Graham Rahal was overcome with emotion after sensationally getting bumped out on the Indy 500.
The RLL operation has been struggling massively throughout the month of May and one of their cars missing out on next weekend’s race is hardly a surprise. However, what happened at the end of Last Chance Qualifying was certainly a wow moment.
On his third and final attempt, Jack Harvey pulled out an amazing final four-lap run average of a 229.166mph to shade Rahal’s 229.159mph. It was even more impressive considering he had done a run just a few minutes before that which fell short of the 229mph region.
After his emotional interview with NBC, Rahal was in a philosophical mood when speaking to other media outlets later on, stating this is a chance for the team to reset after this crushing disappointment.
“I think that’s kind of life in a nutshell. You’re going to have to overcome hurdles.
“When you prepare, you’ve got to make sure you’re preparing and doing the right things. Working hard is one thing, but working properly and working on the right things is another. I think that this is an opportunity for us as a team to reboot.
“It’s definitely going to be strange next weekend. But we’ll be here. You know, to support the team and the sponsors and everybody else. We’ll see what happens.”
The 34-year-old says he has absolutely no interest in taking Katherine Legge’s car to get into the race next Sunday.
The British driver was the quickest RLL car and the only one to safely get through in qualifying on Saturday by finishing P30. It’s her first appearance at the 500 in 10 years, making the achievement all the more impressive in a one-off appearance.
“I’m not going to car swap. As I just said, this place, you earn it. It’s not given.
“I feel for United Rentals and all of our big partners that have made this happen.
“But at the end of the day, this doesn’t happen overnight. And we’ve just got to stay positive.
“As I said to all the guys, you’ve got to stay positive and think ahead. I know they’re going to be emotional. We all are.”
Early signs of trouble for RLL came at Texas in April on the first oval of the schedule this season. They qualified 24th, 27th and 28th in the 28-car field that weekend. Rahal, Lundgaard and Harvey also got lapped multiple times in the race itself before cautions.
For the second consecutive year at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Lundgaard will start 31st for the 500, with Harvey going from P33 after qualifying P32 in 2022.
Rahal says fundemental things with the car must be fixed for them to be properly competitive again.
“This doesn’t just happen. We’ve struggled in Texas the last couple of years. We struggled here in qualifying last year. We had two cars on the last row.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’re doing the right things and fixing the inherent speed issue of these cars. But as I said, it’s hard to imagine that it’s us in this position.
“I could have told you at the test in April we were in trouble. When you get to that test and you feel that way, it’s too late. It just came to a head here.
“As I told Jack last night, we knew it was going to be him or me. We knew that.”
Photo credit: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal’s attempt was hampered by the fact his weight jacker failed during his run. It happened in practice earlier in the day as well.
We’ve seen the drivers continually play around with that entering the straights throughout the week as they try to reduce drag, before raising it again approaching the turns at IMS.
The six-time IndyCar race winner believes it did cost him P33 and a ticket to the 500, but he thinks it doesn’t make much difference as a teammate would have been ultimately bumped out had he made it.
“Ultimately, in our car, as I said a minute ago, we had a weight jacker fail during the run. It stuck to the right. That ruins the handling of the car. It ruins the aerodynamics because of the way that it changes the rear ride, but you can’t do anything.
“It happened on the first lap. You try to adjust the tools in the car, which I only have one, which is the front bar. And unfortunately, everything that needed to happen, it didn’t happen. So, you know, that’s not an excuse. It’s a reality.
“It actually failed on us this morning in practice too, but we thought we’d fix it. It failed again on the first lap today.
“You know, is that enough to make a difference? I sure think so.
“But at the end of the day, it doesn’t make it any sweeter. Whether it’s Jack in or me, it still sucks. You know, we got one RLL car going home, and that’s life.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
