Wheel Failure Limited Rahal’s Finish to 16th in the Hy-Vee Homefront 250; Fittipaldi Retired 19th After Hit by Power; Lundgaard 22nd After Lap 1 Spin

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Presented by Instacart

Hy-Vee One Step 250 Presented by Gatorade

Iowa Speedway

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

RACE 1 NOTES / QUOTES – Saturday, July 13, 2024

WHEEL FAILURE LIMITED RAHAL’S FINISH IN THE HY-VEE HOMEFRONT 250 TO 16TH; FITTIPALDI RETIRED IN 19TH AFTER CONTACT FROM POWER AND LUNDGAARD FINISHED 22ND AFTER LAP 1 SPIN

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 One Cure Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Number 1, it was disappointing to have the grid penalty here and Number 2, we had the wheel break on the first stint. The right front wheel just shattered, and I’ve never had that happen before. When I say shattered, I mean there was only one spoke hanging on so I’m extremely lucky I didn’t just hit the fence extremely hard. I’m disappointed. Our race car seemed okay, but we just never had a chance today because of those things. We can have a really good day tomorrow, which is what we hope to do to get over this gut punch.”

FAST FACTS: Rahal qualified 12th for Race 1 but had to serve a 9-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 21st. On Lap 84, he slowed on track, and brought out a full course caution. He entered a closed pit for emergency service and later received a drive through penalty for having gotten full service. The team found that all but one of the metal spokes on his right front wheel broke. He ultimately took the checkered flag in 16th place after four more caution periods. He will start eighth for Sunday’s race. The 2024 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader will mark Graham Rahal’s 19th and 20th races here. He has earned 11 top-10 finishes in 18 starts with his best being fourth in 2015. Last year, he qualified 13th for Race 1 but struggled with the handling of the race car and brought out the only caution of the 250-lap race on Lap 152 when he lost control of his race car in Turn 4 and made contact with the wall. He retired in 28th place. In Race 2, he qualified sixth and dropped back in the field while trying to dial in his race car on stops. The team elected to gamble and undercut the field by stopping a little earlier which was working out until a caution came out for Canapino and he ultimately finished in 20th place. In 2022, in Race 1 he started 16th, fell to the back of the field early on and worked his way back up to a ninth-place finish. In Race 2, he started 23rd, fell to the back in 26th and then worked his way back up to 13th in the closing stage of the race but was passed by Palou with six laps to go and took the checkered flag in 14th. In 2020, he started from 21st place and stayed on the lead lap until Lap 23 of 250. The team was on a four-stop strategy and the handling appeared to improve mid-to-late race but he reported a vibration and struggled with the handling of the car, so he made another stop from 10th place on Lap 227 and ultimately finished 12th. In Race 2, in the Hy-Vee Honda, he set the eighth fastest time in the pre-race practice and started from 19th place. He extended his stint the longest and made his first stop from the lead on Lap 63. Due to track position, he went a lap down but was able to get it back by Lap 84 before he made his second stop from the lead on Lap 119 under caution for Carpenter once the pits opened. He returned to the track in fourth place and closed on third place Power before passing him on Lap 129 for third. He cycled back into the lead on Laps 171-174 before his third stop on Lap 175 and had moved into sixth a few laps later when Hunter-Reay brought out a caution. After the pits opened, a few drivers made stops and he restarted in fourth place. Once third place Daly made his stop, Rahal moved into third on Lap 216 and held it until the checkered flag. After setting the fourth fastest time in the test in Iowa on June 27, Rahal is optimistic about the team’s performance heading into the race weekend although the aero specs have been changed by the series since then. 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) and FIVE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) 2023) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He has a total of 139 points and is ranked 16th overall.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, 30 Luther Automotive Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were running around the P15/P14 area there. The restarts weren’t great. I don’t know if we had too low of tire pressure, but we kept trying to improve it and it was getting better towards the end. On that last restart, we were just going and Will just completely rear-ended us and basically took us out of the race. (On Sunday’s race:) The race car is good but it’s pretty much single-file racing here so it will just be a matter of getting on the right strategy so we can have good restarts.”

FAST FACTS: He qualified 18th and started 17th due to Rahal’s grid penalty. He was running in 16th on Lap 229 of 250 when Power ran into the back of his car on a restart and sent him into the wall. He retired in 19th place. It will be his first and second time to race at Iowa Speedway this weekend… He moved up one spot to 19th in series standings with 114 points.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I saw a car spin through Turn 2 (on the start) and by the time I realized what was going on, I was spinning too. Apparently, it’s a rule that they don’t fire us up on ovals, so we lost a lot of laps there in the beginning. We had to then de-charge the hybrid because there was an issue on that. It was just a bunch of issues but once we got running it was all fine. I think it was more to see what really could happen on track; if there were positions to be gained and there was some which is why we kept running and cut it short at the end because we knew there wasn’t more positions to be gained. Overall, it was a very disappointing day. We as a team expected more. Obviously, Pietro being taken out was not really great either.”

FAST FACTS: Fourteenth-place starter Malukas lost control of his car on the opening lap and collected Grosjean and Canapino. Simultaneous to that Lundgaard also lost control and a caution was brought out. Lundgaard was towed to Turn 4 and then through the paddock rather than restarted, which is at the discretion of the series. Once his car was back in the pits, he was restarted and completed one lap. Data showed that it was overheated, and he had to return to the pits and behind pit wall for the hybrid unit to be discharged. By the time he was back on track he was over 40 laps down to the leaders. He ultimately retired in 22nd place before the checkered flag once no more positions were to be gained. This will mark Christian’s fifth and sixth races t Iowa Speedway. In 2023, he started off the weekend right by winning the first Hy-Vee Pit Stop Challenge on Friday night. For Race 1 he qualified and finished 20th. In Race 2, he qualified 21st and finished 13th. In 2022, he qualified 20th for Race 1 and drove to his highest career oval finish to date of 10th place. In Race 2, he qualified 17th and was running 15th when he pit due to brake issues after completing 112 of 300 laps. The team was unable to repair the car in time to return to the race and he retired in 26th place. After running well during a test at Iowa Speedway on June 21, he is optimistic of being able to have a competitive run in the doubleheader races… He dropped from 11th in series standings to 13th with 190.

RLL AT IOWA: The 2024 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend will mark the 17th and 18th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway. The best finish for the team is third place (2020 Race 2 by G. Rahal, 2018 by Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp). Sharp also earned the top start for the team of fourth in 2007.

NEXT UP: The Hy-Vee One Step 250 will be televised on NBC beginning at 11 am ET on Sunday, July 14. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.