Graham Rahal On Texas Win: 'This Team Deserves It'

Graham Rahal surprised Verizon IndyCar Series fans by winning the 2016 Firestone 600, and after the race reflected on the battle he had at Texas – and all season long.

No one expected Graham Rahal to be in Victory Lane at the end of the 2016 Firestone 600, except for Graham Rahal.

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The driver of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda was overheard on the radio calling his car a “f–king rocketship” before the resumed race at Texas Motor Speedway, and he proved his words by bolting around James Hinchcliffe on the last lap to steal his first win of the year.

After the race Rahal told Beyond The Flag just what was going through his head in those difficult final laps and what it meant to finally have captured victory at Texas.

“I had a really good car all night,” he explained. “It was a matter of trying to bide our time a little bit and dial it in slightly. We just needed to add some front wing, and then once we did that the car really kind of came to us, and I didn’t really change anything after the first or second stop. [I was] just trying to preserve my tires that last stint and get to lap 205 before I would pit so that I would have a short stint, 43 laps or so to the finish.”

“Honestly I felt I had the best car [but] I just kind of lost touch with Hinch, which sounds funny because he dominated,” Rahal continued. “I just felt like if I could get back to him, that my pace was extremely good, and particularly for whatever reason tonight, my car would tow up really well.”

A series of late cautions packed the field up in the closing stint and Rahal found himself in a pitched fight with multiple cars, including Hinchcliffe, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, and Simon Pagenaud. He described a scary moment he had getting sandwiched between Castroneves and Kanaan.

“A lot of guys obviously have to talk to Helio a little bit and see what that was all about, but close call there with Helio and Kanaan and I was in the middle,” he recalled. “Next thing I know, Helio decided he wanted to go from the first lane to the top and try and take Tony and I with him. It was ugly, but luckily we made it through and bounced around a little bit, recovered, and just kind of pulled her back up and gained back up on the lead pack.”

But those battles put Rahal in position to make a move on Hinchcliffe to take the win by the fifth-closest margin of victory in the history of the league.

“Once I could get there, I could drive through them. It was just a matter of trying to pick your spot,” he said. “I knew I was going to have to try to take Hinch to the top side because there was only one way to actually clear him, which was to the bottom, and I was just very lucky it worked.

“I have to thank Hinch a lot because first of all, we’re flying home together tonight, so at least it’s not going to be awkward,” he continued, “and second of all, he gave me some good room at the bottom and [we] didn’t end up in tears. Have to thank him for good, clean driving.”

It was validating for Rahal to finally win at Texas after narrowly losing to Justin Wilson at the track several years ago – something that he said was on his mind as he drove the final laps on Saturday.

“What I was motivated by a little bit is I kept thinking about Justin there, because a couple years ago we had a great battle here. We came up a little short,” he recalled, “and quite honestly I was picturing him shooting those things [the celebratory six-shooters] off there the last couple of laps, just trying to get it done for ourselves here.

“Big special weekend for myself, obviously my wife is here, which is cool,” he continued. “She doesn’t get to come that often, so it was a lot of fun. She’s seen Fontana and this one, the two most nerve-racking races you could ever see, I think.”

But most of his thoughts as he drove to victory were about the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan team, and what a Graham Rahal win would mean to them.

“I’ll be honest, what motivated me the most was this team deserves it,” Rahal reflected. “We have had our backs up against the wall this year. We’ve been just inside the Top 10, but nothing has come easy for us, nothing.

“You look at our performance last weekend; we had zero straight line speed, couldn’t figure it out all week, couldn’t figure it out at the test. Just frustrated. Guys kept heads down, kept working hard, and this is going to lift their spirits a lot and hopefully we can go into Watkins Glen and have a good run.

“I didn’t want to go through this year without a win,” he added, “and on that last yellow, I was telling myself this could be my chance, you’d better get it done, and we’re just lucky it all worked out.”

Graham Rahal On Texas Win: ‘This Team Deserves It’

By Brittany Frederick | Aug 29, 2016

Graham Rahal surprised Verizon IndyCar Series fans by winning the 2016 Firestone 600, and after the race reflected on the battle he had at Texas – and all season long.