“I can f**king drive for God’s sake”: When Graham Rahal defended his IndyCar qualifying woes

The IndyCar legend, Graham Rahal, is one of the top names in the sport. He has been wringing the neck of challengers since 2008, but to date, he has only managed six Grand Prix wins from 278 starts.

Over the years, Rahal has been criticized for his qualifying woes, but back in 2022, he came up with a solid response as to why this has been the case.

"People have accused me for not being a good qualifier for years. Now you’ve got a guy like Jack Harvey who’s been known as a great qualifier, I’m out qualifying him. He’s new to the team and I’m not trying to throw any shade at him, but it’s not that. I can f***ing drive for God’s sake," Graham Rahal said via racereview.

The 36-year-old is one of the most experienced drivers in the world of the highest class of open-wheel racing in America. Other than his six Grand Prix wins, he has so far managed 29 podiums and five pole positions.

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Graham Rahal deemed the RLL challenger a 'devil'

While Graham Rahal defended himself over his qualifying woes in 2022, via the same interview, he also shed light on Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's IndyCar challenger.

Back then, he asserted that the cars do not perform effectively when pushed to the max. In light of this, he said:

"Our problem is our cars are good at 90% but when you get pushed to 100 in qualifying, like at Long Beach, it turns to the devil. It really does. Jack had that. Christian’s struggling. Me. We qualified 13th and it’s not terrible but you go into race day and you’re only going to win without a lot of luck. 7th was a hell of a race. We’ve got to start up front. Everybody around here knows that. If we can get there, we will win a lot of races. There’s no doubt about that. As a team too. If we can get Jack there and Christian up there."

Other than Graham Rahal's doubters, he is seen by many as a top driver. In the modern era of IndyCar, there are only a handful of drivers who have the kind of experience he has.

Last year, he ended the 2024 campaign of RLL in 18th place with 251 points (five top-ten finishes). In the ongoing 2025 season, other than his racing duties, he has the additional responsibility of getting rookie driver Louis Foster (2024 Indy NXT Champion) up to speed with the demands of the sport.

Rahal has been keeping the banner of RLL high in IndyCar for a long time, and considering that he is 36 years old, the window is closing quickly on him to amass more race wins and also the maiden drivers' world champion. His best overall finish to date has been fourth place, which he secured in 2015.