Graham Rahal had a much better weekend than his wife.
Rahal dominated from the pole on Saturday and went on to win the first dual of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
He’ll attempt a weekend sweep on Sunday in the only doubleheader weekend of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Rahal set the track qualifying record Friday at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park with a speed of 114.373 mph. On Saturday, he led 55 of the 70 laps on the 14-turn 2.35 mile street course.
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NHRA driver Courtney Force, Rahal’s wife, walked away relatively unharmed after her Funny Car exploded during qualifying Friday at the New England Nationals. Bobby Rahal, who won on Belle Isle in 1992, said his son was upset Friday after watching the incident unfold.
“He loves his wife a lot,” Bobby Rahal said. “To see what she’s going through – obviously that concerns you.”
It was a difficult thing for Graham Rahal to watch.
“If it’s a guy, it’s like, ‘Ah, alright. He’ll be fine,’” Rahal said. “When it’s her, I feel a little different. But she was okay. I told her we’ve had enough action for the year and she needs to just stop. I just hope she has a good, safe race day.
“I don’t care how many races she wins. … to me, as long as she comes home safe, that’s all that matters. Those things are exactly what you saw yesterday, in a lot of cases. It’s a bomb waiting to go off.”
Rahal won his fifth career IndyCar race and first since Aug. 27, 2016 at Texas.
He took the lead for good on Lap 51, after Scott Dixon pitted on Lap 50 and took four tires and fuel.
Rahal led Dixon by 8.9567 seconds on Lap 53. Dixon, driving with an injured foot after a horrific crash at the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday, closed that lead to 6.1 seconds over the next 10 laps, but Rahal had too much left and won by 6.6122 seconds.
Rahal had said after qualifying Friday he thought he had a car that could dominate.
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“Trust me, a lot of drivers didn’t like my comment that I thought I could dominate if I got out front,” Rahal said Saturday. “But I didn’t lie.
“I didn’t say that in any other way than I felt that confident in my car. It’s not about anything else. I just knew that if I could be out front in clean air we could do what we did today.”
And Rahal said another win on Sunday is possible. He said the only driver who seemed to have the same pace as him was Dixon.
“I was saving some fuel there at the end, trying to learn for (Sunday),” Rahal said. “He seems to be close on pace. For sure, it seems we’re in a pretty good spot going into tomorrow.”
Honda had five of the top-six finishers, including the top three. Dixon finished second, followed by James Hinchcliffe. The top Chevrolet finisher was Josef Newgarden, who started ninth and finished fourth.
Rahal became the seventh different driver to win over seven races in the series this season.
Dixon was asked what it’s like to part of that parity and he joked he didn’t know, since he hasn’t won a race this season. Hinchcliffesaid: “Coming from what? The fourth all-time winner? Relax bro. It's coming.
“I think it’s awesome. ... It shows how competitive this series is, the parity between manufacturers, between teams. Just how difficult it is to win one of these races. You have to have everything go your way. Your pit stops have to be perfect, flags have to fall in your favor, things like that. Oh yeah, and you’ve gotta be pretty good behind the wheel of the car. For me, I think it’s the greatest racing on four wheels on the planet.”
Rahal, who drives the No. 15 SoldierStrong/TurnsForTroops.com Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, earned the pole after Helio Castroneves was penalized for failing to slow down enough for the liking of IndyCar officials during a local yellow flag. Castroneves started second and finished seventh in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.
Scott Dixon, driving the No. 9 NTT Data Honda, started sixth and finished second. It was a strong effort considering he was driving with an injured foot, the result of a horrifying crash at the Indy 500 last Sunday. Dixon is the new series points leader with 275 points, two more thanCastroneves.
Conor Daly, who was profiled by theFree Press from the Indy 500 to Detroit, was the only driver who did not finish the race. Daly started 16th and moved up to 11 spots by Lap 15. But his car experienced an electrical issue on Lap 26 and couldn’t be restarted.
What's happening on Belle Isle? Complete Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix schedule
Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.
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