Marshall Pruett says…
There’s not much to say about Graham Rahal’s 2014 season, and that’s about as telling an observation I can provide. Armed with a strong budget from The National Guard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing went on a hiring spree, adding respected engineers and personnel to the program. Surrounded with talent and resources, the expectation was for Rahal to have a breakthrough year, but other than a fighting second at Detroit Round 1, the 25-year-old failed to crack the top-3 in 17 of 18 races.

The other telling stat was his finishing position in the standings. Of the 22 full-time entries on 2014, Rahal placed 19th. In 2013, and with a second (albeit dysfunctional) program in place for James Jakes under the RLL tent, Rahal placed 18th among the 25 or so full-time entries. With all of the improvements the Guard sponsorship brought, losing a spot in the championship standings was never an expectation, and it points to the one significant flaw that defined RLL in 2014: Poor chemistry.

Call it the ‘Laker’s Syndrome,’ where big teams like the Los Angeles Lakers open up their wallet, load the floor with big-name talent, yet woefully underperform because those assets fail to form a cohesive bond. Rahal and engineer Bill Pappas have had success in the sport individually, but as a unit, they were oil and vinegar, and it showed as the season progressed. Pappas and RLL parted ways (as did the awesome John Dick), and I expect both to find a better fit for 2015. Rahal will now have Eddie Jones in his corner, and of all the attributes I’ve seen emerge in the second-generation driver, it’s a harder edge – a steely resolve – that has come from two disappointing seasons driving for his father. There’s no doubt Rahal is trying harder than ever, but effort alone won’t deliver results. If and when RLL can march to the same drum beat, they will move up the grid.

Graham starts his ninth – yes, ninth – season in Indy car next year, and while I expect it to be better than the one he just completed, after two years lost in the pack, there’s no possible way to gauge what lies ahead. ​

Robin Miller says…
It’s hard to describe what’s happened to young Rahal the past couple years other than to say he’s not the wunderkind who once looked like a sure thing to follow his father’s footsteps into Indy car stardom.

After finishing 18th in 2013 during his initial campaign with Rahal-Lanigan-Letterman Racing, he regressed further in 2014 and wound up 19th out of 22 full-time starters.

He had the respected Bill Pappas (with Rahal, LEFT) as his engineer and the funding of the National Guard but other than Detroit, Iowa and Sonoma it was another lost season. The 25-year-old second generation driver, whose first and only victory came back in 2008, ran second at Belle Isle, fifth at Iowa and led 18 laps at Sonoma before being forced to pit late for fuel.

He’s always had the speed and ability but the guy who lived in the Fast Six a few years ago only cracked the top 10 in qualifying three times (fourth at Houston his best) as he couldn’t get a handle on his constant complaint – lack of grip. His confidence also seems shot, as he told one reporter he just wasn’t very good at qualifying – something he excelled at in 2010. Family and friends fear his off-track distractions are taking their toll on his focus, although his motivation ratcheted up the four races Luca Filippi showed as his teammate.

Now Pappas and John Dick are gone (along with the Guard sponsorship) so it appears veteran Eddie Jones will step in to try and get Rahal out of his funk. He’s complained about not having any continuity with engineers but can’t seem to find anyone he clicks with.

It’s still not too late to rescue Graham’s career but one win in eight years isn’t getting the job done and excuses are falling on deaf ears.

David Malsher says…
What the hell has happened? Don’t let any of Graham Rahal’s detractors – who increase in number and acerbity with each mediocre performance – tell you he was never good enough, because he most certainly was. In Atlantics, he was at least as quick as 2006 champion Simon Pagenaud and the pair dominated that series at a time when the new Swift 016 had caused the field to refill with a lot of strong talent.

In first Champ Car and then IndyCar, Rahal tended to overdrive in striving to keep up with Sebastien Bourdais and then Justin Wilson, but then he was a teenager being directly compared with teammates of supreme skill; can’t think of anyone in those circumstances who’d not have reacted the same way as Graham. In ’09, he was brilliant and easily dismissed the highly touted Robert Doornbos; even driving for four different teams in 2010 didn’t faze Rahal, either.

But there are prominent insiders at Ganassi who believe Graham squandered his great opportunity to learn alongside Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti 2011-’12 (an opportunity that Charlie Kimball grabbed with both hands, by contrast) and if that’s true, it’s as inexplicable as his lack of performance since. Rahal’s indelicate all-or-nothing throttle control should have been refined long ago, although that same aggression translates well when pulling off passing maneuvers.

But now, desperate to prove the naysayers wrong, he’s started making silly errors. There was only one driver who could have run into Tony Kanaan under yellow in Houston, only one who could have an inexplicable spin at Pocono while everyone was cruising around 7mph off the pace trying to save fuel, only one who would compound his win-losing need for a pit stop at Sonoma by driving off track while ranting at his father and then get stung for speeding in pit lane.

Actually, that’s not true: those things could have happened to anyone. But they happened to a guy in desperate need of a strong result and a rebuilt confidence. The fact that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has made it look like others are carrying the can for the woeful dearth of results is not painting a rosy picture of the future here.