Rahal and Newgarden fry in Texas

Graham Rahal

IndyCar driver Graham Rahal felt the Texas heat on Wednesday.

“Seriously, it’s so hot out here. I feel like I’m driving around in an oven today," said Rahal, who took part in a Firestone tire test at Texas Motor Speedway.

“And they want me to do about 700 miles at Texas today, so I’ll be pretty tired tonight."

Rahal and fellow IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden were hand-selected by Firestone to take part in the tire test. Each driver planned to run about 400 laps, which is significantly more than a race (248 laps).

“My Lord, I didn’t think it could get any hotter in Texas than when we were here racing," said Rahal, referring to the DXC Technology 600 run at TMS in June.

“But it’s good to be back, just working with Firestone today. The goal is to find a more suitable tire for the 2020 race. More suitable might mean a little more degradation, so the cars slide around some more. It may not. Josef and I are going to pound around trying to find a good combination that they’re comfortable with."

If video does not appear, click here.