Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
107th Running of the Indianapolis 500
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, May 21, 2023
LUNDGAARD AND HARVEY TO START 31ST AND 33RD IN THE INDY 500; RAHAL DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE RACE
QUALIFYING SPEEDS
31st: Christian Lundgaard 4-lap avg. speed of 229.649 mph
33rd: Jack Harvey 4-lap avg. speed of 229.166 mph
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34th: Graham Rahal 4-lap avg. speed of 229.159 mph
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “You’ve got to be positive. You’ve got to be humble and gracious in victory and defeat. I just knew from the start that we were in trouble. It’s a tough day. The last few days I’ve said that we’re in trouble. Ultimately, I don’t why but that run was just really slow. We had a part failure during the run but you’ve got to finish it and unfortunately, rules are written that you can’t fix that part which was a key component, a weight jacker, which is a key component of our cars. You can’t fix that part without withdrawing your time so we had to sit there and wait. There was nothing we could do. When you miss it by .01 I can guarantee you there’s at least that and being able to utilize the driver tools in the car. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m proud of these guys. I think everybody has tried exceptionally hard the last couple of days. We came up short. This place, you have to earn it. It’s not handed out. It’s not given. It’s not a guarantee. We came up short. I appreciate all of the support. I think people have known the struggle we were in the last few days. The outpouring of support from the other drivers too, we really appreciate it.”
JACK HARVEY, No. 30 PeopleReady Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I just went as fast as I could the whole qualifying session. There’s nothing extra that I feel like I did. The team had some good communication about where we were losing speed and why we were losing speed; things like that. Maybe on the last run I was even more ‘Johnny on the spot’ with some of the small changes in the car. It’s just an amazing-awful moment. I’m so happy that we made the race. That’s what this whole thing is about. Why do you lay it all out on the line? You lay it on the line because it’s the Indy 500. This means the world to everybody. That emotion is pure, raw and the stress of bump day, I don’t wish on anybody. Especially when we’ve got three out of the four cars battling for it. Me and Graham said at the start of the day, we thought realistically it was going to be between me and him. I think the thing that people forget is that Graham is like one of my really close friends. Not only are we teammates but he’s the guy I text when I need advice for stuff. He’s the most underrated driver on the grid. He never gets the respect that he deserves. He’s one of the better teammates I’ve had. It’s not a good feeling knocking him out. It’s not a good feeling knocking a team car out. The flip side of that is that I’m very grateful that the No. 30 PeopleReady car is going to make it (in the race).”
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was an interesting day. We didn’t get to this day last year as there were 33 cars but obviously this year with 34 there was going to be a bump day. Having three out of the four cars in there is not ideal. The truth is we’ve got to be better at least for next year. Right now, I’m disappointed where we ended up. Especially with Graham because it’s a bittersweet feeling making it through and getting Jack through as well but not Graham. At this point I’m happy to be in it but I wouldn’t call it regret but a bittersweet feeling not having Graham there.”
NEXT UP: Practice will take place from 1-3 p.m ET tomorrow. Carb Day will be Friday, May 26 and the 107th Running of the Indy 500 will be Sunday, May 28. Get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the 106th Indianapolis 500 via the Digital Ally Garage Camera on www.rahal.com.