Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
MAVTV 500 – Auto Club Speedway
Verizon IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, August 30, 2014
RAHAL FINISHED 19TH IN THE MAVTV 500 INDYCAR SERIES SEASON-FINALE AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a frustrating race. I don’t know what happened. The team thinks there might be something wrong in the right rear of the car like an upright or a bearing started to go. The car was pretty good for three stints and all of a sudden it was just looser than can be. We put 100 pounds of right front wing in and did everything we could to get it to understeer. It was really, really frustrating. We wanted to give the National Guard something to be proud of tonight. We have to thank the National Guard in IndyCar racing and motorsports in general. It’s a shame that it ended this way but we were very lucky to have had them in the series as long as we’ve had and we can’t thank them enough.”
RLL AT FONTANA: The 2014 MAVTV 500 marked the 13th IndyCar race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here. The team was entered in seven CART/Champ Car races from 1997-2003 but the 2003 event was cancelled due to wildfires. In total, the team competed in six CART/Champ Car races (all scheduled as 500-mile races; five run as such) and six Indy Racing League/IndyCar Series events (2002-2005, 2012-2013). The team won ONE RACE (Jimmy Vasser 2002), made TWO front row starts (2nd: Max Papis 1999, Kenny Brack 2003), earned FOUR podiums (2nd – Papis 1999 & 2001; 3rd – Vitor Meira 2005), and led 407 laps (chart available). The team entered cars for Bobby Rahal (1997-1998), Bryan Herta (1997-1999), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001, 2003), Jimmy Vasser (2002 – both CCWS & IRL), Michel Jourdain (2002-2003), Buddy Rice (2004-2005), Vitor Meira (2004-2005), Danica Patrick (2005), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013) and James Jakes (2013). The No. 15 National Guard entry for Graham Rahal brought that total to 23 Indy car entries in this race.
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