Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingBig Machine Music City Grand Prix
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – August 5, 2022


LUNDGAARD PACED PRACTICE 1 FOR THE BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX OF NASHVILLE; RAHAL AND HARVEY WERE 19TH AND 20TH

1)         Christian Lundgaard             1:15.9659 / 99.518 mph        
19)       Jack Harvey                           1:17.6736 / 97.330 mph        
20)       Graham Rahal                       1:17.7000 / 97.297 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a tough session for us. We got up there on the black tires – P7 or P8 –but really never had any pace that was worthwhile. The car was a real handful today. It was very low so there was a lot of bottoming, a lot of hitting. I just never felt like I had much. We tried to go to the green tires and I was just in a heap of traffic and those tires seemed to go off in about half of a lap. We’ll focus on tomorrow and see what we can do. Christian is on a completely different setup so we’ll have to study that and figure out how they make it work and go from there.”

• FAST FACTS: In the inaugural race here last year, Rahal drove to a fifth place finish after qualifying 13th… 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 is in 12th place in series point standings with a total of 274.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 30 Shield Cleansers Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (On how much being P1 in practice after finishing second in Indy last week boosts his and the team:) “Quite dramatically, honestly. I must say I wasn’t really expecting to be this far up here (on the time sheets) today never having been here before. We showed up and the pace was there. You see that Malukas was there in P3 as well. The rookie field this year is quite strong. In Toronto the car was good, which was the last street circuit before coming here. We were expecting to have a better (racing) package and it seems like the package is there.”

• FAST FACTS: Finished P1 for the first time in a practice session. The Shield Cleansers livery features a design inspired by the band O.A.R., who is in concert Saturday night at Ascend Amphitheatre and has a partnership with team partner Sugarlands Distilling… Arrived to Nashville fresh off a career best second place finish at the Gallagher GP and IMS… Will be his first race here and 15^th in the INDYCAR SERIES… He is the highest ranked rookie in 15th place in the point standings with 248.

JACK HARVEY, 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was an okay start for us herein the Music City Grand Prix. The No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda isn’t too bad. It was a kind of scruffy final part of the run but I think the car should have some good pace. We have a few clear areas to work on but we’ll do that overnight and be ready for tomorrow.”

• FAST FACTS: Qualified sixth and finished 15th in the inaugural race here in 2021… He is ranked 22nd with 148 points.  

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING IN NASHVILLE… The Music City Grand Prix will mark the second event for the team here.  The team’s highest finish here is fifth place by Rahal and highest start is 13th, also by Rahal. The series previously conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Super Speedway oval from 2001-2008.The team’s highest start there was pole in 2004 by Buddy Rice and highest finish was fourth with Danica Patrick.

NEXT UP:  Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 11:15 – 12:15 p.m. ET and qualifying will be 3:30 – 4:45. All sessions will air on Peacock Premium and Sunday’s race will also air on NBC at 3 PM ET. The race warm-up will take place from 9:15 – 9:45 p.m. ET.   Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.