Graham Rahal’s improbable IndyCar success keeps rising

Except for the Iowa race, Rahal has been the fastest Honda driver all year

It is safe to say, in the IndyCar ranks, Graham Rahal is putting together one fantastic season that has all the earmarks of a finish much like one of his favorite athletes — LeBron James.

Just as James and the Cavs finished second in the 2015 NBA chase, young Rahal seems destined for a similar fate at best. At the same time, he continues to defy the odds.

Racing with what most of the season has been undernourished Honda power, Rahal has still put together a season that includes one race victory, five podium finishes, seven top five finishes and nine top 10s in 13 races.

He is now second in the series standings, the only Honda driver with a sniff at winning a championship.

Rahal had a five-race streak early in the season when he had two second-place finishes, a third and a fifth. In his last three races, including this past weekend in Iowa, he has finished first, third and fourth.

That level of consistency has allowed Rahal to stay in the thick of the series points chase, amidst drivers racing with the more powerful Chevrolet engines. He currently sits second, behind Juan Pablo Montoya.

With three races left in the season, Rahal is 42 points behind Montoya, but only six points ahead of Scott Dixon with the next race, Aug. 2, at what most would consider to be Rahal's home track at Mid-Ohio.

That would certainly be considered a positive. The negative, however, is the tight Mid-Ohio track has limited passing areas, which puts a premium on fast qualifying efforts, and that does not favor Honda drivers.

Then again, maybe not.

Despite the beating Honda has taken most of the season, the fact remains it has won two of the last four races, at Fontana, California and Iowa. And at Iowa, the powerplant placed two of the top four.

Now, Mid-Ohio is Honda's home track as well. Just as it would be an amazing accomplishment for Rahal to somehow pull out a 2015 series title, ditto for Honda if it can put together an end-of-the-season run that closes the gap on Chevrolet.

As it stands now, Chevy powers five of the top six cars in the points race. After Mid-Ohio the series ends with races at Pocono and Sonoma, California. Montoya remains the favorite to win the title.

But he still has to hold off Dixon, plus teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power, who are all within range of a Montoya DNF of making this a wild championship finish. Elton Alexander/Cleveland.com