Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was on top of the world in 2020, winning the most unique Indianapolis 500 in history.

Takuma Sato put the team back in victory lane at Indy, and Graham Rahal seemed destined to do the same the following year, until his wheel feel off during his final pit stop. It was a crushing blow for Rahal and the organization, but it pales in comparison to what happened last year.

The four-car effort at RLL struggled to find speed all month. Panic set in during qualifying, with their three full-time drivers fighting for the last row on the grid. Katherine Legge qualified 29th, Christian Lundgaard was 30th, and Jack Harvey bumped Graham on the final qualifying run.

In the blink of an eye, one of the most experienced drivers in the paddock failed to qualify for the biggest race in the world.

All Graham could do was watch from the cockpit of his car, as he suffered the same fate that his father did 30 years prior. It was a disastrous situation for the organization, but one that Graham says they needed.

“I think me not qualifying was the best thing that could have happened versus anybody else because it clearly rings home for my dad and everybody else. It got serious in a hurry, and that made us really lock in and focus on fixing a lot of items, particularly when it came to Indy.”

Last summer, RLL instituted an “Indy Recovery Plan” in preparation for this year.

“The realities were the right things that we were spending on weren’t the right things. I don’t know that they had the awareness of that fully, and I think last year brought a severe intensity and focus to what was going on and brought the change that was necessary.”

Graham ultimately started his 16th consecutive race, filling in for the injured Stefan Wilson at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. He improved 11 spots to finish 22nd, while RLL’s three cars finished 18th, 19th, and 33rd respectively. None of the four drivers completed all 200 laps, which is one of the team’s goals this year.

It was déjà vu all over again, as Graham was nearly bumped on the final run of qualifications this past weekend. He made the show, and will start last (33rd) for the second consecutive year after Nolan Siegel was unable to complete his final attempt.

The team is clearly disappointed to find themselves back in the same position, but after what he went through last year, Graham was just happy to make it in.

“This is circled on the schedule every year. This race means a lot more than it ever did before. To have the opportunity to just get back out here and try to qualify and put ourselves in a really good place is going to be key, and I think the team has done a great job.”

After Bobby Rahal failed to qualify for the 1993 race, he came back in 1994 to finish 3rd. Graham has a pair of 3rd place finishes in his career, but that will be a tough proposition on Sunday. Graham would love nothing more than to replicate his father’s 1986 race and become an Indy 500 winner. That doesn’t appear to be in the cards this year, but he will never give up.