'Chevrolet was in a league of its own,' says top Honda driver Rahal

INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis was another example of Chevrolet's apparent superiority over Honda in the Verizon IndyCar Series, this year. Chevrolet drivers led 196 of 200 laps and took every position inside the top five, sans one.

Confidence in Honda, but there's work to do

Once again, Graham Rahal was Honda's man, securing fifth place to continue his streak of impressive performances. Despite the incontrovertible gap between the two manufacturers, Rahal remains optimistic.

"I really do have the absolute most confidence in Honda and HPD," he said. "Obviously we've got to find some horsepower. On the road course, street course, we got to find a little drivability.

The Chevy was just in a league of its own on horsepower, unfortunately

Graham Rahal

"But at the end of the day, everybody's working as hard as they can. Obviously this is a testament to how smart the folks at Pratt & Miller and Ilmor are. There's a lot of work to be done. We're just going to continue to battle hard. I don't think anybody felt this would be an easy task," said the RLLR driver. 

"I'm really, really proud of these guys, all the effort they continue to put in. I mean, once again today, the top Honda. The Chevy was just in a league of its own on horsepower, unfortunately.

"I was happy we were as close to Kimball and Dixon at the end as we were. I thought there was no hope. With 15 to go, to be tenth or ninth and to charge up through those guys, it was pretty tricky."

Being the top Honda

"More important than anything, I said to my boys coming into today: 'No matter what, two things I wanted, that was to be the top Honda, and to keep up with the top three in points, top four.' Unfortunately, three of those guys finished ahead of us, but still had a very good points day."

"I feel really good about Detroit - I feel we can have a really good run there (and) keep our good points streak going. It's not the easiest as far as being able to beat them, but we're going to keep trying."

Trying to win it for David Letterman

"We wanted to win for Dave (Letterman). I think we all knew that we were going to have an uphill battle today. At the end of the day we finished a lot closer than I expected. 

"I think Dave will be very happy. It's good talking to him. He assured me we'll see him around the racetrack more. I'm excited to have him at this stage of his life. Talking to his wife, she's feeling the same. It's about time he can enjoy himself a little bit, and hopefully that includes IndyCar racing."

"It was a great day for us to fight like we did."