Rahal out to prove he’s title-worthy
Graham Rahal pays attention to what others say about him and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan IndyCar team, so he knows going into the season opener Sunday in St. Petersburg, Florida, that he is considered an afterthought in the season championship hunt.
The lack of interest comes despite Rahal's three wins over the past two years (his first wins since 2008) and eight top-five finishes in 16 races each of the past two years.
“We’ve always had a good organization here and we’re going to keep soldiering on with that mindset, that we belong (in the fight),” the New Albany native said. “I’ve read a lot of preseason views, and it seems everybody is discounting us, everybody is thinking we got lucky two years in a row in winning some races. I just think we’re going to have to go out and prove them wrong once again.”
The renaissance started in 2015 when he won twice, including at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and was a threat for the championship late in the season. He wound up fourth in the points that season, and fifth in 2016.
As he looked around the paddock this week in St. Petersburg headed into the first practice Friday (Rahal was 17th fastest), it seemed the characters he will have to outrun for his first season title were the usual suspects — the Penske duo of Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, last year’s champion.
“I still think Power is the guy you’ve got to chase the hardest, and Scott Dixon (of the Ganassi team) is right there next to him,” Rahal said. “And you’ve got Josef Newgarden, who is new to Team Penske, and Helio Castroneves is always going to be a threat.
“Yeah, it’s the same cast of characters for the most part. If anything, though, the depth of quality competitors in the field just keeps getting deeper. Like Ryan HunterReay at the Andretti team, I expect him to be good. So we’ll just have to see.”
Keselowski takes pole at Las Vegas
Brad Keselowski will begin his bid for a third victory in the past four NASCAR Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from the pole after topping qualifying on Friday night.
Keselowski, who also won last week's race at Atlanta, made up ground in the final two turns and posted a top seed of 193.68 mph in his No. 2 Ford for his 13th career pole. He won at the 1.5-mile track last year and in 2014.Martin Truex Jr. will join him on the front row Sunday in the 400mile race, posting a speed of 193.458 mph in his No. 78 Toyota. Ryan Blaney will start third in his Ford, and Matt Kenseth qualified fourth on his 45th birthday.
Drew Brevig and David Gust each scored firstperiod goals and Ohio State defeated host Wisconsin 5-1 in Big Ten hockey Friday night.
Ohio State (19-10-6, 10-8-1-1) pulled ahead of Penn State by one point for third place in the conference.
Dakota Joshua, Miguel Fidler and Mason Jobst also scored for the Buckeyes, who finish the regular season against the Badgers (19-131, 12-7-0) tonight.
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