Rossi had fastest car in Indy 500, but outsmarted his competitors

Michael Andretti congratulates Rossi in Victory Circle

You may have read a lot of press about how Alexander Rossi ran slow to win the Indy 500. Well that is flat-out false.

Rossi stated that as a rookie he preferred to hang out between 5th and 10th most of the race, which is a very smart strategy for a rookie. However, there was a fuel hose issue on two of his stops and at one point he dropped down to 28th because of it.

That put him in a position of having to work his way up through the field back into the top-10. It was during that time that he turned the fastest lap of the race. While driving forward through the field on lap 106 he ran the fastest race lap at 225.288 mph and he got himself back into the top-10.

However, because he wasn't fighting for the lead, most journalists were not paying attention to what he was doing, but AR1.com was. Looking at his lap times we knew he was the fastest car in the field, but other journalists were too focused on the lead pack to notice.

Then something changed. After the pitstop most drivers made on lap 164 we saw Rossi's lap times drop slightly and I said to a fellow AR1 journalist "I think they are going to try and make it all the way to the finish!"

No one else in the media center and the majority of the other teams had a clue what was about to unfold. Stretching his last fuel load 36 laps was going to take running in fuel saving mode the entire way.

Fuel hose issues caused Rossi to have two slow pitstops, but he drove like a demon back through the field.

And that is exactly what Rossi and his team did. One-by-one the other competitors pealed off for fuel in the closing laps and there emerged Rossi coasting and drafting as much as he could all the way to the checkered flag.

So while other journalists reported that Rossi was slower than his competitors but still won, in fact he was actually faster than all of them, but he and his team used their intelligence to save fuel and he beat everyone to the finish.

Kudos to the Herta and Andretti team, but don't for one minute think Rossi 'stroked' it to victory. In fact the opposite was true.

Not bad for a rookie who never drove an oval until Phoenix. He didn't set a wheel wrong all month.

AR1.com readers know that we have repeatedly said the last 4 years that Rossi was one of the best talents we have seen. On Sunday he proved it.

Just wait until he's experienced. Mark C. reporting for AR1.com