Mick Schumacher Quietly Becoming RLL's Oval Ace

Quick quiz: Who has been Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s top finisher most often on oval tracks this season?

It’s not Graham Rahal and his 321 career NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts, and it’s not Louis Foster, the 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone champion, who swept all four circle tracks in his title winning season. He’s his second year competing in the INDYCAR SERIES.

It’s rookie Mick Schumacher, who hadn’t so much as driven a lap on a circular track before arriving in the U.S. to participate in this series.

Schumacher has delivered the best RLL result in three of the four oval races this season, and he might have made it 4-for-4 if not for a slow pit stop by his crew at Phoenix Raceway. In one of the biggest surprises of the season, he had qualified fourth and was in the sixth position when he came to pit road on Lap 71. But the crew had trouble on the pit stop, and the time lost cost Schumacher a lap to the leaders.

Schumacher finished 18th at Phoenix, his lowest oval result of the season. In the most recent oval outing at Nashville Superspeedway, he finished a career-best eighth in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls. And here’s another surprising part of the story: He felt he should have finished higher.

“In terms of pace, we were definitely supposed to be higher,” he said. “I think the car was so good that I think we could have really been higher up than that.”

There was a point midway through the 225-lap race that Schumacher (photo, above) had turned the fastest lap, so his assessment of the No. 47 Nereus Honda had merit. For several laps, the Swiss-born German battled Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin for position and that’s notable given McLaughlin has won two oval races (and seven races overall) in his five-plus seasons.

Schumacher also had the fourth-fastest lap in the final practice and he hadn’t tested at Nashville’s 1.33-mile concrete oval.

“This is how the weekend is supposed to go and you see (the results),” Schumacher said. “When we have a clean weekend, this is the sort of finish – a top 10 position -- that we can expect consistently, if not higher.”

Schumacher credited spotter Jeff Troyer and strategist Ryan Briscoe for guiding him through the race – and the season. Yes, this first INDYCAR SERIES has offered its share of new challenges, but the son of seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher appears to be making advances with each start, and it comes at a good time.

Wednesday, RLL announced an impending sale of one of its three INDYCAR charters to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The team owned by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan has not confirmed its driver lineup for 2027, but it’s believed Graham Rahal and Foster are signed to multi-year contracts and are the strongest candidates to have those seats. Which means, Schumacher could be looking for another employer.

To Schumacher’s credit, he is only focused on the moment and what’s ahead from a competition standpoint. One of the goals still in play is the Rookie of the Year title. With six races remaining, Schumacher is only 20 points from leader Dennis Hauger of Dale Coyne Racing. He trails AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet by just five points.

“I think we can be really proud of everything we (did at Nashville),” Schumacher said. “Hopefully, many more of those moments come.”

Schumacher later added that he was “very proud” of the team.

“We’ve just got to build on that momentum and do it until the end of the year,” he said.