Rookie Louis Foster Hit Early in Hot Portland INDYCAR Race, But Brings No. 45 RLL Droplight Honda Back to 13th Sunday
Foster’s car hit from behind, but rookie racer fights back from 26th to 13th in 95-degree heat
By: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Photo Courtesy RLLR)
PORTLAND, Ore. (Aug. 11, 2025) – Rookie driver Louis Foster was ready to make his move into the top ten early Sunday in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Droplight Honda at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland when his car was hit from behind on lap eight.
Starting 14th, Foster was seeking his best finish of the 2025 North American open-wheel campaign after impressive wins at the Portland International Raceway 1.964-mile, 12-turn road circuit in lower divisions in recent seasons.
Leading the series’ “Rookie of the Year” points with three races remaining, Foster entered the tight quarters of turns one and two on the lap eight restart with 26 cars battling for position. As Louis made the left-hand turn to the short straight, his mount to hit from behind by Kyffin Simpson, who was immediately penalized for the incident.
Unfortunately, it made for a long day for Foster, who had to come from 26th on the eighth lap and fight 95-degree heat and tight racing to battle back to 13th at the checkered flag after 110 laps. Foster’s RLL teammate Graham Rahal drove an excellent race to fourth Sunday.
Despite the misfortune, Foster was able to extend his “Rookie” point lead to six markers over Robert Shwartzman (189-183) with two races remaining in the 17-event calendar at Milwaukee (August 24) and Nashville (August 31). The Portland event was the last road course race of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES with Milwaukee and Nashville both oval contests.
“The field got bottled up on the start and I got hit unfortunately,” said Foster. “I got spun around and managed to keep the car going. From there it was just about trying to claw back as many positions as possible. We moved back up to P13 in the end, so I’m happy with that.
“It’s a good result, at least from where we were after the incident. It’s disappointing from the sense that it was another weekend with an issue that was out of our control. Congrats to Graham on finishing P4, just off the podium. But I feel we should have been up there somewhere near him. But its good points so we’ll move on to the next one.”
The 16th event of the 17-race NTT INDYCAR SERIES will take place on August 23-24 at the legendary Milwaukee Mile at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. The SNAP-ON Milwaukee Mile 250 activities will begin on Saturday, Aug. 23, with an 8 a.m. CDT opening practice round followed by qualifying for the 27-car field at 11 a.m. CDT. A final practice session is set for 2:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday at the 122-year-old racing plant.
The 250-lap SNAP-ON Milwaukee Mile 250 will have live coverage of the race at 2 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. CDT Sunday, August 24, on the FOX Network, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
