Rahal Contended for the Win But Finished Second in the GMR GP

Rahal Contended for the Win But Finished Second in the GMR GP

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I thought the strategy was honestly working perfectly. Honestly, with the two-stop coming out of the pits after the first stop and still being right with Power and Harvey and all the good guys, the guys I was racing at that time, all I kept thinking was when the pits cycled through for the last time, we'd have about a 25- or 30-second lead, but obviously the yellow came out and kind of nullified our strategy because then everybody just got to pit under yellow and then there was just one more to go. But obviously, Dixie had tremendous pace during the late part of the race. I was on black tires struggling a little bit. The Fifth Third Bank car was great today. I thought our guys did a tremendous job. It's a shame for Spencer; he was right up in the battle, as well. But for our team after Dallas, this feels extremely good for us."

  • FAST FACTS: Rahal started the race from his best qualifying position here of fourth and passed Herta for third at the start of the race. He moved into second when previous race leader Will Power made his first stop on Lap 17 of 80, apparently on a three-stop strategy and then into the lead when Jack Harvey pit on Lap 18. He led the next nine laps until he made his first stop on Lap 26 on a two-stop strategy and returned to the track in fourth place, running handily behind those on a three-stop strategy. A caution came out for rookie Askew who crashed, and changed the complexion of the race. Three-stoppers Power, Newgarden and Harvey pit under caution and Rahal cycled into the lead on Lap 39. Rahal was on primary Firestone's and Dixon, who had made his second of three stops two laps before the caution, caught up to Rahal and passed him on Lap 48. Dixon ran hard and built a 7-second gap on Rahal before Rahal made his second stop on Lap 54 and Dixon made his third stop on Lap 55. After the field made their stops, Rahal returned to second place on lap 63 and held it until the checkered flag. He matched his best finish on the IMS road course of second in 2015 in his seventh race here. His highest finish here is second place (2015, 2020) and his previous highest start is seventh (2019) although he qualified third in 2016 but his car was disqualified for being underweight. In seven events, he has six top-10 finishes of second (2015, 2020), fourth (2016), sixth (2017), seventh (2019) and ninth (2018). 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.