Graham Rahal dominant en route to first Detroit win

Photo: IndyCar
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DETROIT – Graham Rahal has looked on rails all weekend at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear and backed it up on Saturday with his fifth and perhaps most authoritative career victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The driver of the No. 15 SoldierStrong/TurnsForTroops.com Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing led 55 of the 70 laps from pole, and never looked in doubt of being headed on-track or in the pits. His previous career high for most laps led in a race came in Texas in 2012, where he led 27 laps.

It was the combination of pace and strategy – Rahal only stopped twice and ran longer on the first stint – that helped deliver Rahal the win by a whopping 6.1474 seconds, to become the seventh winner in as many races this year.

Even more impressively, Rahal capped off a banner day for Honda with the shadows of General Motors’ headquarters in the background at the Raceway on Belle Isle Park, Roger Penske and Chevrolet’s home race.

Earlier in the day at Detroit, Acura picked up the first win for the new NSX GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GT Daytona class, with Andy Lally and Katherine Legge driving the No. 93 car.

And today, Honda swept the podium with Rahal clear of Scott Dixon, putting in an incredible drive while battling a bit of pain after his accident last week in the Indianapolis 500 to finish second, with James Hinchcliffe in third. All told, there were seven Hondas in the top 10 at the finish.

Dixon qualified sixth but rallied all day in the No. 9 Camping World Honda, only rarely dropping out of the top 10 and like Rahal, used a two-stop strategy versus a three-stopper.

Hinchcliffe spun on the opening lap of the race in the No. 5 Arrow Electronics Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda but didn’t lose a lap, and was able to parlay that unfortunate moment into a strategy advantage the rest of the way. He was up from 22nd to fifth by Lap 20 and stayed close to the top five for the remainder of the day.

Hinchcliffe had to hold off a late charge from Josef Newgarden, who was anywhere from three to nine tenths of a second faster per lap in the final stint of the race, but didn’t get close enough to make a move in the final few laps.

Helio Castroneves faded to seventh on a three-stop strategy.

More to follow.

Supercross 2023: Results and points after Seattle

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The final results from the Monster Energy Supercross race in Seattle suggests the season is turning into a two-rider battle as Eli Tomac scored his sixth win of the season to tie Cooper Webb for the points’ lead and Chase Sexton crashed in yet another race.

Tomac downplayed the neck strain that caused him to lose the red plate for two weeks, but without that holding him back, it would appear it might have been a bigger problem than he admitted. Despite finishing on the podium in Detroit, Tomac has not shown the late-race strength everyone has come to expect. He was in a slump after scoring a season-worst in Indianapolis and described his sixth win as a “bounce back”.

With this win, Tomac tied James Stewart for second on the all-time list with 50 career Supercross victories. Six rounds remain and there is no sign that Tomac is slowing down. Jeremy McGrath’s 72 wins remains untouchable, for the moment at least.

RESULTS: Click here for full 450 Overall Results; Click here for 250 Overall Results

Cooper Webb was disappointed with second-place, but he recognized the Supercross results at Seattle could have been much worse. He rode in fifth for the first nine laps of the race, behind Tomac and Sexton. When Sexton crashed from the lead and Tomac took the top spot, Webb knew he could not afford to give up that many points and so he dug deep and found enough points to share the red plate when the series returns in two weeks in Glendale, Arizona for a Triple Crown event.

Justin Barcia scored his third podium of the season, breaking out of a threeway tie of riders who have not been the presumed favorites to win the championship. Barcia scored the podium without drama or controversy. It was his fourth consecutive top-five and his 10th straight finish of eighth or better.

Click here for 450 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

Jason Anderson kept his perfect record of top-10s alive with a fourth-place finish. Tied for fourth in the standings and 49 out of the lead, his season has been like a death of a thousand cuts. He’s ridden exceptionally well, but the Big Three have simply been better.

Sexton rebounded from his fall to finish fifth. He entered the race 17 points out of the lead and lost another five in Seattle. Mistakes have cost Sexton 22 points in the last three races and that is precisely how far he is behind Tomac and Webb. Unless those two riders bobble, this deficit cannot overcome.

The rider who ties Anderson for fourth in the points, Ken Roczen finished just outside the top five in sixth after he battled for a podium position early in the race.

Click here for 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points


The 250 West riders got back in action after four rounds of sitting on the sideline and Jett Lawrence picked up where he left of: in Victory Lane. Lawrence now has four wins and a second-place finish in five rounds. One simply doesn’t get close to perfection than that.

Between them, the Lawrence brothers have won all but two races though 11 rounds. Jett failed to win the Anaheim Triple Crown and Hunter Lawrence failed to win the Arlington Triple Crown format in the 250 East division. In two weeks, the series has their final Triple Crown race in Glendale. When he was reminded of this from the top of the Seattle podium, Jett replied, “oof”.

Click here for 250 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

RJ Hampshire finished second in the race and is second in the points. This is fourth time in five rounds that Hampshire finished second to Lawrence. If not for a crash-induced 11th-place finish in the Arlington Triple Crown, he would be much closer in the points standings. With that poor showing, he is 23 points behind Lawrence.

Cameron McAdoo made a lot of noise in his heat. Riding aggressively beside Larwence, the two crashed in the preliminary. McAdoo could never seem to get away from Hampshire in the Main and as the two battled, the leader got away. It would have been interesting to see how they would have raced head-to-head when points were on the line.

Click here for 250 Overall results | 250 West Rider Points | 250 Combined Rider Points

The Supercross results in Seattle were kind to a couple of riders on the cusp of the top five. Enzo Lopes scored his second top-five and fourth top-10 of the season after crossing the finish line fourth in Seattle.

Tying his best finish of the season for the third time, Max Vohland kept his perfect record of top-10s alive. Vohland is seventh in the points.

2023 Results

Round 11: Eli Tomac bounces back with sixth win
Round 10: Chace Sexton wins, penalized
Round 9: Ken Roczen wins
Round 8: Eli Tomac wins 7th Daytona
Round 7: Cooper Webb wins second race
Race 6: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence win
Race 5: Webb, Hunter Lawrence win
Race 4: Tomac, H Lawrence win
Race 3: Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen win
Race 2: Tomac, J Lawrence win
Round 1: Tomac, J Lawrence win

2023 SuperMotocross Power Rankings

Week 10: Chase Sexton leads with consistency
Week 8: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
Week 7: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
Week 6: Perfect Oakland night keeps Tomac first
Week 5: Cooper Webb, Sexton close gap
Week 4: Tomac retakes lead
Week 3: Ken Roczen takes the top spot
Week 2: Roczen moves up; Sexton falls
Week 1: Tomac tops 450s; Jett Lawrence 250s