NTT INDYCAR SERIES
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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
Good Ranchers 250
Phoenix Raceway — Avondale, Arizona
Round 2 of 18 in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
DATE: Friday – Saturday, March 6-7, 2026
PRACTICE BROADCASTS: Live on FS2 on Friday from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. ET, live on FS1 on Friday from 4:30–6:00 p.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on FS2, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.
RACE BROADCAST: Live on FOX Saturday, March 7 from 3:00-5:30 p.m. ET. And also on IRN Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218.
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.022-mile oval
RACE LENGTH: 250 laps / 255.5 miles
2018 WINNER: Josef Newgarden
2018 POLESITTER: Sebastien Bourdais (39.0285; 188.539 mph)
RLL’S TOP START / FINISH AT PHOENIX: 2nd by Bobby Rahal in 1992 / 1st by Bobby Rahal in 1992 (led all 200; first team win); will be 11th event for the team here and first since 2018
G. RAHAL’S BEST START / FINISH IN PHOENIX: 12th in 2018 / 5th in 2026; will be his fourth race here
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5 Poles – St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023, Portland (road) 2023 / 6 Wins – St. Pete 2008, Fontana (oval; 500 miles) 2015, Mid-Ohio (road) 2015, Texas (oval) 2016; Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, Detroit Race 2 2017
FOSTER’S BEST START / FINISH IN PHOENIX: This will be his first race here
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: Pole at Road America 2025 / 11th (Indy GP and Road America 2025)
SCHUMACHER’S BEST START / FINISH IN PHOENIX: This will be his oval debut.
SCHUMACHER’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 21st / 25th – both in St. Pete 2026
NEWS & NOTES:
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PHOENIX RACEWAY
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. Over the years, the team has prepared a total of 15 cars for races here: Bobby Rahal (1992-1995), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Kenny Brack (2003), Buddy Rice (2004-2005), Vitor Meira (2005), Danica Patrick (2005), Graham Rahal (2016-2018) and Takuma Sato (2018). The team has entered the No. 15 WWEX Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 45 Droplight Honda for Louis Foster and the No. 47 ENVE Honda for Mick Schumacher for this year’s race.
GRAHAM ON THE FIRST OVAL RACE OF THE SEASON AND THE PRODUCTIVE TEST HERE
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. After a strong test where he set the 13th fastest time over the two—day test February 17-18, he is looking forward to getting to Phoenix to see where the team stacks up.
“I’m excited about returning to race at Phoenix; it’s a fun little bullring. I feel like we should be quite good at Phoenix. I feel like we’ve got an opportunity to be better than we have been in recent years on short ovals after a good test a few weeks ago so I’m excited about that. It’s pretty fun to drive with the current aero package. I hope we can build upon the test and have a good run there.”
LOUIS FOSTER AND PHOENIX RACEWAY
Louis will make his first start at Phoenix but 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.
“I’m looking forward to the first oval race of the year. We put a lot of work in over the off season to try to be faster and we were faster at the Phoenix test so I’m optimistic going into the race. If we get things right and don’t make mistakes we should have a good weekend. As long as we are moving forward and going in the right direction as a team, that’s what matters.”
SCHUMACHER MAKES HIS OVAL RACING DEBUT IN PHOENIX
Mick Schumacher has extensive racing knowledge on tracks around the world, but Phoenix Raceway will be the site of his oval racing debut. On February 4, Schumacher turned his first 97 laps on an oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 26-year-old then participated in a series open test at Phoenix Raceway on February 17-18 where he ran a total of 222 laps and was the fastest rookie in 18th place of 25 drivers. He plans to continue his methodical approach to getting acclimated to oval racing.
“I think we have to just keep working on everything we have done so far to prepare for my oval debut. The luxury of having had a test in Phoenix means we have probably a better starting point to the race weekend than we would have had otherwise. We obviously still have to adapt to the conditions because I don’t think that the conditions we had at the test are representative of what we will get in the real race. I’m very excited to get going in Phoenix and redeem ourselves after a poor start to the season.”
