Graham Rahal says Pocono race will be vital in IndyCar title push

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver moved from 42 points adrift to within just nine of the ex-F1 driver with two races remaining, following a hometown victory at Mid-Ohio.

Penske's Montoya was in control of the race until the safety car was called for a Sage Karam spin during the final round of pitstops, dropping the Colombian to finish 11th.

As Rahal looks to join his father, three-time champion Bobby, as a title winner, he acknowledges that while he's feeling confident about Sonoma's double-points finale, the last oval at Pocono on August 23 will be vital.

"You know, I feel very confident in this organisation," he said of RLL.

"To be nine points back, I feel pretty good. Because I do think we can be better than Montoya at Sonoma.

"Pocono, he won last year, so we're going to have to make sure we do a good job. Then again, the last big oval [at Fontana] we won.

"It's hard to say, but I do think we're in a pretty good spot now."

Rahal won a pair of IndyCar races in 2009 but had to wait until his first victory of this campaign at Fontana in June to add to his career tally.

The 26-year-old reflects that he "put so much pressure on myself to win" during that period, and he feels well-equipped to capitalise on the lessons learned over the coming month.

"You know, it's one of those things that I feel very confident I would have won a lot more races earlier in my career if I had the maturity and the racecraft that I do now," he said.

"I drove for some good teams and I had some quick cars, particularly 2009 with Newman/Haas, it was a great programme.

"If I had known what the heck I was doing then, we probably would have won some races.

"Seven years have taught me a lot, taught me to be a lot more thankful for the opportunities that have come throughout my career.

"Now it's my time to try to go win a championship for myself."