Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – August 6, 2022

LUNDGAARD EARNED HIS BEST INDYCAR START OF THIRD PLACE FOR THE BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX OF NASHVILLE; RAHAL AND HARVEY QUALIFIED 9TH AND 11TH

1)         Scott McLaughlin        1:14.5555 / 101.401 mph          (Group 2, Round 3)
3)         Christian Lundgaard    1:14.7149 / 101.185 mph          (Group 2, Round 3)
9)         Graham Rahal              1:15.3112 / 100.383 mph          (Group 2, Round 2)         
11)       Jack Harvey                 1:15.9758 / 99.505 mph             (Group 1, Round 2)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We definitely had a lot more than that. I made a big mistake which I think cost me advancing and maybe more which is frustrating. But I thought we did a good job today generally closing the gap to Christian. He’s done a great job all weekend and on that qualifying run, I was just trying hard and trying to make a difference personally and locked the inside front (tire) in Turn 6 and cost the United Rentals team from advancing. We’ll take it. Everyone has worked hard to have three RLL cars in the top-12 is a good improvement. We’ve just got to keep going.”

• 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: “I’m super happy at this point to put the Shield Cleansers car third. It was a rough qualifying session. I think we were very competitive in Q1, we were there in Q2. I made a mistake early in the session on my first lap and locked up. I was very close to hitting the barriers. I just missed it and spun around, and they gave me a drive through penalty. So not getting a banker lap in on the blacks was kind tough mentally to deal with knowing now you definitely need to go out and perform. And we did so, we got through Round 2 in fourth place. And honestly the first lap in the Fast Six, with that big lock up, it kind of just locked up instantly. We’ve struggled a bit with the brake stability this weekend and that just proves it. And pushing to the limits, it’s going to go wrong sometimes. We got there on the second set. Obviously, it didn’t help for confidence so it was a slightly less aggressive entry approach to the corner but I’m super happy being where we are. The whole team deserves it.”

• FAST FACTS: Finished P1 for the first time in a practice session in Practice 1 on Friday and earned his best INDYCAR starting position of third. 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: “I think that was a decent run for our No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda here. It was nice to transfer to the next round. It wasn’t a very good lap on my part in Q2 didn’t get a good lap in Q2. Honestly, I was trying so hard to try and find a little bit that I thought we were missing and three corners made three pretty big mistakes but I think the car is not too bad. We will try to figure out how to have a really strong day tomorrow and make it our best race of the year yet.”

• 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:  The pre-race warm-up will take place tomorrow from 10:15 – 10:45 a.m. ET and the 80-lap Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will take the Green Flag at 3:30 p.m. ET. All sessions will air on Peacock Premium and Sunday’s race will also air on NBC beginning at 3 PM ET.  Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.