All downhill for Rahal

Since winning in his first IndyCar start April 6 in St. Petersburg, things have gone downhill for Graham Rahal. He started 20th Saturday and moved up to 12th, but problems started on Lap 11, when he said the car "had no drive at all."

He came to the pits on Lap 17 and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan crew took the car into the garage to work on a possible engine problem. He returned to the track on Lap 63, but the car was retired for good 14 laps later when it kept popping out of fifth gear.

"We keep shearing the teeth off fifth gear for some reason and can't figure out why," said Rahal, who finished 25th. [Editor's Note: His teammate Justin Wilson, and other drivers fell out with transmission woes too. When is the IRL going to ditch the current junk car which costs the teams millions more per year than is necessary? Why wait until 2011 when 2010 was quite doable?] Since finishing eighth at Watkins Glen July 6, Rahal has had an average finish of 19.8.