AVONDALE, Arizona – Alexander Rossi may have had the best car in Saturday night’s Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix, but it doesn’t always equate to a victory.
Saddled with a penalty for a pit-lane mistake early in the race at ISM Raceway, the Andretti Autosport driver put on a masterful display of driving to charge back to third place by the finish. Over the course of the 250 laps on the 1.022-mile oval, Rossi made 53 on-track passes – nearly 20 percent of the passes made by the entire field.
Starting fourth in the No. 27 MilitaryToMotorsports.com Honda, Rossi was running comfortably in third place when the race’s first caution occurred after Pietro Fittipaldi made contact with the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier on Lap 41.
Nearly the entire field came to the pits two later for fuel and fresh tires. As he entered his pit box, Rossi’s car slid into a crewman, incurring a drive-through penalty once the race went green again. It put Rossi a lap behind but also lit the fire for him to fight back into contention.
“It's obviously very important that no one got hurt (in the pit incident), and it was a minor thing from that regard,” Rossi said. “But not only did we lose all the spots because they had to push me back into the (pit) box, but then we got a drive-through on top of it. It definitely put us in a big hole.
“It was at that point kind of up to me to try to dig us out of it. I was really hoping we would get a yellow to unlap ourselves. We never did.”
Instead, Rossi had to carve his way through the field on the racetrack, passing leader Robert Wickens to get back on the lead lap on Lap 165. From there, the 26-year-old Californian worked his way to the front, leading for the only time all night on Lap 188 as he made his final pit stop of the race.
Rossi dropped to 12th place after making the stop, but drove his way to fifth when the second and final caution flag waved on Lap 229 for Ed Jones’ crash in Turn 4. Rossi, along with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports drivers Wickens and James Hinchcliffe, elected not to stop for fresh tires for the sprint to the finish while the rest of the lead-lap cars did.
The final restart came with seven laps to go and Rossi was quickly swallowed up by eventual winner Josef Newgarden, who was on new tires. Rossi passed Hinchcliffe for third place on Lap 245 and held on for his sixth career podium finish.
It was a bittersweet ending to what began as such a promising night for Rossi, winner of the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and 2017 Watkins Glen race. He appreciated being acknowledged for coming back from a lap down, but lamented what could have been.
"To be in the position that we were with 10 laps to go was a blessing and a huge shout-out to the whole (No.) 27 crew and the car they gave me,” said Rossi. "The Military To Motorsports Honda was by far the best car on track, I think, and it deserved to win. It wasn’t meant to be today, but I’m happy to stand on the podium.”
Rossi added he gets another chance in a few days, at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 15. The race airs live at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.