Lundgaard Earned His Best Oval Finish With 9th in Race 1 of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s; Fittipaldi and Rahal Finished 18th and 20th

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s – The Milwaukee Mile

NTT INDYCAR SERIES – Rounds 15 & 16 of 17

RACE 1 NOTES / QUOTES – Saturday, August 31, 2024

LUNDGAARD EARNED HIS BEST OVAL FINISH WITH NINTH IN RACE 1 OF THE HY-VEE MILWAUKEE MILE 250s; FITTIPALDI AND RAHAL FINISHED 18TH AND 20TH

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Hendrickson Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a difficult day. We did not have the balance right, particularly on new tires and early in runs. We got freight-trained by everyone but later in the runs, they would all come back to us though. Unfortunately, early on, it really hurt us. We have work to do. We’ll keep trying different things until we get where we need to be.”

FAST FACTS: He qualified 24th but started 21st after three cars received a grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. He had an unexpected additional pit stop due to getting a cut in his left front tire after contact from Rasmussen. He took the checkered flag in 20th place. Will start his eighth and ninth races here. He narrowly missed winning his first pole here in 2008 by 2/10th of a second over a four-lap average and started a career best second to Marco Andretti with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. He ran between second and fourth until Lap 130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Darren Manning and retired in 25th place. He qualified second with NHLR in 2009 and briefly took the lead at the start but dropped to third by the end of the lap and ultimately finished fourth, his highest finish on an oval at the time. In 2010, he ran a partial season and did not race at Milwaukee. In 2011, he qualified 12th and finished second with Service Central/Chip Ganassi Racing (SCCGR). He qualified 17th, started 11th with SCCGR after many ahead served an engine change penalty and finished ninth in 2012 with SCCGR. In 2013, he qualified 23rd with RLL but started 24th due to a 10-grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and he finished 16th. In 2014, he qualified and finished 14th with RLL. In 2015, the last time the series raced here, he qualified sixth, led five laps, and finished third to depart the event third in points with four races to go… Rahal dropped one position in the point standings to 17th with a total of 237.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We struggled a lot with pace compared to others, but we kept it clean and finished 18th. We will go over the data to see if we can make improvements for Race 2.”

FAST FACTS: He qualified 27th and took advantage of opportunities to finish 18th… It is his first and second times to race at this track. His grandfather, Emerson, finished second here in 1994 and finished third three times (1988, ’90, ’93)… He moved up one position in the point standings to 19th place with a total of 168.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “On the first stint, all three cars were at the back and the pure pace wasn’t there. We got a little lucky on strategy but at the end of the day. I think that’s what (Will) Power did at Iowa and won the race, so we stayed out and every stint I felt like I had more pace as soon as everybody started pitting so we gained a lot of positions on that today. We still have more work to do. I don’t think this result represents the performance of the car today so we’ll dig in tomorrow and see if we can bring the 45 Hy-Vee Honda forward again.”

FAST FACTS: He qualified 26th for Race 1. He stayed on the lead lap and was running 18th when the final pit cycle started and a pivotal moment came when he had cycled up to fifth place by Lap 187/250 when a caution came out for Herta, who had lost a wheel after his stop. Once the pits opened, he made his final stop on Lap 194/250 and returned to the track in fifth place. A few cars passed him once the race resumed but he held off six-time champion Dixon to take the checkered flag in ninth place to earn his best career oval finish in his first race here. His previous best oval finish was 10th place in Race 1 of the 2022 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader. He moved up one position in the the point standings to 11th with a total of 283.

RLL AT MILWAUKEE: The Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s will mark the 22nd and 23rd events for RLL at the legendary Milwaukee Mile oval. The team won here twice (Kenny Brack 2001 & Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), started from pole three times (Bobby Rahal 1992, Kenny Brack 2001, Vitor Meira 2004), made four front row starts (2nd – Jourdain Jr. 2003) and earned five podiums (2nd: Rahal 2004, Rice 2004; 3rd: G. Rahal 2015). Prior to the 2024 event, the team prepared a total of 38 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Buddy Rice (2004-06), Vitor Meira (2004-05), Danica Patrick (2005-06), Jeff Simmons (2006-07), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013-2015) and James Jakes (2013). The team has earned 11 top-five finishes and 21 top-10’s at the track.

NEXT UP: Race 2 will take place on Sunday with coverage being aired on USA Network beginning at 1:30 PM ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.