GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “After running so well last night, and yesterday in general, this was a shock to us. We’re pretty disappointed in the performance; the car was extremely loose. This hurts us in the championship because we lost some ground. We didn’t see this yesterday in those conditions even on old tires so it is a shock for sure to see the handling today like we had. It was a bad day but we will work hard to recover from this and be strong in Toronto.”
FAST FACTS: Rahal started sixth but struggled with the handling of his race car and finished 15th… Was his seventh event here and eighth race (two in 2011). He qualified 21st in 2014 and finished 12th. He qualified 19th in 2013 and started 17th after two cars ahead served 10-grid penalties for unapproved engine changes. He struggled with the handling of his race car and finished 21st. He set the fastest single lap in qualifying in 2012 but the grid is set based on a two-lap average and he qualified third in 2012. In the race, he led 27 laps but a slight brush of the wall with two laps to go forced him to settle for second place with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR). He qualified 20th for the first of two heat races in 2011 and finished ninth with SCCGR. He drew the fourth starting spot for Race 2 in 2011 and finished 30th. He did not compete in Texas in 2010 during his partial season of competition. He qualified 12th with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) in 2009 but retired in 22nd place after contact. In 2008, he qualified 18th and finished 11th with NHLR… He is ranked fifth in series standings with a total of 261. He trails fourth place Helio Castroneves by 25 (286), third place Scott Dixon by 44 (305) and second place Will Power by 52 (313) after Round 9 of 16.
RLL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: The Firestone 600 marked the 13th for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval. The team’s highest start of pole with Scott Sharp came in 2007 and highest finish of second came in 2005 with Vitor Meira. The team earned another front row start in 2004 when Buddy Rice qualified second. Prior to the 2015 event, the team prepared a total of 18 entries for drivers such as Kenny Brack (2003 x2), Buddy Rice (2004 x2; 2005, 2006), Vitor Meira (2004 x2; 2005), Danica Patrick (2005, 2006), Jeff Simmons (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Jay Howard (2011, Schmidt/RLL), Takuma Sato (2012) Graham Rahal (2013-2014) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned three top-five finishes and six top-10’s at the track. The No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry for Graham Rahal will bring that total to 19 in 2015.
NEXT UP: The Honda Indy Toronto will take place Sunday, June 14 and be televised on NBCSN.
