INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi was sore Tuesday morning after enduring one of the hardest crashes of his career.
He’s still determined not to let an injured right ankle or bad left hand keep him out of IndyCar’s biggest race. So the Ed Carpenter Racing team spent Tuesday afternoon in Gasoline Alley, prepping Rossi’s backup car with the expectation the Californian will use his best career starting position at the Indianapolis 500, second, to claim his second race win in front of a sellout crowd.
At least that’s the plan.
Rossi was still recovering from Monday night surgery on his ankle and hand. Indianapolis Motor Speedway medical director Dr. Julia Vaizer will continue monitoring Rossi’s recovery as he tries to return for Friday’s final practice. And Rossi has every intention of climbing into that No. 20 car when WNBA star Caitlin Clark gives the traditional starting command.
“I feel like with where he (Rossi) is at, everybody from the doctors to Alex is super optimistic he’s going to be ready to go,” team president Tim Broyles told the Associated Press. “So as we’re sitting here today, I don’t feel like we’ll have any concerns moving forward. If one of the milestones he needs to hit over the next few days doesn’t happen or he’s not comfortable, we have a backup plan.”
Here, in the fast lane, it’s a way of life. Every team has backup cars, and every team executive has a list of backup drivers they can call in a pinch, a contact list Broyles acknowledged he’s been checking since Monday.
And when the inevitable big crash happens, everyone knows how to react.
That’s why Broyles was in Gasoline Alley on Tuesday when there was on-track activity. Back in the Carpenter garages, crew members worked to switch out engines for race day and tried to finetune the car Rossi used in last year’s race.
“It’s a bit of work for the guys, but the car he’s running is actually the car he ran in the 500 last year,” Broyles said. “He raced the car in the (Indianapolis) GP last weekend, we had it prepared as a backup car for the 500 anyway after the GP so we were already kind of prepared for it it anyway but I don’t have any concerns over it. Alex led the race with it last year.”
Arrow McLaren scrapped its scheduled Wednesday off to help Pato O’Ward. The Spaniard was too close to avoid Rossi’s spinning car Monday and wound up hitting the side of Rossi’s car while severely damaging his own. The two-time Indy runner-up qualified sixth on the outside of Row 2 but now must rely on a backup car as he tries again to become the first Mexican to reach victory lane at the Brickyard.
And after Conor Daly ran over debris from the crash, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing spent Monday night and Tuesday morning fixing his broken front wing and an undertray beneath his car. Daly, the stepson of Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles will start eighth, the middle of Row 3. Boles also serves as IndyCar president.
“Hopefully, the (crew) guys can get that all fixed up. I am still quite happy with the car overall,” Daly said. “It would be nice to get some more running and we got some very pit stops in today, too. Hopefully, the Carb Day weather is good so we can get some laps in before the race.”
The good news is those three and French-Swiss driver Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing, who also was swept up in the crash, are expected to be on the track before Sunday, even if Friday’s weather doesn’t cooperate. Grosjean is starting No. 24.
There’s a 51% chance of rain in the forecast for Carb Day activities, but Broyles said his understanding is Plan B would put Rossi and the others on the track Saturday for a shakedown, a systems check and the ability to make sure Rossi will be comfortable racing.
“He’s in good spirts, yeah, he sounded good this morning,” Broyles said. “It was a big impact. He has a couple little, nagging things, so we’ll see how that goes.”