Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rainguard Water Sealers 600 – Texas Motor Speedway
Verizon IndyCar Series
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, June 9, 2017
RAHAL QUALIFIED 11TH FOR SATURDAY NIGHT’S RAINGUARD WATER SEALERS 600 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
POLE: Charlie Kimball 2-lap avg. speed of 222.556 mph (L1: 222.364, L2: 222.747 mph)
11th: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 220.954 mph (L1: 220.919, L2: 220.990 mph)
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mi-Jack / Bobby Rahal Automotive Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was okay, maybe we could have trimmed a little more. It didn’t quite pull all of the six gears. The track grip felt really low. It seemed to take a couple of laps just to get the tires to come in and start working but it was a solid run. There are guys that I knew would go quicker than that but it was an okay run. I was just hoping to stay in the top-10. We just wanted a good, solid starting spot for the race. On the last lap of practice we got pretty neutral with the setup and probably got too conservative going into qualifying. We started 13th last year and won so we’re hoping for the same result from 11th.”
RLL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: The 2017 Rainguard Water Sealers 600 will mark the 15th event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval. The team’s highest start of pole with Scott Sharp came in 2007 and highest finish of first came in 2016 with Graham Rahal. The team earned another front row start in 2004 when Buddy Rice qualified second. Overall the team has earned four top-five finishes and seven top-10’s at the track. Prior to the 2017 event, the team prepared a total of 20 entries for drivers such as Kenny Brack (2003 x2), Buddy Rice (2004 x2; 2005, 2006), Vitor Meira (2004 x2; 2005), Danica Patrick (2005, 2006), Jeff Simmons (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Jay Howard (2011, Schmidt/RLL) Takuma Sato (2012), James Jakes (2013) and Graham Rahal (2013-2016). The No. 15 entry for Graham Rahal will bring that total to 21 in 2017.
NEXT UP: There will be a 30-minute practice session from 5:45-6:15 p.m. CT tonight and the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 will take the Green Flag at 7:50 p.m. CT Saturday. Live coverage will begin at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
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