The rookie who just came to Indianapolis on Easter weekend and seen Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time drove like a veteran today and captured the 100th Indianapolis 500. Rossi was one of my "dark horses" I selected as to watch to win. Coming over from Formula One, Rossi teamed with Bryan Herta and Andretti Racing to drive the #98 car. This is the same car number and owners that were with Dan Wheldon in 2011 when he won his 2nd Indy title.
This year's race came down to a fuel mileage race. There were several surprising incidents on pit road today. Andretti Motorsports teammates Ryan Hunter Reay and Townsend Bell took out their own chances to win the race when they made contact. 3 Time winner Helio Castroneves was making his late charge when he made contact with Josef Newgarden and had his bumper guard jar loose. This ended Helio's bid for a four title.
I was fairly surprised by the performances by Team Penske and Ganassi Racing. Both teams were nearly silent all race long. Scott Dixon made it to as high as 6th place but mainly ran between 9th and 11th all day. Charlie Kimball ran well today through the field and had another solid top 5 performance. Montoya got loose and wrecked in turn 2 and Will Power was no where to be found today for a guy that runs very well at Indianapolis.
Andretti Autosport was on their game today and dominated the race with Bell, Hunter Reay, Munoz, and Rossi all leading at one point. Marco ran as high as 5th but he wouldn't stay there long.
Carlos Munoz was my pick to win the race with a 2nd place by Josef Newgarden. They ended up finishing 2nd and 3rd. (round of applause) !
Overall I think Doug Boles and the crew at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway knocked it out of the park and had a great ending with an American getting the win. Rossi is marketable and will be interesting to see if he stays in Indycar or if he gets another ride and jumps to Formula One next year. Andretti should do everything he can do get him to sign a contract ASAP. How about Napa just signing on as a sponsor 2 weeks ago and now they are Indy 500 champions. (Good Investment)
Well Done Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a great buildup to the race with the promotions, signage, big marquee on JW Marriott, and events around the city celebrating the 100 years of racing.
Bring on the 101st Indianapolis 500.......Who's ready !!!!
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