NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Round 6
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

The 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 came to completion with drama. The field went red after an incident brought out a caution with just five laps remaining. The No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS / AutoNation Honda of Alexander Rossi had a fighting chance from fifth. On the final restart, Marco Andretti took the green from the 21st position and rookie Devlin DeFrancesco from the 22nd position. Romain Grosjean had a less fortunate day when contact on the North end of the track ended his day early. Colton Herta also suffered woes as an undetermined issue brought about an early retirement on Lap 132.

Rossi would go on to finish fifth after a caution coming out on the final lap, he made the second-most on-track passes of the field with 26 in total. DeFrancesco finished 20th, and Andretti finished 22nd after leading laps 185 through 188. Herta and Grosjean finished 30th and 31st, respectively. Andretti Autosport now turns its attention to the Detroit Grand Prix Sunday, June 5. 

ALEXANDER ROSSI
NO. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS / AUTONATION HONDA

• Made the second-most on-track passes of the 33 car field.
• Today was his third-best finish in the Indianapolis 500. He won as a rookie in 2016 and finished fourth in 2018. 

“It was a really strong day for the whole No. 27 team. To start 20th and end in the top five is a great accomplishment. I think due to some amazing work in pitlane and the great strategy we were able to capitalize when we needed to and the car was good. Everything went our way. Unfortunately, we ran out of time at the end. I don’t know if we had the overall pace to win but it was nice to be in there with a shot.” 

START	FINISH	CHAMPIONSHIP
20	5	11 (141 pts)

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO
NO. 29 POWERTAP HONDA
ANDRETTI STEINBRENNER AUTOSPORT

• Fourth highest finishing rookie.
• At the start of the race, DeFrancesco jumped four positions.

“My first Indy 500 is in the books. The Andretti Steinbrenner No. 29 PowerTap Honda was alright today. We muscled through and made it through 500 miles. It was definitely grueling. The boys did a good job in the pits. We had a few little blips on the radar, but the team did a good job to overcome those. Now we look forward to Detroit.”

START	FINISH	CHAMPIONSHIP
24	20	26 (62 pts)

MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 98 KULR-CURB HONDA
ANDRETTI HERTA AUTOSPORT W/MARCO ANDRETTI & CURB-AGAJANIAN

• Led three laps, Laps 185-188.
• Pitted from the lead for a final stop taking fuel only on Lap 198.

“We just didn’t maximize today as a team. I left the pitlane in second gear and stalled, I was luckily able to refire it with a little bit of momentum. That was costly. We didn’t maximize. We didn’t bring a car to win. That’s the number one thing that bummed me out. I think we could have been in the top 10.”

START	FINISH	CHAMPIONSHIP
23	22	Single Event Entry (17 pts)

COLTON HERTA
NO. 26 GAINBRIDGE HONDA

• Throttle issues brought Herta into pit lane on Lap 127 and again on Lap 132. 
• Retired from the race on Lap 139.

“The car was so loose, the loosest I’ve ever been on an oval. That was not fun. I’m disappointed. The crew worked so hard to build a new car for me and I wish we could have repaid their effort with a better result.  Huge  thanks to Gainbridge and Honda, it just sucks we weren’t able to finish so now all you can think of is what if Friday never happened.”

START	FINISH	CHAMPIONSHIP
25	30	10 (142 pts)

ROMAIN GROSJEAN
NO. 28 DHL HONDA

“Just disappointed to finish that way. I don’t know what happened, the rear end snapped on me without any warning. I guess a few guys got caught out in the corner (Turn 3) but it was a corner where the car was pretty good over the race. I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t trying anything different. I was happy with the balance of the car.  I’m going to try to analyze and move on from that.”

START	FINISH	CHAMPIONSHIP
9	31	15 (128 pts)