INDIANAPOLIS -- It's not often that the second-place finisher is the driver who has people talking.
Yet that's what has happened the past two races in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
With two stirring drives resulting in close-but-not-quite-close-enough podium finishes, Graham Rahal electrified the IndyCar fan base and almost single-handedly carried the flag for Honda in a season that has been dominated by Chevrolet teams and drivers.
Two weeks ago at Barber Motorsports Park, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing ran an alternate three-stop strategy and watched their driver eliminate an 18-second deficit and carve his place from sixth to second during the last 20 laps with a series of daring outside passes.
Then at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Rahal took advantage of an opening-lap crash to emerge from Turn 1 in sixth place after qualifying a disappointing 17th. Rahal moved up to fifth, then stayed with the leading group of Chevrolets until they pitted. When the superior fuel mileage of the Honda allowed him to run additional laps, a superior pit stop put him ahead of the three Chevys and in pursuit of eventual race winner Will Power.
The remaining 60 laps were run without a yellow, and while Rahal was never able to directly challenge Power, he made the Team Penske driver work hard for the win and demonstrated that Honda's road course aero kit may not be as uncompetitive as some observers fear.
"He's been really strong in all the races," remarked Power, the defending IndyCar Series champion. "This guy has done a real good job. Definitely the class of the Honda teams. I mean, you'd be worried if he was in a Chevy. He would be absolutely a championship contender. He is now in a Honda, so he's obviously got a handle on it.
"That team has done a really good job," Power added. "He seems to be there in each race knocking on the door."
Barber and the Indianapolis road race marked the kind of performance that people have been hoping for out of the youngest son of three-time IndyCar champion Bobby Rahal since Graham, now 26, burst onto the scene in 2007.
After winning rookie of the year honors in the last year of the Champ Car-sanctioned IndyCar series, Rahal won his IndyCar Series debut at St. Petersburg in April 2008. He claimed two poles and finished eighth in the IndyCar standings in 2008, but the withdrawal of Newman/Haas Racing forced Rahal into a compromised 2010 campaign split among four teams.
Landing with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2010 was supposed to be Rahal's big break, but his car was run out of a separate shop from the "A" team of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. Rahal did finish in the top 10 of the championship in each of his two seasons with Ganassi, but the combination never really clicked.
Graham came "home" in 2013 to RLL, the team owned by his father in conjunction with television entertainer David Letterman and construction magnate Mike Lanigan. But it was a troubled time for the team as it struggled to rebound from the September 2012 death of longtime general manager Scott Roembke.
A major overhaul of the team for 2015 seems to be paying immediate dividends. With the team under the overall leadership of longtime Rahal staffer Ricardo Nault, a new engineering department reunites Graham Rahal with Martin Pare and Mike Talbott from his successful Newman/Haas era, while Eddie Jones (ex-Andretti Autosport) has taken over as race engineer.
The most noticeable change is that Bobby Rahal has stepped back from his role as Graham's race strategist and voice on the radio.
"We've really been able to put together a team -- a group of people who work really well together and who have done nothing but restored all the confidence that Graham had a couple years ago that got destroyed through frustrations or what have you," Bobby Rahal said.
"There's a very positive, collegial atmosphere here and the result is a good car is being produced," he continued. "That then creates greater confidence on the part of Graham. It's fun to watch that. I don't want to mess that up -- I want to let it happen. So far it's working very well."
Graham Rahal admitted that he and his father have had some spirited radio exchanges the past couple of years, but he dismissed the notion that Bobby's decision to take a step back is a major factor in his improved results in 2015.
"Dad is excellent at strategy, so to not have Dad is not like it's a great bonus," Graham said. "Things are probably a little bit more calm. Dad is a pretty emotional guy, he gets pretty fired up. When he tells me I need to go pass people when I'm sitting out there driving at 11/10ths, it ticks me off a little bit. So it's probably easier when he's not saying those things.
"I think everything's just working smoother now. When you have a team that jells so well, that works so well, that you're so confident in, that is giving the driver a better car, it breeds confidence out of your driver. You can drive better and harder."
The happiness Rahal is enjoying in his personal life may also be playing a contributing role in his outlook at the track. During the offseason, Rahal got engaged to drag racing star Courtney Force.
After watching his former teammate push him hard for the victory at Barber, then follow up with another second-place run at Indy, three-time IndyCar Series champion Dixon has taken note of Rahal's resurgence this year.
"I think he's done a good job and they're doing a great job as a single-car team," Dixon said. "It's hard when you look at the split between Honda and Chevrolet. I mean, eight of the Chevrolet cars are Penske or Ganassi, so right there is a bit of an uphill battle.
"We all know Graham has the talent. It's just a matter of getting it together with some competitive finishes. All in all to have two second-place finishes in a row is a pretty good effort."
It's no exaggeration to say that IndyCar fans have been waiting years for Rahal and Marco Andretti to emerge as race-winning stars and championship contenders. But it's also easy to lose sight of the fact that they are still young (Andretti is 28), even though they are series veterans.
Bobby Rahal chuckled when he recalled that he was a 29-year-old rookie when he won his first IndyCar race. At 26, Graham already has 115 IndyCar starts under his belt. He also has 14 podium finishes, but the way people focus on the fact that he has won only one race in seven years makes him unhappy.
"The hardest thing to live with is I get sick and tired of hearing people comment about my career," Graham said. "When is he going to win? You realize there are a lot of people who raced in IndyCar who never won, let alone finish on the podium 14 times. Guys like Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay win a lot, but they're with the dominant teams of late.
"We're fine," he added. "This team is going to keep working hard. I'm proud of the way I'm driving. I'm proud of the team. We just have to keep working away."