Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Presented by Instacart
Hy-Vee One Step 250 Presented by Gatorade
Iowa Speedway
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, July 21, 2023

LUNDGAARD, HARVEY AND RAHAL SET THE SEVENTH, 11TH AND 20TH FASTEST TIMES IN THE LONE PRACTICE FOR THE HY-VEE INDYCAR WEEKEND AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

1st:        Josef Newgarden           00:18.2420 / 177.428 mph
7th:        Christian Lundgaard       00:18.4579 / 174.364 mph
11th:      Jack Harvey                    00:18.5287 / 173.698 mph             
20th:      Graham Rahal                00:18.7234 / 171.892 mph             

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Blue Compass RV Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Our only practice of the weekend here was a pretty average practice for me. I didn’t think we had as much pace as I would’ve liked to see and I didn’t think we had as much lateral grip as I was expecting. I think our tire degradation is good in the long run but is concerning a little bit with pace. We’ve got some work to do tonight. Qualifying is at 8:30 a.m. so it will be interesting to just go out and throw it around and see what we’ve got. Certainly, we’ve got a little bit of work to be solid and get the Blue Compass RV car to the front.” 

• FAST FACTS: The Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader will mark Rahal’s 17th and 18th races here. He has earned 11 top-10 finishes in 16 starts with his best being fourth in 2015. Last year, in Race 1 he started 16th, fell to the back of the field early on and worked his way back up to a ninth place finish. In Race 2, he started 23rd, fell to the back in 26th and then worked his way back up to 13th in the closing stage of the race but was passed by Palou with six laps to go and took the checkered flag in 14th. 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 167 points and is ranked 14th overall.

JACK HARVEY, 45 HUB International Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think the practice session was good, I’m pretty happy with the No. 30 HUB International Honda. I feel like we can have great qualifying tomorrow and that’s not trying to find optimism, that’s just how I feel. The car is in a good window to try and make it happen. I thought we had pretty good progress for the session. We probably didn’t unload how I would have but we stuck at it, worked through it and I’m hoping for a good day.” 

• FAST FACTS: Will make his fifth and sixth INDYCAR SERIES starts here. Last year, Harvey was the top qualifier for the team in seventh place for both races. For Race 1, he started seventh and finished seventh 18th and in Race 2 he qualified seventh but Herta served a nine position grid penalty and he started sixth. He held a position in thetop-10 for the first 26 laps but ultimately finished in 20th place.  Jack also 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 23rd in series standings with 101 points.  

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We finished P7 in the only practice session, which was great for the No 45 Hy-Vee Honda. At the beginning of the session, I thought the car was a little out of the window but we dialed it in which is always positive. We will see how qualifying goes tomorrow and if we can nail two laps in a row and have two consistent qualifying laps. Then we will see how it goes the rest of the weekend. High hopes for now.”

• FAST FACTS: He is making his third and fourth start at Iowa Speedway and is hoping to carry the momentum of earning his first series victory to the doubleheader weekend in Iowa. Last year, in Race 1m he qualified and drove to his highest career oval finish to date of 10th place. In Race 2, he qualified 17th and was running 15th when he pit due to brake issues after completing 112 of 300 laps. The team was unable to repair the car i time to return to the race and he retired in 26th place.  After running well during a test at Iowa Speedway on June 21, he is optimistic of being able to have a competitive run in the doubleheader races, one of which is on his 22nd birthday on Sunday, July 23… He is seventh place in series standings with 249.

RLL AT IOWA: The 2023 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend will mark the 15th and 16th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway. The best finish for the team is third place (2020 Race 2 by G. Rahal, 2018 by Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp). Sharp also earned the top start for the team of fourth in 2007.

NEXT UP: Qualifying for both races will take place from 8:30-9:30 AM CT. The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Presented by Instacart will be televised on NBC beginning at 3 pm ET on Saturday, July 22.  Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.