Rahal and Schumacher Locked Out the Second Row in Qualifying for the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway; Foster to Start 16th

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Good Ranchers 250 – Phoenix Raceway

NTT INDYCAR SERIES – Round 2 of 18

QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – Friday, March 6, 2026

Rahal and Schumacher Locked Out the Second Row in Qualifying for the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway with Third and Fourth Place; Foster to Start 16th

POLE: David Malukas 2-lap avg. speed of 175.383 mph (L1: 20.4928, L2: 20.5602 mph)

3rd: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 173.993 mph (L1: 20.6391, L2: 20.7419 mph)

4th: Mick Schumacher 2-lap avg. speed of 173.667 mph (L1: 20.7163, L2: 20.7424 mph)

16th: Louis Foster 2-lap avg. speed of 171.827 mph (L1: 20.9078, L2: 20.9947 mph)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 WWEX Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s hard not to get too excited about our starting spot because we pushed so hard to be in this position for WWEX, for ENVE, for Droplight, Fifth Third, for United Rentals and all of our partners. To just have this moment is great. Obviously, it’s just qualifying and not the race so tomorrow it will be really important to be on our game and that we’ve got good race cars. The performance in qualifying was exceptional. Mick did a wonderful job. I’m super proud and super happy for him and we’ll get Louis up there. To start third is a bit of a shock for me but we’ll take it.”

FAST FACTS: Earned his best start on an oval of third place for the first time since qualifying third in Texas in 2012… The 2026 race will be Graham’s fourth here. The 2016 race marked Graham Rahal’s debut at the track. He started 19th and moved into the top 10 near the halfway point of the 250-lap race and was on his “in laps” of his second and third stops when a caution period came out but was able to continue on low fuel each time until the pits opened. He ran as high as third, which is the position he was running in when he entered his pit for his third and final stop but lost a spot to Simon Pagenaud. He was passed by Tony Kanaan on Lap 223 of 250 and was in fifth place when the final caution came out for debris with a few laps to go and the race ended under yellow. In 2017, he qualified 17th but was collected in a multi-car crash due to Aleshin’s Lap 1, Turn 1 spin and retired in 21st place. In 2018, he earned his best start at the track of 12th place and finished ninth after he led a total of seven laps during pit cycles. He and the team had a strong test here on Feb. 17-18 where he set the 13th fastest time… Has SIX INDYCAR SERIES wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2; 2023 – IMS road, Portland road) and FIVE POLES (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road, Portland road) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was bit of an odd one really. We made some progress at the test. My teammates are very happy, obviously, which is great for the team. I’ve definitely been struggling a bit more with the car than they have so we need to figure out why I’m having some issues and they don’t. I’m sure there is something we are missing because it doesn’t seem right. We will continue working on it in the final practice.”

FAST FACTS: Foster qualified 16th for his first race in Phoenix. He has had good success on ovals since competing in the INDY NXT and INDYCAR Series since 2023. His top INDYCAR finish on an oval is 12th in the 2025 Indy 500 and this past weekend in St. Pete, he earned his top overall finish in the series with ninth place. He’s looking forward to another opportunity to better that on Saturday after setting the 16th fastest time at the recent test there.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 ENVE Composites Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It (qualifying) was really just about putting everything on the line and trying to maximize the package that we have. I think there is still a little bit in there. I guess going out there (on track to qualify) first is maybe not always easy. In this case we didn’t have a reference beforehand but maybe that was also not too bad because we just had to go and do whatever we do. Overall, I think as a team it was a great effort there. Now its on to highline practice and FP2 to get ready for the race. No doubt it’s going to be tough. I’m excited about going racing and I’m excited about starting fourth.”

FAST FACTS: Qualified fourth for his oval racing debut in Phoenix. Made his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut in St. Pete from a 21st place start. Sting Ray Robb, who started 20th, ran too deep and went nose-first into the wall in Turn 4 on the opening laps. Santino Ferrucci also had the same fate and Schumacher had nowhere to go and was collected in their accident and retired in 25th place. Robb was able to continue and served a penalty for avoidable contact.

RLL AT PHOENIX RACEWAY

Graham Rahal and Mick Schumacher will share the second row for the start of tomorrow’s race. The last time there were two RLL cars in the top four on an oval was the Chicago race in 2005 when Danica Patick and Buddy Rice qualified 1-2. The 2026 Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway will mark the 11th Indy car race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing here, and first since 2018. In only the second race for the team, then named Rahal Hogan Racing, Bobby Rahal led all 200 laps en route to victory with a margin of 22.35-seconds over Eddie Cheever and third place Emerson Fittipaldi in 1992. Three-year-old Graham Rahal was on the podium with his father, Bobby, for the team’s first victory..