For our third IndyCar Wrap-Up, we come upon our first three-car team. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had two of its seats change ahead of the 2025 season. Speed remained difficult to find, but in RLLR fashion, it had its handful of competitive races, and it had a victory slip through its grasp. The team also won a pole position with a rookie driver. For all the bright spots from this season, it is difficult to see how it can be so far off for 75% of the races.
Graham Rahal
The last few seasons were particular taxing on Rahal. He has been through his share of rough patches and low moments. A few bright spots stood out, but they were always few. This season matched some elements of the last few seasons, but the RLLR organization as a whole has plenty of positives to draw from 2025 along with the negatives. Rahal led the way for the team, battling through some hardships. At least he didn't have to worry about the last row shootout this season at the Indianapolis 500.
What objectively was his best race?
Rahal took a fourth at Portland despite starting 22nd. An early pit stop allowed him to jump ahead of the field, but Rahal kept up the pace and remained in the top five the entire race.
What subjectively was his best race?
It is Portland. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had flashes of speed throughout the season, and the team pulled off some good results. Rahal made something out of nothing at Portland. He could have finished outside the top ten, but he was on a strategy that got the most out of his car and he kept cars we likely thought were better from jumping back ahead as we got through the later stages of the race.
What objectively was his worst race?
It was 24th at Mid-Ohio. Josef Newgarden spun at the start of the race and Rahal was collateral damage. Rahal never got a chance to really compete. He was starting 20th and was off the lead lap immediately. All he could do was count the laps off and finish a race while going mostly unnoticed.
What subjectively was his worst race?
It is hard to look at a race where you led over half the laps as your worst race, but the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is likely the one race Rahal wants back the most. From second on the grid, Rahal got the jump on Palou and led with some comfort from the start. The race started going sideways on tire strategy as this was the one race where all teams had to use two sets of each tire compound. The #15 Honda team decided to end on the primary tire. This cost them.
Rahal lost the lead to Palou on the track when his alternate tire was gone. He lost more time on the primary tire in the final stint. It was always going to be difficult to beat Palou, but Rahal was at least the second-best driver on this day, and a victory was within reach. Instead, he dropped to sixth at the checkered flag.
Graham Rahal's 2025 Statistics
Championship Position: 19th (260 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 59
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 5
Average Start: 14.941
Average Finish: 15.705
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 59
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 5
Average Start: 14.941
Average Finish: 15.705
Louis Foster
The 2024 Indy Lights champion stepped into IndyCar and had great moments of speed. For a rookie, Foster got a hang of an IndyCar, and we saw that in qualifying. The tough part was translating that into race pace. A few races saw him tripped up due to things out of his control. A few races got away from him due to his own mistakes. Foster was generally another bright spot, and he is at a good point for more growth to come in 2026.
What objectively was his best race?
Foster had two 11th-place finishes this season. The first came at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after starting third. The second came at Road America after Foster started on pole position. Both have some disappointment considering where Foster started.
What subjectively was his best race?
In his first Indianapolis 500, Foster ran all 500 miles, and after all the post-race penalties settled, he was classified in 12th, the best finishing rookie on the road. That is all you can ask for your first time out at Indianapolis. Foster was not particularly competitive. He benefitted from the number of cars that fell out of the race due to accidents and mechanical issues. He still avoided trouble and did all he could to get the car to the finish.
What objectively was his worst race?
At the St. Petersburg season opener, Foster had nowhere to go when Will Power spun in turn three, and Foster was collected with Nolan Siegel. Foster's debut ended before he could compete a lap, and his IndyCar career began with a last-place finish.
What subjectively was his worst race?
It is tough to end on a bad note, but Foster's most memorable moment from his rookie season will likely be what happened at the season finale at Nashville. While a lap down and with the leaders passing, Foster made contact with David Malukas entering turn one while Malukas was running second. Foster had made a sudden move up the racetrack approaching the turn. When entering it, Foster was on the bottom and Malukas and he collided.
Foster was handed a penalty though the contact was not 100% on the Brit. The entire sequence did not look good for Foster. He had a chance to back out early or at least hold his line down the straightaway and not make it appear he was making it difficult for Malukas. Foster ended up finishing 20th and did enough to claim Rookie of the Year, but he was not ending 2025 on a high note.
Detroit should also be mentioned because Foster suffered a suspension failure entering the hairpin. Foster collided with Felix Rosenqvist after he hit the barrier. Foster ended up 22nd, but he was likely going to finish somewhere just outside the top ten without this incident, and it had been somewhat of a good day for him.
Louis Foster's 2025 Statistics
Championship Position: 23rd (213 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 5
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 13.529
Average Finish: 17.941
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 5
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 13.529
Average Finish: 17.941
Devlin DeFrancesco
After a season on the sidelines, DeFrancesco returned to IndyCar in RLLR's third entry. The third RLLR car has been the toughest to get results from ever since the team added the program full-time in 2022. That remained the case for DeFrancesco, but some of that might be down to the driver. The Canadian had good moments, but more times than not, he was in the back of the field.
What objectively was his best race?
DeFrancesco did not make a mistake in the Indianapolis 500 and he finished 11th, and on the lead lap.
What subjectively was his best race?
It is Indianapolis. Like Foster, DeFrancesco wasn't particularly brilliant. He stayed out of harm's way and he ran every lap on a day when many stumbled.
What objectively was his worst race?
DeFrancesco spun on the opening lap in the second Iowa race and collected Scott McLaughlin. DeFrancesco was classified in 25th after the accident.
What subjectively was his worst race?
A few could be listed here. DeFrancesco has a knack for qualifying for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the problem is his finishes rarely come close. He qualified fifth for this race, but the team decided to use both sets of alternate tires on the first two stint. He ended with two stints on the primary tire, and it didn't help that he stalled in the pit lane on his second pit stop. Any chance at a positive result was gone, and he was 17th at the finish.
DeFrancesco also made a bonehead decision in Detroit to pull back on the course despite knowing he had a loose wheel nut after he drove into the runoff area. His tire came off and this brought out a caution. It was unnecessary. He was 23rd.
Devlin DeFrancesco's 2025 Statistics
Championship Position: 26th (171 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 18
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 18
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 19.882
Average Finish: 20.058
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 19.882
Average Finish: 20.058
An Early Look Ahead
Does anyone have any clue where RLLR is going?
None of its three drivers finished better than 19th in the championship. Graham Rahal was still the best driver on the team. Louis Foster looked promising, though the record doesn't look that great for Foster's rookie season. Devlin DeFrancesco showed what we saw in his first two seasons in IndyCar.
Rahal will remain as will Foster, but is there anyone who can help the team in the third car? The best driver this year for RLLR might have been Takuma Sato, who qualified second for the Indianapolis 500, led 51 laps, the most in the race, and Sato finished ninth. If that is the case, what does it say that the best driver for RLLR is a 49-year-old who was last full-time in 2022?
It is either the status quo will remain, which is not promising, or RLLR will make a change and it will likely not be a splash signing. How many drivers are lining up to race at RLLR at this moment?
The strange thing is when RLLR is on, it looks really good. Sato showed there is some speed in those cars at Indianapolis. DeFrancesco and Foster were classified 11th and 12th when the race was over. Rahal should have at least been on the podium at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis if not won the race. Then there was Portland where Rahal looked really good.
Then there was the qualifying form, which was RLLR’s best in a number of seasons. Rahal made the Fast Six in four different races. That was as many times as Kyle Kirkwood, Patricio O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power, and it was more than David Malukas, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi.
Foster made it out of the first round of qualifying seven times, as many as Kirkwood, Ericsson, Dixon, Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin.
The pieces are there, but it just requires more.
The team hired Jay Frye after Frye was dismissed from IndyCar's front office. I don't think Frye's inclusion alone means the team will take a leap forward. It cannot get much lower, but in terms of seeing a team back in the mix for the championship top ten, it will require more than one executive. This is also a team going through significant transition as RLLR will no longer run the BMW program in IMSA. Some of IMSA crew will be moved to IndyCar, and maybe it will improve the IndyCar program, but that is not a guarantee either.
It feels like the team will remain in the back half of the championship at least for another season. We know what we will get with Rahal. Foster should make a step forward in year two. That third seat is not going to be a game-changer. It will either be DeFrancesco, who has made 51 starts in his IndyCar career and has never finished in the top ten once, or someone else we aren’t confident can bag consistently good results. Any young driver that comes in could be better, but this was a team where no one finished better than 19th. The ceiling is not very high.
The qualifying pace is the most encouraging for RLLR. Foster made it out of round one on a regular basis, and when Rahal qualified well, he qualified very well. That pace rarely translated into race results. If it can find a way to turn promise on Saturday into success on Sunday, this team could solidly move up the grid, but we have been talking about speed issues with RLLR for the last three or four years. What will make 2026 any different?
