GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Luther Automotive Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "We started out really weak. The rear of the car was not good at all so that was frustrating. We made some changes before the race and the whole idea was to help the rear but it did the polar opposite which wasn't good. Halfway through the race the car started coming to us, the track came to us. We took some front wing out and I think on the last stint we were probably one of the quickest cars on track and I know we were catching up to the lead group but we were almost a full lap behind so we were having to come back to them. We passed (pole sitter Josef) Newgarden, (Spencer) Pigot and some others. We were legitimately good in the end but it just took us too long to get there. We went down a lap and could never fully recover."
· FAST FACTS: Rahal started 12th and mostly ran in that position on the lead lap until Lap 35/300 when he was passed by leader Newgarden and also lost a position to run 13th. The team made some changes to hopefully help the handling of his race car when he made his first stop on L70. He moved up to 11th by L101 and was almost to laps down when the caution came out for Veach, who brushed the wall, on L139. He made his second stop under caution on L146 after being waved around and back on the lead lap. He was 10th after that stop and the last car on the lead lap. He held the position until L222 after passing Carpenter for ninth. By the time he made his third stop on L226, he had cycled up to seventh. He went a lap down when he made his stop and returned to the track in eighth place. He moved into seventh on L279/300 when Pagenaud brushed the wall and maintained it despite taking advantage of a late race caution to pit for new tires during a caution for Carpenter who got lose in Turn 2 and made slight contact with Sato. The new tires would not be needed as the race never returned to green conditions and he took the checkered flag in seventh place… Was his 11th race here. He has earned eight top-10 finishes in 11 starts with his best being fourth in 2015… Rahal relinquished sole possession of sixth place in the point standings and is now tied with Robert Wickens for sixth with a total of 304. Leader Scott Dixon has 411, second place Josef Newgarden has 378, third place Alexander Rossi also has 370, fourth place Ryan Hunter-Reay has 359 and fifth place Will Power has 358.