Victories give Rahal momentum
Graham Rahal will have two positive energy flows merging Saturday night when he heads to Texas Motor Speedway for a 600-kilometer IndyCar race.
Texas is where he won arguably the most exciting race of the 2016 season. In a storm-interrupted event moved to August, he edged James Hinchcliffe at the finish line by 0.008 of a second. And it’s where Rahal will race for the first time since sweeping the doubleheader on the Belle Isle street course in Detroit last weekend.
But there’s also the rub about IndyCar racing: Within 13 days it will have gone from the Indianapolis 500 on the fastest oval in the series to the bumpy, concrete-lined Belle Isle street course to now the 1.5-mile, repaved, smooth and wide Texas oval, the second-fastest track on tour.
“It does change a lot, but I’m excited about what we have ahead,” Rahal said. “Trust me, getting two wins like that at Detroit makes a world of difference just in morale. We can all appreciate morale, and getting two wins like that certainly gives our guys a little fire in their stomach.
“Now we’re going to a place we know we can compete at and know we can win at.”
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan team had suffered through the first third of the season when relatively poor qualifying and often bad luck racing seemed to have him always working from behind. But there was a glimmer in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the infield road course when, after qualifying 19th, he finished sixth.
Two weeks later in the 500, he started in 14th place but moved up to lead two laps and was in the top five three quarters of the way through. But a punctured tire dropped him back to a 12thplace finish.
At Detroit, his car was fast right off the truck, winning the pole for race one and qualifying third for race two. Then he dominated both races, a sweep that not only boosted morale but elevated him from 15th in the points race to sixth, just 52 points behind leader Scott Dixon.
In 2015, two wins also vaulted him into the thick of the title chase. Saturday night will be the ninth race of the 17-race season.
“There’s a lot to be excited about, and a lot to think of what this team is capable of going forward,” Rahal said. “We’ve put ourselves in a great spot on the championship front, so I’m feeling about where we’re at. Hopefully, we can make some magic happen and get another win ”