According to Odds Shark, Rossi’s odds to win of +6600 were the 24th best of the 33-driver field.
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The grand marshal is actress Florence Henderson, who told drivers it’s time to go to their cars, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway matriarch Mari Hulman George gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Rossi stunned 400,000 fans as he took the lead in the final laps, winning the race.
Alexander Rossi was the surprising victor of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” when he stretched his fuel to the finish Sunday to pull off an upset victory. The Andretti Autosport braintrust was smart. In the end it was a Honda/Andretti day as Rossi’s teammate Carlos Munoz followed him to the finish in second place.
Ralph was the second place finisher in the inaugural race the year before.
“I was really disappointed when it comes with fuel and you lose the race because of that”, he said. The Indianapolis 500 is here and the excitement continues to be in a blazing rise as it is about to start.
And now Rossi knows IndyCar is his top commitment.
He’s an IndyCar rookie who has chased a ride in Formula One his entire career.
Rossi became just the ninth rookie to win the Indy 500 and the first since Helio Castroneves in 2001.
Tony Kanaan set the pace in final practice on Friday for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, putting him in the hunt for a second win at the Brickyard.
“I’ll cherish the fact that at one point we were 33rd”, Rossi said. “But we just rolled the dice and went for it”.
“I have no doubt it’s going to change my life”, he said.
Rossi was driving for Andretti Herta Autosport.
Among those eyeing the winner’s bottle of milk Sunday is Graham Rahal, who is trying to win his first Indy 500 on the 30th anniversary of the race won by his father, Bobby.
Marco Andretti, of the famous Andretti racing family, hopes to add another Indy 500 win to the family’s trophy case after notable struggles over the last four decades.
And one day after Marco Andretti was bumped from the top nine by his teammate, the American lost his fifth gear before qualifying began and still finished 14th on a day that belonged to Hinchcliffe.
A pair of Americans – Josef Newgarden and 2014 victor Ryan Hunter-Reay – will start on the front row Sunday, while a Canadian will lead the field to the green flag. The contact caused Bell to crash into Hunter-Reay.
Indeed, Rossi’s race only really came alive when he was left out on track during a full course yellow to clear Mikhail Aleshin’s wrecked Schmidt vehicle, an accident that also eliminated Conor Daly. He promptly ran out of fuel on the warm-down lap. Prior to that the trio had been out front and battling for the lead, but incident would put both Andretti drivers out of contention, while Castroneves fell back with damage.
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Roger Penske was optimistic the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 would be one to remember.
