August 8, 2007 - For Ryan Hunter-Reay, he looks to continue the strong start to his blossoming IndyCar career and could possibly leave Kentucky this Saturday night with the lead in the fight for the Bombardier Learjet Rookie-of-the-Year Award. Despite joining Rahal Letterman Racing just two races ago, Hunter-Reay has finished seventh and sixth respectively in his first two starts and has already halved Milka Duno’s lead in the rookie points. Despite making just two starts to Duno’s six, Hunter-Reay is just 27 points behind the Venezuelan - who will not be competing in this weekend’s event.
“I'm actually really enjoying how compact the IndyCar Series schedule is, I'd be pretty bummed if we had a few weeks off right now,” said Hunter-Reay. “I've spent time with the team in Columbus over the past week and we have gone over lots of data from Michigan and we are looking to make that next step forward. I feel I am back into the rhythm of oval racing and expect another solid top ten this weekend for Team Ethanol. At this point we need to be smart and steadily move forward through the Kentucky race weekend, just as we have over the past two events. I'm loving this, we have lots of work to do, but I genuinely believe in everything that goes on here at Rahal Letterman Racing and I feel that we can continue moving to the front.” RLR PR