ELKHART LAKE, Wis.— Getting a sticker makes everything better.
After earning his first NTT IndyCar Series pole position in three years and the new NTT P1 trophy that comes with that accomplishment, Alexander Rossi had only one concern.
“Do I still get a sticker, though?”
After NBC’s Marty Snider answered Rossi that yes, he does indeed get a sticker, then Rossi was even further elated.
“Good, good. Sticker’s important!”
Road America was the site of Rossi’s most recent IndyCar win in 2019 and the California native will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s (June 12) Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.
The No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda went around the 14-turn, 4.014 mile road course in 1 minute, 44.8656 seconds to average 137.799 mph and claim Rossi’s seventh pole in his IndyCar career.
Rossi will share the front row with 2018 Road America winner Josef Newgarden. Newgarden’s No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet was .0715 seconds slower than Rossi and qualified on the red sidewall alternate compound that Firestone offers. Rossi turned his pole-winning lap on the black sidewall primaries, doing the same thing that Newgarden did last year to win pole at Road America.
That massively surprised the Tennessee native.
“I thought he (Rossi) was on used reds with everyone else,” a surprised Newgarden said on pit road. “I’m surprised he was able to make that work on the blacks, to be quite honest. In my opinion, I thought it was clear we were going to go used reds, they just seemed significantly better this year than last year.”
Rossi’s path to pole position started in the first group of the first round of qualifying. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner was second fastest in that group to his Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean. The top six advanced to round two of qualifying against the fastest six from group two.
In the second round, Rossi was the final car to advance through to the Firestone Fast Six by setting the sixth…
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