Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing head to Iowa for the double-header race weekend on high following Christian Lundgaard’s victory in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, giving the team their first race since 2020.
Lundgaard will compete in the Hy-Vee double driving the No.45 Hy-Vee RLL Honda and looking ahead to the races the Dane said:
Iowa Speedway is a pretty cool, fun track. It’s very challenging, very bumpy. It is fast and what I like is that once the pace comes down in the race, everybody can really drive side by side, which I think makes great racing. What Hy-Vee does for that event, bringing four concerts to the track and bringing people together is great for the sport. Now being in the Hy-Vee car, I obviously need to perform. I know there will be pressure on me but I’m just going to go out there and enjoy the weekend. I know from our test that we are moving forward in terms of performance. I do think we can do something great. We haven’t been fast on street circuits but we went to Toronto and put it on pole and won so anything can happen. We also need to be realistic. We haven’t been the fastest car on the ovals but we’re making progress which is exciting. And it will definitely be easy to find the Hy-Vee pit since we earned pit-out.”
Graham Rahal in the No.15 Blue Compass RV Honda is looking forward to the double-header this weekend starting with Saturday’s Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and speaking ahead of the race, Rahal said:
Iowa Speedway is a great place to go racing. I’m excited to go back. The track has aged further and the bumps have gotten more extreme which makes it more challenging, particularly in Turns 3 and 4. Last year in Race 2, I thought we had a really, really good car but unfortunately, we went down a few laps by pitting early on the first stint which ruined the rest of our race. We have to keep our heads down this time around and make sure we put ourselves in a good position, don’t get caught out by the yellows (flags) like we did last year and hopefully put on a good show for Blue Compass RV and Hy-Vee, who has put so much into this event. I am confident after the test we had there last month that we will have a good weekend. I feel like our race car ought to be very good. At the test, it seemed like our race car was solid but we have some work to do on our qualifying setup. We have to find some things that will help us qualifying further up the grid.
“Hy-Vee has done a wonderful job with this event. They have set the bar on how to promote an event and bring in new fans. They continue to increase that by doing things like bringing in new areas to watch from including the suites behind the pits, the access on the outside of the track and adding another one outside. The concert lineup of Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, the Zak Brown Band and Ed Sheeran – it just doesn’t get any better than that really. And to bring that to Newton, Iowa over two days is quite a feat and super cool. I’m looking forward to getting there and helping to put on a good show.”
Jack Harvey in the No.30 HUB Honda is looking forward to hopefully capitalizing on a strong qualifying here last season and a solid open test here a few weeks ago.
Looking ahead to the race this weekend the Englishman said:
Qualifying was very good but the races were more of a struggle last year. The inability to use multiple lanes hurt us quite a lot. We tested there last month and I think we have already made improvements in that department so if we can maintain our qualifying performance but just make the race car better, we should be in for a good weekend. Hy-Vee has pulled out all the stops once again. Whether you are talking about elevating the concert lineup, their work to get more people in by building more grandstands and suites or whatever, they’ve taken something that people already thought was cool and figured out a way to keep it sustainable. Everyone can do something cool one time but the ability to make it even better in the second year, I think, is pretty amazing. One of the things I like about Hy-Vee is their commitment to their communities and obviously they’re huge in that part of the country. For them to be doing what they’re doing now with their activation within INDYCAR, fits with how they are in their communities.
“Both races will be great. Obviously, it’s a huge weekend for our team because we want to do as good of a job as we can in front of one of our biggest sponsors. Let’s go and have a great one.”