Rossi – his car sputtering coming out of Turn 4 – coasted down the front stretch and across the historic Yard of Bricks on fumes to win the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
The stunning finish was fitting for the milestone running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing that drew more than 350,000 spectators to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Rossi, who last pitted on lap 164, gambled his No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda could make it the final 36 laps without a stop. The average fuel window for Hondas under green flag racing is about 32 laps.
“I was sputtering out of (turn) four for sure,” said Rossi, who had co-team owner Bryan Herta in his earpiece yelling for him to pull in the clutch and coast. “I was afraid, so I just pulled in the clutch anyway.”
The fuel strategy started to pay off when Rossi inherited the lead – the 54th and final lead change – when teammate Carlos Munoz pitted for fuel only with four laps left.
Rossi’s lead swelled when second-place Sebastian Bourdais also pitted for a splash of fuel. That extended Rossi’s lead from 3.2 seconds over Bourdais to 16.6 seconds over Munoz.
Rossi led Munoz by 13.4 seconds to start the final 2.5-mile sprint around the historic speedway. He coasted across the finish line with 4.4 seconds to spare.
“I don’t know how my teammate did it without stopping,” Munoz said. “If I’m honest, I want to know what he did.”
The IndyCar Series victory was the first for Rossi in five starts. It came in only his second oval race. Before Sunday his best finish was 10th at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 14.
The victory helped ease the some of the Indy 500 suffering endured by the Andretti family. Michael Andretti – voted by past Indy 500 winners as the greatest driver to never win the race – has won four Indy 500s as a car owner.
Andretti, who teamed with Bryan Herta as co-owner in Andretti Herta Autosport, had a 1-2 finish with Rossi and Munoz.
“I’m not surprised, but it’s still amazing to be a rookie and to win this race,” Andretti said. “I just heard a stat that a rookie won the first race, won the 50th race and now the hundredth race. Pretty crazy.”
That also describes Rossi’s trip to victory lane. Herta said Rossi was “clueless” about racing IndyCars. Mix in the former Formula One driver’s ability to manage his fuel with the pressure of the moment upon him, and it almost seemed impossible as one reporter asked.
“Well, it’s possible,” Andretti said.
“It’s one thing to have the plan,” Herta said,” it’s another thing to be able to execute under that kind of pressure. It’s amazing.”
Munoz, Josef Newgarden, Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top five. Bourdais dropped to ninth. Pole-sitter James Hinchcliffe finished seventh and led 27 laps.
Rossi, from Nevada City, Calif., started 11th in the 33-car field.
He’s the ninth rookie to win the Indy 500 and first since Helio Castroneves in 2001. His 14 laps led also tied for the seventh fewest laps led by a race winner.
“The emotional roller-coaster of this race is ridiculous,” Rossi said. “There were moments where I was stoked, moments where I was heartbroken, moments where I was stoked again. I need to see a psychiatrist after this.”
Both Munoz and Newgarden felt they had the power to challenge Rossi had they caught up to him. But they gambled on gas-and-go pit stops over fuel mileage racing.
“I think if I was in Alex’s position, I’d be the happiest man in the world right now,” Newgarden said. “I wouldn’t care how we won the damn race.
“It sucks not winning this thing. But at least people had an amazing show to watch for the 100th running. That’s all we can really ask.”
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