INDYCAR: Rahal dismisses Chilton comments

Verizon IndyCar Series veteran Graham Rahal has dismissed comments made by Max Chilton about driving standards among some of his rivals following the Brit's oval debut at Phoenix on Saturday.

Rahal, who finished fifth in his No. 15 RLL Honda, says Chilton is a hypocrite.

"I think he should listen to himself," Rahal told RACER. "He had the fastest car around, but he was constantly sticking his [right-front wing] endplate into everybody's left-rear corner on corner entry. That is not a safe move on a road course, let alone an oval at 200 miles an hour. That's the definition of stupidity."

Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon went on to dominate the race, and Chilton appeared to be headed for a podium finish alongside the Kiwi at one point. Rahal believes that would have been possible if Chilton drove with the smarts and courtesy he's accused others of lacking.

"He could have won," Rahal continued. "Max had the fastest car of anybody I was around. The thing is, Max was the funniest to race with [at Phoenix]. Shoving his nose in at the last second, going three-wide on the outside, which is ridiculous. He was putting himself in places where 'stupidity' was the first thing I thought of all night.

"I bailed out early in the race; I was on the inside of [Charlie] Kimball, and he went three-wide on the outside. I see just a flash of white going by in my mirror on the outside and bailed out [on the pass] because it was way too early to be trying that stuff."

Instead of complaining about the rest of the IndyCar field, Rahal thinks Chilton should look to Dixon for ways to improve his oval deficiencies.

"Why do you think Scott Dixon wins so much?" he said. "He's not stupid. He's smart. He knows when to lift, he knows not to stick his nose in where it doesn't need to be. It takes a lot of thinking, and the good guys rise to the top when you get on an oval."

Rahal insists that he doesn't dislike Chilton, but found his strong opinions somewhat misplaced for an IndyCar oval rookie driving one of the best cars in the series.

"Max is a nice kid, but I get the impression he thinks he's going to come in and smoke everybody," Rahal said "The truth is, he's in a Ganassi car, so he's going to have a great car on the ovals everywhere he goes. He is speaking from a car that is one of the best out there. The key is, if he was in a different car, he'd be singing a whole different tune. I was there [at Ganassi], so I speak from experience.

"These kids that think it's easy, that have the bravery, that think it's stupidity ... they're confused. It takes, unfortunately, a big one – one big crash – to realize, man, I'm wrong. I hate to say it, but when you put yourself in those positions Max put himself in, something [bad] is eventually going to happen."

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