ELKHART LAKE, WI (93.7 The Fan) – Alexander Rossi passed Pole-Sitter Colton Herta in Turn 1 on Lap 1 and never looked back dominating Sunday's NTT IndyCar Series Rev Group Grand Prix presented by AMR at Road America.
Rossi led all but one lap en route to his second victory of the season and in the process gained some ground on points leader Josef Newgarden of Team Penske.
"To be able to go do that today was sensational and a huge thanks to the NAPA Andretti Honda team," said Rossi, who finished second in the Indy 500 and at the last event at Texas Motor Speedway. "We've been there and thereabouts, but the Penske cars were getting the upper hand on us."
Team Penske's Will Power finished second, 28.4391-seconds behind Rossi. Power's best finish of the 2019 season.
"Very good result for us," said Power. "That's all we had. Alex (Rossi) was on another planet there."
Championship points-leader Newgarden finished third but saw his lead over Rossi shrink to just 7-points.
"We did what we could today with the REV Group Chevy," said Newgarden. "I think Will (Power) and I were just trying to hold down the fort in second or third. Andretti Autosport and Alex (Rossi) did a great job today, so we'll go back to the drawing board."
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal finished fourth after starting fifth.
"Our GEHL car was pretty strong today," said Rahal. "It was definitely a 100-percent effort all day racing with Josef (Newgarden) and Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) there for a little while and Colton at the finish. We're happy with fourth but would have liked to be on the podium."
PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon finished fifth in the No. 9 Honda after getting spun out on the opening lap and falling to the rear of the field as a result.
"I think had we not had that issue at the start, getting turned around and losing 10 or so seconds, we may have been fighting for the podium today with the PNC Bank car," said Dixon. "We had to work our way back to the front all day."
Dixon's teammate Felix Rosenqvist had an equally impressive day in the No. 10 NTT Data Honda. Rosenqvist started 18th and finished sixth.
"It was a really well-executed race from the team, especially from the strategy side," said Rosenqvist. "Basically all the overtaking was done on the track. There wasn't any safety car this team, so considering that, we went from P18 to P6, it was a really good run. I think we nailed it."
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is the Honda Indy Toronto on the streets of Exhibition Place. The race airs live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 14 on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts IndyCar Radio Network affiliates.
Road to Indy Notebook:
- Rinus VeeKay picked up the win in Sunday's Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires race. VeeKay started from the pole position and was never threatened during the all-green, 20-lap race.
- Ryan Norman won Saturday's Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires race and finished second on Sunday.
- Kyle Kirkwood picked up the win in Sunday's Indy Pro 2000 Championship. Kirkwood also won on Saturday giving him four wins in four starts at Road America.
___Follow 93.7 The Fan: Facebook | Twitter | InstagramListen to 93.7 The Fan on the Radio.com App - Download Now
