Graham Rahal has spoken of his frustration over missing out on victory in IndyCar’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indy road course, after looking the class of the field throughout the race.
He led 36 laps of the 85, but his dominance was greater than that statistic shows, since many of the laps he didn’t spend leading he was behind only those on an alternative strategy.
However, one of those was Scott Dixon, who went for just two scheduled stops after being spun to the back of the field on the opening lap, giving him a chance to top off with fuel, get off the Firestone primaries and run only the red sidewalled alternates for the remainder of the race, on what was very clearly a “red” day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When the other fast drivers made their third stops, Dixon moved back up to the head of the field with a 7s lead, and while Rahal hunted him down, he didn’t have the wherewithal to zap past the six-time champion and finished 0.5s adrift.
“I thought we did all right today,” said Rahal, who a day earlier had scored his fourth career pole position, his first in over six years. “I was worried a little last night that we didn’t have three sets of reds to use. We had a blister on the left front [on the] qualifying set. Not really sure why. It wasn’t a flat spot or anything. Unfortunately it made it so that set wasn’t usable for us today.
“I knew that the two middle stints on black, I was going to have to drive the wheels off of it just to maintain my gap. We were able to do that and actually pull a little bit more of a gap. [Dixon]…all the stints had reds, just blacks to reds. I was chasing down the best ever to do this; it’s not an easy thing.
“We got that last stint, and I knew we were going to have to make a lot of time. Catching him about 0.7s a lap. Traffic came into play. It is what it is.
“At the end of the day we have nothing to be ashamed of. I thought we laid it all on the line, did a great job as an organization this weekend. To get a podium in a year like this obviously feels good. To get a win would have been better, but that’s the way this goes.
“I thought, from what I could see gap-wise, we did the best job on blacks, by far, of anybody today. I knew when Alex [Rossi] or Christian [Lundgaard] were behind me on blacks, they weren’t anywhere near our pace. I was able to hold Christian off on reds. The guys did a great job of giving me a car I could attack with today.”
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Rahal observed that the eight-lap yellow to clear up the first lap fracas was key to Dixon’s triumph, since it meant the reduced pace – and the fact that the No. 9 crew could top him off with fuel and change his black tires for reds – meant that he could run a two-stop race.
“Aside from an eight-lap yellow that didn’t need to be eight laps, that may have had an effect on today. The reality is that’s the way that these things go,” said Rahal. “I asked the guys, ‘I don’t know why we’re not going green. This doesn’t make any sense.’ I knew when [Dixon] pitted, I was like, ‘Son of a…’ You give the guy an inch, he’s going to get a mile. He’s the best at saving fuel, going fast, doing the things he does. I did that exact strategy two years ago so I know it works.
“It was nice, though, in general, just to have a smooth day. Never really felt totally under pressure. Felt that when guys did close on me, that I could respond and pull the gap when I needed to. Never had a single brake lock today. Just a very kind of straightforward day, which was very refreshing for the year that we’ve had.”
Rahal admitted that he knew as soon as he got on Dixon’s tail that passing the Ganassi car would not be the work of a moment.
“Right away I could see he wasn’t sliding around a lot,” said Rahal, who is still seeking his first win since Detroit in 2017. “He used the tires a little. Dixie is not going to just make a mistake. I knew it was going to have to be a flawless run. Frankly, I almost had it, meaning I needed about one more car length to be closer out of Turn 13 to be able to get by. But I pulled off of [push-to-pass boost] because I wasn’t really gaining. I was kind of just holding steady.
“Because of his race pattern being so much more fuel saving, he had a lot more overtake at one stage. We were catching him at the end. He was starting to use overtake. At one point he had 60s more than me. I think at the end we ended up equal. He was using it to stay ahead of me.”
Rahal later confessed: “I certainly wanted one bad today. Frankly…to come up short, it definitely, definitely stings. He made the strategy work. He’s [incredibly] good at that.”