‘I Wouldn’t Get Your Hopes Up,’ Rahal Says of Current IndyCar Oval Package

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

MADISON, Ill. – When the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series schedule was released with a heavy oval lean, optimism was high that an entertaining year was ahead, especially toward the end of the season where the ovals dominate the calendar.

However, with the mid-season introduction of the hybrid system, the entire paddock has been thrown for a loop as they work to learn what this system needs and how to best utilize it and the added mass that comes with it on the current IndyCar chassis.

In the first oval race that the hybrid was in use at Iowa, it was largely a processional event with passing at a high premium and the thought that more of the same will be seen this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, along with the upcoming doubleheader at Milwaukee and the season finale at Nashville.

Graham Rahal, who has seen his fair share of changes in the series over the years, explained that the current situation we find ourselves in is frustrating, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s only a matter of how long it takes to get there.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up, but I urge all of you to be positive,” Rahal said of his outlook on the ovals ahead. “The thing that we’re in the midst of, and unfortunately this isn’t like a lot of other sports and things where they can practice behind closed doors, everything that you see, everything we’re experiencing, you guys see it and are living it with us.

“Unfortunately, you’re talking about a car that has a lot more mass. You’re talking about a car that’s got a different engine unit with the hybrid and that can’t be understated. The hybrid, the way that it works, it pulls away power from the engine, but it adds it back to the electrification. But on a track like this, you don’t get as much of the bump from the electrification as maybe a really slow corner at a road course. And for Firestone, there’s a lot of things to go through that can’t be understated.

“I know everybody’s frustrated with what they’re seeing right now. My hopes are with time we’re gonna get there. The downside of this is you’re gonna get this show four out of the next five races, and that’s a bummer. But hopefully magic can strike and it’ll be all right.”

Rahal added that getting back to a favorable place on the ovals is possible, but it will take work from all parties involved to get there.

“It’ll take a lot of testing,” he said. “It takes a lot of tire work. It takes a lot of work with the formula in general, how much hybrid juice can we, how much power can we get out of the hybrid? Because a place like this, you don’t even feel it. It feels ineffective, which isn’t right.

“So, like, we need to figure out how to get a little more out of it at a place like this. But again, though, when you have the downforce that you have here, you don’t get the automatic, the part throttle regeneration enough to utilize the full battery. Again, there’s a lot that goes into this.

“There’s a lot for everybody to think about, unfortunately. And we’re living it live on air, and that’s a little tough.”