2009 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing // Press Release

Saturday, June 27, 2009
SunTrust Indy Challenge –
Richmond International Raceway
Round 8 of 17 in the IndyCar Series

McDONALD’S DRIVER RAHAL FINISHED THIRD AND DOORNBOS NINTH IN THE SUNTRUST INDY CHALLENGE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY; BOTH EARNED THEIR TOP CAREER FINISH ON AN OVAL

McDonald’s driver Graham Rahal earned his best career oval finish of third place in the 300-lap SunTrust Indy challenge at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night. He started in fifth place but dropped to sixth behind Rafael Matos on the start. The team felt that Matos got the jump on him before the start/finish on the opening lap but IndyCar Series officials maintained the running order through the first caution for the crashed car of Jacques Lazier from Laps 1-7. The second of four cautions came out from Laps 27-37 when Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe crashed in Turn 2 and moved Rahal to fifth place. The majority of the field used the caution to make their first stop on Lap 30 when the pits opened and Rahal returned to the track in seventh place behind Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick who pitted on the first caution but stayed on track for this one. Tony Kanaan who qualified 17th only took fuel on the stop and was able to pass Rahal a few laps after the restart with the help of his warmer Firestones. He had an eventful moment when Marco Andretti’s left rear tire hit his Rahal’s right front but he was able to control his car and march on for the majority of the stint in eighth place until both Mutoh and Patrick made their stops and he climbed to sixth by Lap 111. He continued to save fuel as he had done since the start of the race and moved into fifth place when fourth place runner Matos pitted. By staying out longer than many drivers he climbed to third before he was scheduled for his next stop. The team had begun the 10 lap countdown but a caution came out on the exact lap they were to pit and he had to enter a closed pit on Lap 138 of the 138-153 caution for rookie Mike Conway who crashed in Turn 4 to take on a splash of fuel in order to continue. Once the pits opened he entered them for the third time and took on four new Firestone tires and a full tank of ethanol. Prior to the caution, he had built up enough of a lead on fourth place which resulted in enough track position to maintain third place through the stops for a splash and another complete stop. Once the race resumed on Lap 154 of 300, he maintained third place comfortably before he made his final stop on Lap 250 – again under a caution that came out when he was preparing to enter the pits but the team had enough fuel to coast under caution until the pits opened. The caution lasted from Laps 248-259 while the crashed car of Helio Castroneves was removed from Turn 2. Once the race resumed he held his position until the checkered flag and collected 35 points to maintain his ninth place rank in the standings with 180, only 39 points from the top-five Danica Patrick (219). Scott Dixon won the race while teammate Dario Franchitti finished second. Following are Rahal’s post race comments:

“It shows how hard the McDonald’s guys worked because honestly at the start of this weekend we weren’t where we wanted to be and we were struggling,” said Rahal. “We just kept working through it. It’s great to be on the podium. We’ve been good on the short ovals but we just need to find some more speed on the mile-and-a-half’s. This was like a win for us. My engineers told me I needed to save as much fuel as possible. Its always hard to do as a driver because you want to push as hard as you can but you need to save fuel. I didn’t understand it so much before but I did tonight. Martin, my engineer and I and all of the guys worked extremely hard this weekend and we made more changes this weekend that I can remember ever making. It feels great to get this result for the McDonald’s team. It’s a great way to go into some road races. We’re looking forward to it.”

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver Robert Doornbos earned his best oval finish of the season with ninth place in the 300-lap SunTrust Indy Challenge at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway and also matched his best finish of the season. At the start of the event he held his 12th place start through the first of four cautions from Laps 1-7 for Jacques Lazier and until he moved to 11th when the second caution came out from Laps 27-37 when Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe crashed in Turn 2. All but new race leader Hideki Mutoh and second place runner Danica Patrick, who both pit on the earlier caution came in and Doornbos returned to the track in 13th place. He lost one spot during the stop to Ed Carpenter. Once the race resumed he held 13th place until Lap 42 when Dan Wheldon passed him and he ran in 14th place until Lap 105 when Mutoh surrendered the lead for his pit stop. When Patrick stopped on Lap 111 he moved into 12th before he made he and Ryan Hunter-Reay were the first two to make their second stops on Lead Lap 126 and they went two laps down after the green flag stop and Doornbos ran in 16th place. As more cars cycled through their stops he moved into 10th place by Lead Lap 136. As the leaders were about to make their stops under green conditions like the rest had, a caution period came out from Laps 138-153 for Mike Conway who crashed in Turn 4. Both race leader Dario Franchitti and third place runner Graham Rahal had to enter the pits an extra time for a splash of fuel before returning once the were declared “open” for a full fill of ethanol and new set of Firestone tires under caution but were able to maintain their track position in relation to the lapped cars due to stopping under caution which did not help Doornbos whose only consolation was to reduce his deficit from two laps down to one when he was waived around the pace car. After the restart he was passed by Wheldon on Lap 155 and ran in 11th place which he held until Lead Lap 214 when Mutoh pitted and he moved into 10th and then into ninth on Lap 225 after Patrick made her alternate-sequence stop. He made his final stop on Lead Lap 228 and returned to the track in 16th place and climbed to 10th by Lead Lap 247 once the pit cycle concluded. Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves brought out the final caution of the day from Lead Laps 248-259 when he crashed in Turn 2 and Doornbos moved into ninth. Once the race resumed he held his position until the checkered flag. He collected 22 points for his finish to move up one position in the point standings to 14th with 141 and trails Rafael Matos by three points in the Rookie of the Year standings. Target/Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti finished one-two while Rahal rounded out the podium. Following are Doornbos’ post race comments.

“That was very hard work for P9,” said Doornbos. “It reminds me of my F1 days when you had to work really hard to get up there. I’m very happy with the experience. It was very good for us to come home like this. All my team did a great job in setting up the car, it was really good to drive. Unfortunately we got unlucky with the yellow twice. I think we had the pace, especially with new tires. I was pushing really hard and really enjoyed that. For me it was like driving like in qualifying for 300 laps. With a bit more luck with the yellows we would have been higher but I’m happy with a good solid race. This will make me stronger on ovals but I have to be honest, I look forward to the road courses.”

The series will travel to Watkins Glen, NY for the much-anticipated race on a road course for the first time this season. Team sponsor McDonald’s is also a sponsor of the event and they have a Family Fun Zone on site complete with appearances by Ronald McDonald and his friends including Grimace, Hamburgler and etc. NHLR started second here last year with Justin Wilson but an oil leak in his gearbox forced his retirement while Rahal drove to an eighth place finish.