The dream of winning the Indianapolis 500 didn't really enter the mind of Alexander Rossi three months ago. On Sunday, this unlikely dream became a reality for the 24-year-old Indycar rookie, when he won the 100th running of the greatest spectacle in motorsport on a miracle run of 36 laps on his last tank of fuel.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” an emotional Rossi said with tears in his eyes.
And even as he stood in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's famous Victory Circle, surrounded by his family, teammates, and loyal fans, adorned with the victor's wreath and doused in the traditional celebratory milk, there was a sense that it still hadn't sunk in for him.
Alexander Rossi, who only signed with Andretti Autosport in Indycar weeks before the start of the 2016 IndyCar Series season, led a total of 14 laps - including the one that counted the most - to become just the ninth rookie in the history of the Indianapolis 500 to win the race on their first attempt. Rossi joins some very elite company with his first-year triumph, joining the likes of Ray Harroun, Graham Hill, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Helio Castroneves.
Just three months ago, Rossi was denied a chance to race full-time in Formula 1 after breaking in with Manor in late 2015, following nearly a decade filled with trials and setbacks just to break into F1. He'd scored only one top-ten finish in the 2016 season before his Indy 500 victory, one that skyrockets him to sixth in the Drivers' Championship.
The crucial strategic call came from Rossi's co-owner Bryan Herta on lap 164, when the field came in under caution to pit for tyres and fuel - putting the field just beyond the expected 32-lap fuel window.
Rossi took the lead of the race with four laps remaining as both Josef Newgarden and Carlos Muñoz had to pit from the lead within the last ten laps. With the help of some slipstreaming off of teammate and former 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rossi was able to stretch the tank in his #98 NAPA Auto Parts Honda just long enough to where he could coast out of the final corner and still win the race by 4.498 seconds - the largest margin of victory at the Indianapolis 500 in over 20 years.
After setting the fastest lap of the race at an average of 225.288 miles per hour on lap 106, Rossi's final lap was run at an agonizingly slow average of 179.784 mph - but it was just fast enough to secure one of the most improbable victories in recent Indy 500 memory.
Rossi said after the race:
“I have no idea how we pulled that off. I didn’t know (if I could make it to the finish). … I’ll cherish the fact that at one point we were (in 29th place) and that we rolled the dice and we came through and we made it happen. It’s phenomenal. I’m at a loss for words but it will change my life, for sure.”
For co-owner Michael Andretti, it is his fourth victory as a team owner (2005, 2007, 2014), and for partner Herta, it is his second after winning on the very last lap with Dan Wheldon five years ago. For Honda, whose 2016 season has been fraught with deficits to their rivals at Chevrolet, this is their first win of the year.
"Man, it was so close at the end," Herta said after the race. "For a rookie to drive with the poise he did in such a tough situation - I was telling him, 'Don't let anybody pass you but save fuel' - and he did it."
Indeed, Andretti Autosport took a 1-2 finish at the 100th running of the Indy 500 as Muñoz finished second, his second runner-up berth in four starts at the Brickyard. Hendersonville, Tennessee's Josef Newgarden came home third for Ed Carpenter Racing - his career-best. 2013 winner Tony Kanaan finished fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing, one spot ahead of teammate Charlie Kimball in fifth. J.R. Hildebrand, the runner-up five years ago, finished sixth in a second ECR entry.
Polesitter James Hinchcliffe couldn't quite close the deal on an emotional victory of his own, as he finished seventh after leading 27 laps. 2008 Indy winner Scott Dixon finished eighth, Sebastien Bourdais finished ninth, and Will Power was the best finisher for Team Penske in a relatively dismal tenth.
A sell-out crowd of over 350,000 spectators took in a race that saw a whopping 54 lead changes (second-most all-time). It was by far the Brickyard's biggest crowd in a generation, for a very special running of the Indianapolis 500.
After a trouble-free first quarter of the race, the Speedway's hand of fate denied defending Indy 500 champion Montoya a chance at his third Indy 500 victory, when his Verizon Chevrolet spun in turn two and crashed out on lap 64. It's the first time that Montoya has failed to finish the race in four starts.
From there, the hits slowly kept coming: Sage Karam crashed on lap 93, ending his emotional return to the Indycar circuit. Mikhail Aleshin's breakout month of May ended in a spin that also collected Rossi's longtime friend Conor Daly on lap 115. And the man who was so nearly the hero in 2012, Takuma Sato, bounced off the turn 4 wall on lap 163 to trigger the pivotal late-race caution that sent everyone into the pits for fuel.
2014 champion Hunter-Reay lost out on his chance to win on lap 94, when he was caught up in a pitlane accident involving his teammate Townsend Bell. Hunter-Reay led 52 laps, best of all drivers in the race, but could finish no better than 24th.
Helio Castroneves' bid to join A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser as the only four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 was undone when he was forced to replace his rear wing under the final caution. The repairs were enough to relegate Helio to finish in eleventh, after leading 24 laps. Combined with Montoya's early exit and a frustrating 19th place finish for championship leader Simon Pagenaud, the cards didn't fall for Team Penske on their silver anniversary at the Brickyard.
Instead, all the stars aligned for the newest hero of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Alexander Rossi, now and forever, a champion of the Indianapolis 500.
For more discussion of the Indycar Series and the Indianapolis 500, be sure to visit our IndyCar sub-forum at RaceDepartment.
Image Credit: Indycar / Photographers: Matt Fraver, Chris Jones, Walter Kuhn, David Yowe
most exciting part was the 3 car pile up in pit lane 
