When Graham Rahal came from practically nowhere to win the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2008, it seemed IndyCar racing had found its next American star.

The Ohio-born son of former three-time CART champion and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal had become the youngest winner in American major open-wheel racing history at 19 years and 93 days old. And he'd pulled off his St. Pete surprise in a car he barely knew because his team was coming over from Champ Car after a preseason merger with IndyCar.

Seven years later, Graham Rahal hasn't won another IndyCar race, and he's still looking for his first top-five finish in the point standings. He's had his moments for sure — eight more podium finishes, including a third in the 2011 Indy 500 — but the elite-level success that was supposed to come easily has remained out of reach.

"Well it doesn't come easily," Rahal said this weekend. "People look at me and just expect that since I won my first race, I ought to win them all. I've had some tough times. I've had a lot of areas where things just went wrong. And we've had some areas where we didn't maximize the opportunity. I've had to grow up a lot and change into a different person."

Rahal, 26, is more mature now, more hands-on in securing and retaining sponsors. He's getting married later this year to NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force, daughter of drag racing legend John Force.

He's more animated when things don't go well — as was the case during Saturday's qualifying when, after looking strong in preseason testing, he had trouble with the power transfer from his Honda engine to the track and wound up 15th in Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's No. 15 car.

"It's going to be a long day of work tomorrow, starting from 15th," Rahal said. "I think we'll be OK in the race, but starting from where we are is going to make for a long day."

Rahal had the good fortune of being able to start his career with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, a storied team started by longtime racer Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman that won 105 CART/Champ Car races and eight driver championships.

But he had all of two years with the team before primary sponsor McDonald's pulled out, leaving him without a ride for 2010. That left him scrambling to find work, and he put together a hodgepodge schedule with lower budget Sarah Fisher Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, while still finding enough sponsorship to run six races with Newman/Haas/Lanigan.

"Graham didn't sit there crying in his soup," Bobby Rahal said. "He went out there and tried to make things happen. That impressed me, because I kind of thought it had been kind of easy for him to that point because of talent and what have you."

Newman/Haas/Lanigan essentially folded after the 2011 seasons, three-plus years after Newman died. By then, Rahal had brought sponsorship from Service Central automotive service to Chip Ganassi Racing.

That would have been great except that instead of being closely affiliated with top gun teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, Rahal was paired with fellow American Charlie Kimball in a second two-car operation housed in Brownsburg, Indiana. The results weren't great: some podium finishes early on, but points finishes of ninth in 2011 and 10th in 2012.

So in 2013, Graham moved to his dad's team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The results haven't been great. Graham had one podium finish in each of the last two seasons and wound up 18th and 19th in the points, respectively. So this offseason, Bobby Rahal put a priority on surrounding his son with people he's comfortable with and starting the process of building continuity.

"I really blame myself," Bobby said. "I've done a poor job in terms of, it's been change and change and change. This year, to be honest, we've kind of gone old school with who we've brought in."

The new hires are Mike Talbot, who worked with Graham and Newman/Haas/Lanigan, and Martin Pare, who was Graham's race engineer when he won the pole at St. Pete in 2009. Talbot heads up vehicle dynamics, and Martin Pare, whom Bobby coaxed out of retirement, is head of the ride control development program.

Also, Derek Davidson moved from being chief mechanic for James Jakes (2013) and Oriol Servia (2014) to crew chief. Donny Stewart has returned as Graham's chief mechanic, and team manager Ricardo Nault and race engineer Eddie Jones rather than Bobby will relay race information to Graham.

"I feel that we have a team that has so much potential," Graham Rahal said. "We've been fast at every test we've been to. Obviously, the most important thing starting out here in St. Pete is that we do a great job."

When the team arrived Thursday, Graham walked some of his crew guys down to the Victory Circle monument near Turn 12 of the track. He showed them the plaque commemorating his 2008 victory. "I said, 'Guys, I'm on there once, and we need to be on there twice,'" Graham related. "And I reminded everybody that this isn't easy, but we we've got a group of winners and people that can do it."

The importance of having that faith can't be underestimated, Bobby Rahal said. He noted that practically every successful driver in the series has a longstanding relationship with his engineer.

"Any driver, I don't care who you are, if you're confident, that's the most powerful element," Bobby Rahal said. "You can have the best car in the world, but if you're not confident about yourself or what you're doing, you're not going to be successful. Conversely, you can have not necessarily the best car, but If you're really full of confidence, you can over-perform.

"So Graham is now in a situation now with his engineering group where he's with people he's worked with before, people he respects. So, I think he's coming to the track right how with his mind in a much happier place."

And that's a better place to start.