"He's often misunderstood": Graham Rahal sets the record straight on new IndyCar teammate

IndyCar driver Graham Rahal recently came out and spoke in detail about his 2025 teammates Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster. The RLL driver highlighted the perceived image of DeFrancesco and set the record straight about the Canadian as he hailed the efforts made by his new teammate.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Devlin DeFrancesco returned to the IndyCar series for the 2025 season after sitting on the sidelines last season. The 25-year-old raced with Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global) for a couple of seasons before he was sacked at the end of the 2023 season.

DeFrancesco caused a massive crash at the 2023 St. Pete GP, where the Canadian’s car went airborne. His results with Andretti Global weren't anything to write home about, either. Hence, many fans have been questioning RLL's decision to bring him back to the grid. However, Graham Rahal set the record straight as he was impressed by DeFrancesco's effort to learn and improve.

Graham Rahal was featured in a video uploaded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway's YouTube channel, where IndyCar President Doug Boles interviewed Bobby Rahal's son. Speaking about DeFrancesco, Rahal said:

“You know, Dev (Devlin DeFrancesco), obviously, I've known Dev for a long time, but he's such a great kid, I think often misunderstood, too. You know, people have this perception of Devlin that's really actually quite wrong about who he is and things, and I'm excited to help him take the next level in his career.” (2:30 onwards)

“He's shown in IndyCar, when he was with Andretti, that he's, that he has speed. You know, on race day, sometimes the consistency, the tire wear, things like that were his challenge. What I've been most impressed about him already is he came to me with a list of things from the very beginning. He said, I want your help and I want to learn from you,” he added.

Devlin DeFrancesco raced for Andretti during the 2022 and 2023 seasons and finished 23rd and 22nd in the championship, respectively. However, the Canadian was still in his early years of racing, as Rahal believes that the 25-year-old has a lot to learn and is making the effort to do so.

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RLL driver Louis Foster hails Graham Rahal as the “team dad”

Graham Rahal drives during qualifying for the NTT INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 01, 2025 - Source: Getty

Louis Foster won the 2024 Indy NXT championship and was promoted to IndyCar as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing signed the youngster. Graham Rahal is the senior most driver at the team with almost two decades of experience in the IndyCar series. Hence, it's obvious for the youngster to look up to him for advice.

Louis Foster was recently featured on the Pit Pass Indy podcast and hailed Graham Rahal as he said:

“Graham has been the team dad to be honest. So, its been great, Graham's a really great dude. He knows a lot about IndyCar racing, I mean he led his first IndyCar race when I was about four years old, so he's been around a lot...He's really good with getting the best out of people that's what I think I have seen a lotfof him recently with the team and the new personnel, he's really great at bringing people together.” (18:30 onwards)

Louis Foster and Devlin DeFrancesco made their debut for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Foster retired on lap 1 following a crash involving Will Power and Nolan Siegel. DeFrancesco finished P22.