the air hose out of the air jack, and that was enough for Montoya – on the track and at speed -- to drive past Power’s car as it left the pit area.

“It was good to have the two Verizon cars finish 1-2,” Power said. “You can’t ask for anything better than that – unless I was first and Montoya was second.”

The two Team Verizon drivers arrived at NOLA Motorsports Park on Thursday for Sunday’s Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana. Montoya, Power and the rest of the Verizon IndyCar Series competitors begin practice Friday on the 2.67-mile, 13-turn flat permanent road course in preparation for Saturday’s Firestone “Fast Six” qualifications and Sunday’s race.

“To the driver this is really fun to drive,” Power said. “It’s very technical and high grip and you have to be brave. I enjoy it a lot. We don’t know how it will race yet but it will be a three pit stop race and it should be fun. I think Turn 1 will be the passing zone and maybe Turn 3. You never know until you race, though.

“It’s very physical here. Driving in here I’m really excited to see the presentation they have made. I hope we have a clean weekend as far as weather goes.”

Power is hoping for a clean weather radar for Race Day and predicts the racing should be cleaner on the track than the contact at St. Petersburg that left the course scattered with debris.

“I think you’ll see less contact here than at St. Pete because everyone has a race under their belt and are very conscious about the front wings,” Power said. “There is plenty of runoff space here. This car has a pretty long nose so with the old cars before the rear bumper this nose is longer and now you have another foot or so hanging off the rear wheel. It’s easy to misjudge that.”

Power believed he had the quickest car at St. Petersburg and a second-place finish means he’s off to a fast start as he attempts defend his first series championship.

“We just missed out two weeks ago,” Power said. “We are always very strong at St. Pete. That’s good.”

Power refused to blame the loss on the air hose incident where a crewmember had to go back to pull the hose out of the back of the car before the jacks would drop and he could continue.

“It was a combination of my in lap – my tires were pretty shot,” Power said. “Then the actual pit stop and being pit out cost us as well because we were at a very sharp angle to get out of it and that cost us. Montoya had a very good out lap as well.

“If we ran Firestone Blacks (durable primary tire that didn’t degrade as fast as the Reds) we would have no probably pulling away. But we ran eight-lap qualifying Reds and we paid the penalty.”

Power believes his team learned from those mistakes and he is ready to dial up another victory for Team Verizon at NOLA Motorsports Park.