Foster Wins INDYCAR Pole At Road America
Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
The last couple of mornings when Louis Foster has looked in the mirror, he’s not exactly been happy with what he sees. Foster shaved his mustache off - more accurately, he had it shaved off for him - for charity Thursday night at a function at Siebken’s in the village of Elkhart Lake.
“I was like when we shaved it off, I was sad. I was in shock in the mirror every morning so far. Just kind of jump-scaring myself.”
Foster may see things differently when he looks in the mirror Sunday morning as the reflection staring back at him will be the surprise NTT P1 Award winner for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES XPEL Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR.
The rookie driver of the No. 45 Droplight Desnuda Tequila Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was surprised he even made it to the Fast 12 in qualifying, Saturday, much less advance to win the pole.
“If I'm honest, we kind of struggled a little bit throughout the three practices. When we got through to the Fast 12, I was surprised because I messed up my lap. We were sitting there before the group stage, the Fast 12 stage. I said to the guys, I don't think I have the car to make it through the Fast Six. Do you want throw some used tires on and maybe get a spot or two and see how it goes.
“They were confident in the ability of the car and myself to be able to push into the Fast Six, which obviously was the right call in the end.
“When we did the last run, again, we were just conserving reds (alternate tire). We were in the Fast Six. Top six starting spot for us is awesome alone.
“We just ran out, did out-lap and push on the used reds. By the time I went through turn one, I was about 2/10ths up, then maintained that throughout the lap. Gained about a 10th or so in a couple corners.
“The reds held on really, really well clearly. Yeah, still a little bit in shock.”
Making Foster’s run of 1-minute, 44.5141 seconds all the more remarkable is that the car is the same one that was wrecked last Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway at St. Louis.
Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
“The boys have been working their asses off, I'll be honest. We had the crash in Detroit with the suspension failure. Then last weekend at St. Louis.
“Massive props to the 45 boys. They needed this to kind of push themselves through the summer stretch. All credit to them because, yeah, they worked endlessly these last two weeks. They've rebuilt the car twice.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan was the only team to place two cars in the Fast Six with teammate Graham Rahal starting from the outside of row three in the No. 15 Hendrickson Honda.
“Absolutely massive,” said Foster. “I think teamwork is really the key for us at Rahal Letterman Lanigan. As soon as Graham finished his group stage, he jumps out of his car, the first thing he does is runs to me, lets me know about certain things that he learned in the session. If that's not teamwork, I don't know what is. I don't see any teams or drivers doing that. It is a really family feeling at RLL. All three of us are super close. I think that really helps us push the program forward.”
Three-time and reigning INDYCAR champion Alex Palou qualified his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda second with a time of 1-minute, 44.6300 seconds, making it an all 2024 championship-winning row. It’s also the second consecutive year the previous year’s INDY NXT champion has won the INDYCAR pole at Road America, matching what Linus Lundqvist achieved last year.
Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
For Foster, Saturday’s pole ticked a box he hadn’t been able to in INDY NXT.
“The INDY NXT cars are pretty quick. Hell of a lot slower than INDYCARs. I think here, the hide-speed particularly, it's a lot faster in INDYCAR.
“I like this track. I was saying to the team before this weekend, it not a track I've tended to have great success. I have always been okay here. I was second last year in INDY NXT. The year before I had an okay result.
“To kind of get the monkey off my back with this track, because this is one of the only tracks I don't think I have won a race at or pole. Get that monkey off my back at this place is great.”
Given his success with a clean shaven upper lip, will Foster ever grow a mustache a again?
“We'll see. I think if we win tomorrow, yeah, I'll never have a mustache again, that's for sure. But we'll see.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.