Will Power captured the Sonoma IndyCar race after Scott Dixon was assessed a penalty following a pit road accident late in the race that injured three members of Power's team.
Will Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Team Penske Cherolet Dallara, celebrates his win during the IZOD IndyCar Series GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, in California, on August 25, 2013.
Race officials on Sunday slapped New Zealand's Dixon with a "pit lane safety violation" after he struck a tyre carried by a member of Power's team.
"Ultimately, we have a duty to protect everybody in the pit lane," said race director Beaux Barfield. "If we have somebody who uses less than great judgement when they leave their pit box and we have an incident, then we have to make a statement by penalizing."
Australia's Power had just left his pit stall when Dixon hit the crew member, which caused him to slam into two other members of Power's team. No one was seriously hurt but the three did suffer minor injuries.
Dixon was leading the race and Power was second at the time of the incident, which took place during a round of pit stops under caution on lap 65.
Dixon blamed the incident on Power's team, saying the crew member intentionally tried to block his exit.
"That's probably the most blatant thing I've seen in a long time," Dixon said. "I had a straight line, and he (the crew member carrying the tyre) walked into us. Pretty annoyed with that. We had a strong car all day."
Both drivers had their pit stalls next to each other. Auckland's Dixon was the first to leave the pits, followed by Power, of Toowoomba, Queensland.
Race officials conducted a video review of the incident and assessed Dixon the penalty. Dixon, who was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit last year, had to serve a drive-thru penalty after a restart with 15 laps to go.
"I don't think we did anything wrong," Dixon added. "To me, that was really bad sportsmanship. He just walked straight into us."
Power took over the lead and kept it for the remainder of the 85-lap race.
The seventh and final caution then set the stage for a four-lap sprint to the finish. Power pulled away from second-place runner Justin Wilson following the last restart.
He beat Wilson to the finish line by 1.2 seconds for his 19th career IndyCar victory but his first since April of last year in Brazil.
"We've had a lot of hard hits this season," said Power. "This is great for our confidence, and we're back in the winning ways."
Power, who once raced for Formula Holden, also snapped a 25-race winless drought.
Dixon led for a total of 27 laps but he finished in 15th place.