“A magnificent effort”: RLL President Jay Fyre reacts to his team’s monumental IndyCar achievement

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) President Jay Fyre has lauded his team’s remarkable feat at the Sonsio Grand Prix. The former IndyCar chief was full of praise for the Indianapolis-based team ahead of following their performance in qualifying.

The RLL team was the one that stole the spotlight during qualifying for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course event, with all of its drivers making it into the Fast Six for the first time in its history in IndyCar racing. Team veteran Graham Rahal clocked a staggering 01:09.7516 time to qualify second behind Alex Palou. The 36-year-old was followed closely by rookie teammate Louis Foster in third place, with Devlin DeFrancesco making it a perfect three for the team with a fifth-place starting spot.

Reflecting on his team’s outstanding showing, President Jay Frye described it as a "magnificent effort." Speaking in a video shared by IndyCar on FOX via its X account, the 60-year-old stated:

“Yeah, well, that was amazing. I think somebody suggested that was the first time in the team’s history they did that. I think before they had two cars, not three, so it was a magnificent day, magnificent effort, and it was a pretty seamless day. I mean, it was one of those days when all things went really well, really right, so momentum is a real thing. We’ve got to capitalize on this momentum.” (00:26 to 00:47)

The RLL team has faced its fair share of difficulties in recent races since Jay Frye took over as president. However, the qualifying result recorded at the Indianapolis road course is the best the Indiana-based outfit has recorded under the management of the new team boss. Jay Fyre will hope his drivers can convert their impressive starting positions into remarkable results during the main race.

Jay Fyre speaks about his move to RLL after leaving IndyCar

Jay Fyre has opened up about his switch from IndyCar management to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. The veteran motorsport executive made the switch to the Indiana-based team ahead of the commencement of the 2025 season.

In his interaction with the IndyCar media crew, the 60-year-old detailed how great his experience has been in his new role. He also identified a few of the positives he achieved while working at the helm of the open-wheel racing series.

“It’s been amazing. It’s been a really good tenure running IndyCar—very proud of what we accomplished. It was a great effort… we got a lot of really good things to happen over the tenure, very proud of that.

But this is kind of—you remember I did this before in NASCAR for 27 years—it’s like kind of riding a bike. We are back on the bike. The RLL group is a great group of people, great team, great history, you know, amazing ownership, amazing commitment from the ownership group. You know, it’s all there. We just have to capitalise on that.” (1:19 to 1:54)

Jay Fyre, who was previously at the helm of the NASCAR series, has so far played a pivotal role in the trajectory of IndyCar racing. His tenure, which spanned 10 years with the series, played a pivotal role in shaping the sport’s safety enhancements and fan engagement, among other things. His time with the RLL team, which kicked off somewhat rocky, appears to be coming together with his team’s performance at the Sonsio Grand Prix.

As the 2025 season unfolds—and going by his influence on the IndyCar series— Fyre will hope his wealth of influence and experience can translate to positive results for his new team.