INDIANAPOLIS – Graham Rahal couldn’t think of a better place to make his 200th career NTT IndyCar Series start. The second generation driver will hop into an Indy Car for the 200th time in Sunday’s 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 (11 a.m. ET/NBC/INDYCAR Radio Network). But, this time though, he’s hoping for a win.

See, Rahal feels really good about his chances this year. Last year, they didn’t have much speed throughout the month but he still charged from his 30th starting spot to finish 10th.

This year, he starts 13 spots better in 17th.

Rahal, has always been a charger but what happens when he starts qualifying better?

We’ve seen that first hand in 2019. Rahal, has qualified in the top 10 in every race minus Indy and has finished in the top 10 in three of them. The only reason it’s not more is because a mechanical malfunction at Barber after a second place starting spot and not having a ton of speed in the season opener at St. Pete.

Other than that, the pace in his No. 15 Honda in there. He’s hoping his 12th career Indy 500 start is the right one.

“Hopefully 200 is not only from a number standpoint but a special one,” said Rahal before Fast Friday practice. “We feel we can really contend here. I think yesterday we made some great strides in our racecar. While we didn’t get in any big groups, I think Takuma (Sato) and I both felt like we were pretty competitive.

“Hopefully 200 is a special one across the board.”

Rahal, says his favorite memory of the first 199 starts but his most special moment right now was winning at Mid-Ohio in 2015.

“I mean, I don’t know, for me in the first 199 there’s been a lot of great memories, a lot of close calls,” Rahal said on his favorite moment of the first 199 starts. “I don’t know that anything, probably nothing other than winning the Indy 500, will beat Mid-Ohio for me. I know a lot of people would say Detroit. Sweeping Mid-Ohio was a dream come true for me. That will be hard to replace until we do it again.

Rahal, has led laps in each of the last two years and three times since 2011. He has finsihed in the top 15 in each of the last four years including coming home fifth in 2015.

“Yeah, I mean, I feel good about next week, I really do,” Rahal continued. “I think we’re quietly optimistic. We haven’t gotten any of those big crazy tow laps to put us at the top of the charts, but I certainly wouldn’t sleep on our team in general. Looking forward to it.

This would be a huge storyline if Rahal can win on Sunday.