Rahal, Lundgaard, and Harvey in the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 at Iowa Speedway; Race 2 of the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend is Up Sunday

#15: Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHy-VeeDeals.com 250 Presented by Door Dash – Iowa Speedway
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE 1 NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, July 23, 2022

RAHAL 9TH, LUNDGAARD 10TH AND HARVEY 18TH IN THE HY-VEEDEALS.COM 250 AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 High Rock Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a really tough start to the race for the High Rock Vodka machine. The first 100 laps were hell. The car that we had yesterday didn’t show up today for some reason and we didn’t even change anything so why that happened, who knows? We’ve got tonight to improve a little bit. But still to get a top nine feels good but of course we thought and felt like we would be a competitor for the podium today. Considering how difficult it was to finish ninth actually I’m not too unhappy with. I know it was a struggle for everybody but we found ourselves at the very back of the pack and worked our way all the way back up through on merit so we’ll take it and focus on tomorrow and getting the High Rock Vodka machine further forward.”

  • FAST FACTS: He started 16th, fell to the back of the field early on and worked his way back up to a ninth place finish… The Hy-Vee doubleheader will mark his 15th and 16th races here. He has earned 11 top-10 finishes in 15 starts with his best being fourth in 2015… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and THREE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He has a total of 232 points and is ranked 13th overall.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Iowa 1 done, my birthday race. It was a damn hot one, I am finished, destroyed. I don’t have any energy left. I left everything out there so im looking forward to getting a nice sleep tonight. It was a good result for the team. We came from 20th up to 10th and got Jimmie (Johnson) over the line so it was a good team result with Graham in ninth. We’ve got to keep digging.”

  • FAST FACTS: He qualified 20th and drove to his highest career oval finish of 10th place. He also competed in oval race in Texas and the Indy 500… He has competed in 11 INDYCAR SERIES races with a best start of 4th place (IMS road course 2021) and best finish of 9th (IMS road course, 2022)… He is 16th place in series standings and is the highest ranked rookie with 203.

JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I thought we had a really good car in qualifying obviously because we started seventh but finished the race 18th so it’s a pretty disappointing day. We’ve got a lot of work to do overnight.”

  • FAST FACTS: He qualified seventh for Race 1 of the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend at Iowa Speedway and finished 18th… Today was his third INDYCAR SERIES start here… He competed in the doubleheader at Iowa Speedway in 2020 and earned seventh place finishes in both races with a best start of sixth place in Race 2 and ninth in Race 1. He also competed at Iowa Speedway in the 2015 Indy Lights race where he started third and finished fifth. He is 20th in series standings with 138 points.  

RLL AT IOWA: The Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend will mark the 13th and 14th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway.  The best finish for the team is third in 2020 Race 2 by Graham Rahal, 2018 by Takuma Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp who also earned the top start for the team of fourth the same year.  The team has earned three podiums (3rd – Rahal 2020 Race 2, Sharp 2007, Sato 2018) and 13, top-10 finishes at the track.   

NEXT UP: The Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 Presented by Google will be televised on NBC beginning at 2 pm ET on Sunday, July 24.  Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.