The Field is Set for Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
PPG 375 – Texas Motor Speedway
Round 2 of 17 in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, April 1, 2023
THE FIELD IS SET FOR SUNDAY’S PPG 375 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
POLE: Felix Rosenqvist 2-lap avg. speed of 220.264 mph
24th: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 217.611 mph
27th: Christian Lundgaard 2-lap avg. speed of 216.210 mph
28th: Jack Harvey 2-lap avg. speed of 216.103 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fleet Cost & Care Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The balance wasn’t too far off. I could feel that the rear wasn’t planted and we had a little bit of understeer but obviously this is frustrating for us with the amount of heart and soul and effort, we certainly expect more. Aerodynamically, I don’t want to pinpoint one thing, but I feel like the cars must be very draggy because the balance isn’t that far off. When you look at it from that perspective, where else do you go. Tomorrow we’ll be fine as we always are here.”
- FAST FACTS: In Graham Rahal’s 16 races here, his best start came in 2012 of third and best finish is his win in 2016 that still stands as the closest finish in TMS history at 0.0080 of a second. In total, he has four podium finishes (1st 2016; 2nd in 2012; 3rd in 2019 & 2021), seven top-five’s and nine top-10s in his 15 races and has finished sixth or better in six of his past seven races here. Last year, Rahal was running 10th in the middle of a three-wide with Castroneves (high side) and rookie DeFrancesco (low) and the latter made contact with Rahal and set off a multi-car crash after 128/248 laps. He 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 ranked sixth in series point standings with 28.
JACK HARVEY, No. 45 PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Qualifying didn’t go very well obviously. We didn’t look great in practice and tried something in qualifying and perhaps we were a little too ambitious with what we tried but really there was nothing to lose by giving it a shot. We certainly don’t want to be where we are on the super speedways, but I think we’ve shown we’ve got a decent car for the race. I’d sure like to see the No. 30 PeopleReady Honda be as far up the field as possible so we’re going to have to spend a lot of time this afternoon getting ready for the race tomorrow, but we’ve made it a bit hard on ourselves. We’ve got a lot to get done in a short amount of time, so we really have to now be good about the changes we’ve made, be clear about the changes we’ve made, total up the pros and cons and see where it brings us.”
- FAST FACTS: Will make his fourth start at TMS. His best oval start is fifth place, which he earned at WWT Raceway in 2020 and at TMS in Race 2 in 2021. His best finish on an oval to date is seventh place, which he has accomplished three times (Iowa 1 & 2 in 2020, TMS Race 1 in 2021). He missed the race last year after a crash in the final practice.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We came into this weekend knowing our qualifying pace was too slow last year, we found some good improvements in the car but it doesn’t seem to translate once we get on track so that’s a little disappointing. The car doesn’t turn that much. The high line practice will be good for knowledge but also just to rubber that line in. It didn’t seem to be that bad in the race last year, there was a lot of passing up there. I know I made a lot of overtakes up there, around the outside on the high line.”
- FAST FACTS: Christian’s oval debut was at Texas last year and it was action packed. He qualified 25th and ran in the top-10 in the late stage of the race but ultimately retired after contact with Colton Herta damaged his car and he opted not to risk more… He is ranked 9th in series point standings with 22.
NEXT UP: The final practice will take place from 1:45-3:30 p.m. today and live coverage of the PPG 375 will begin on NBC at 12 p.m. ET Sunday.