Rahal Brings Home 9th in Season Finale

Rahal Brings Home 9th in Season Finale

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "That was a bruiser. Thank you so much to our sponsors for another season. Once again, we finished every lap today and raised $5000 and will crest $110,000 this year for Turns for Troops so I 'm very proud of that. I'm proud of our year. Today was another competitive day. We got unlucky with that yellow. Our strategy was working great and our car was fast as we showed. That yellow really put a damper on our day. It took us from being quite strong to being mired back in the field. I'm proud of our organization. Our guys worked awfully hard this year. I want to thank the fans for their support and for sticking with INDYCAR racing this year. Let's come back in 2021 and make this sport grow even more. We love putting on a good show for you so thank you for all your support. Now it's time for me to go home and have a kid. Well, not me, my wife, us."

  • FAST FACTS: Rahal started 17th and passed Palou, Ericsson and Pagenaud on the start but was passed by Ferrucci to run 15th. As others made their pit stops, he was able to stay on track longer and cycled up to third before his first of two stops on Lap 34 and returned to the track eighth. He moved into seventh when polesitter Power had trouble and into sixth after an alternate strategy driver (VeeKay) pit on Lap 44. On the third restart from caution, he lost a position to O'Ward and ran seventh. He lost another to Andretti, who was on a different strategy, on Lap 55. As the next round of stops began, he cycled to the race lead and had just set his fastest race lap on Lap 69 on his in-lap for his final stop when previous race leader Rossi crashed and brought out the caution and closed the pits. He led two laps and when the pits opened, he made his final stop on Lap 72/100 and, because his strategy was negated, he returned to the track in 15th place. Two more caution periods drive thru and other penalties and heavy sprinkles ensued, and he ultimately finished in ninth place… Made his 13th Indy car start at this track. His best start here is pole in 2009 and best finish is a win in 2008 in his IndyCar Series debut - both history-making moments at the time as he became the youngest race winner in series history (2008), and youngest pole winner in series history (2009). Both records were eclipsed last year by Colton Herta, but he held them for 10 and 11 years, respectively. Overall, he has earned one top-five and six top-10 starts here and has two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Year-by-year details are available upon request… 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 ended the season ranked sixth in series point standings with a total of 377.