Detroit dominator Rahal states importance of momentum

Rahal led 96 of the 140 racing laps over the course of the Detroit double-header weekend, starting from pole in Race 1 and third in Race 2, and taking relatively comfortable victories in both, and he’s optimistic for next Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, where he won last year.

He commented: “Through the ups and downs of my career, when you get a chance to win a race, you never take it for granted. So it's pretty special for me, nice for our team. The guys are going to certainly feel good going into Texas next week, a place we know we can win at. Hopefully we can get it done again.

“[Momentum] plays a huge role in what we do. I think the reason why we started off pretty strong this weekend is because we had a great finish to May. We didn't have the luck, but we had a car that could have won that race, no doubt.

“So I think our guys felt confident in that. We showed up here. We stuck to our guns. We just carried on what we had started. So, you know, I'm a huge, huge believer in it.

“I'm excited about Texas. I think it's going to be a crazy race, once again. But I also know that at the test there, we were very strong. And it should be a track that will suit the Honda package very well. Hopefully we can go down there and get another victory.”

Describing his Detroit weekend, Rahal said it was relatively drama-free.

“This weekend I never had one of those moments that normally scares you as a driver,” he reflected, “where you overcook it a little bit, you get a little sideways, that wall is coming up after you a little too quick, whatever. I never had one of those. I just felt in control completely every lap. And that does not happen very often.

“You guys have seen this time and time again with Will [Power] and with [Scott] Dixon and all these other guys – when they're at their best, and the car's at its best, it's hard to beat 'em. This weekend I felt like I was at my best and the car was at its best. So we just had a strong performance.

“But, again, I don't take it for granted. I've been around this a long time. I've never had one of these weekends in my entire career. I've never had two races kind of ‘come to me’ that easily. I spent seven years or something without a win. So to finally be able to, the last few years, win now five races, over the last couple of seasons, it's strong. We're proud of that.

“Now maybe we can turn our attention to getting a couple more poles and everything else. I don't really care about poles; I really mean that. It's never been something like, ‘Oh man, I want to be the career leader in poles.’ I really don't care.

“At the same time I'll tell you, proof yesterday, it's a hell of a lot easier when you're there! So hopefully we can go forward and get a couple more.”