Graham Rahal in the No.15 Core 3 Associates Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda says he left all out there after he was beaten to the win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon. Rahal took pole for the race on Saturday and led the most amount of laps over the course of the 85-lap race.
Speaking following the action, Rahal said:
“I’m not going to lie, I left it all out there today. We played it perfect for the Code 3 Associates guys, for Nan Stuart and everybody. We gave it everything we’ve got. Dixon got lucky, pitted under that first lap yellow. That yellow lasted for like eight laps, which it didn’t need to and that’s what made their race because they could coast around under yellow and do it on a two stop. This one hurts. I thought we were going to get a chance at it. We gave it a lunge there just on overtake (button) to overtake and I wasn’t gaining on him, I was just equal so I couldn’t really lunge. It was a great day for everyone on the Code 3 Associates team, the 15 and also the 45 guys. Off to St. Louis we go.”
Christian Lundgaard in the No.45 Hy-Vee Honda started the race from second place and lost spots to Devlin Francesco and Pato O’Ward on the start and recovered to finish the race in fourth and speaking following the race he commented saying:
“We need to look at our pit strategy but I think pitting on the lap that we did hurt us. We came out together in the same sequence with the two McLaren cars and we’re just not going to make any ground up doing that. It’s very disappointing to not have the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda on the podium today. I think what Rossi’s team did was smart: pit the lap before where he tried to undercut both of us. Unfortunately for him it didn’t work out but I think we were just strong at that point, we had a lot of pace.”
Jack Harvey in the No.30 Kustom Entertainment Honda finished the race in 14th having started the race in 14th place and speaking following the action he said:
had a really good start and gained four positions on the first lap so that was good. Just missed a little bit of pace really and probably needed a yellow just to spice it up a bit but a yellow probably would’ve been bad for Graham though. Overall, is was a great weekend for the team. And sometimes just gaining a little momentum is all you can hope to do and it certainly feels like as a team we have done that.”