ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 – The Milwaukee Mile – Race Notes/Quotes

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 – The Milwaukee Mile
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, July 12, 2015

RAHAL EARNED HIS FIFTH PODIUM FINISH OF THE SEASON WITH THIRD PLACE IN THE ABC SUPPLY WISCONSIN 250 AT THE MILWAUKEE MILE; TIED FOR THIRD IN STANDINGS

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “These Mi-Jack Steak ‘n Shake boys did a heck of a job today. We’ve been working really hard, just putting ourselves in a position to succeed. This team put us in that position today. They got us three spots in the pits and I got a couple more on the restart and it was clear sailing from there. We were looking at a three stop strategy early on and I think we were the only ones that could do it and then we bailed and I was frustrated at the time but with the way the yellows worked out it was fine. I was a lot quicker than Helio (Castroneves) at the end but I just couldn’t get around him. This is a good points day for us. I think we are tied for third. It’s been a good year for us and this is Number Five for podiums. We wanted to beat Helio bad, wanted to pull that gap in points but it looks like he’s tied with us. We’ll just keep pushing away. We’re proud to fly the flag for Honda. That’s our goal, that’s our job and we’re proud to do it.”

FAST FACTS: He matched his best qualifying position of the season with sixth place. In the race, he stretched his fuel the furthest of all drivers to Lap 60 to possibly utilize a three stop strategy but the team later changed to a four pit stop strategy due to Rahal being held up in slower traffic on that stint. He maintained a top-eight position for the majority of the last half of the race and a top-five most of the final 50 laps. Rahal and a few cars around him took advantage of a late caution for Justin Wilson to pit for fresh tires in the closing stages of the race. He maintained his fifth place position when he returned to the track and passed Ed Carpenter for fourth on a Lap 232/250 restart then passed Juan Pablo Montoya for third on Lap 235 of 250. He held his position and earned his fifth podium of the season with third place and moved into a tie for third in series standings with Helio Castroneves… Was his seventh race here. Missed winning his first pole in 2008 here by 2/10th of a second over a four lap average and started a then career best second to Andretti with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. Ran between second and fourth until L130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Manning. Retired in 25th place. Qualified 2nd with NHLR in 2009 and briefly took the lead at the start but dropped to third by the end of the lap and ultimately finished fourth, his highest finish on an oval at the time. In 2010, he ran a partial season and did not race at Milwaukee. In 2011 he qualified 12th and finished 2nd with Service Central/Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR). He qualified 17th, started 11th with SCCGR after many ahead served an engine change penalty and finished ninth in 2012 with SCCGR. In 2013 he qualified 23rd with RLL but started 24th due to a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. He finished 16th in the race. In 2014 he qualified and finished 14th with RLL… His top finish this season is a win at Auto Club Speedway (June 27) and his top start is fifth in Dual 2 in Detroit (set by entrant points; qualified sixth at Detroit 2)… Rahal is tied with Helio Castroneves for third in series point standings with a total of 370. He trails second place Scott Dixon by 15 (385) and leader Juan Pablo Montoya by 69 (439) after Round 12 of 16.

RLL AT MILWAUKEE: The ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 marked the 21st event for RLL at the legendary Milwaukee Mile oval. The team won here twice (Kenny Brack 2001 & Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), started from pole three times (Bobby Rahal 1992, Kenny Brack 2001, Vitor Meira 2004), made four front row starts (2nd – Jourdain Jr. 2003) and earned five podiums (2nd: Rahal 2004, Rice 2004; 3rd: G. Rahal 2015). Prior to the 2015 event, the team prepared a total of 37 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Buddy Rice (2004-06), Vitor Meira (2004-05), Danica Patrick (2005-06), Jeff Simmons (2006-07), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013-2014) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned 11 top-five finishes and 20 top-10’s at the track including today’s third place finish..

NEXT UP: The Iowa Corn 300 will take place next Saturday night, July 18. Graham Rahal has earned five top-10 finishes here in seven starts with his best being fifth in 2013.