Alexander Rossi Wins At Indianapolis Road Course After Colton Herta Clutch Woes

For the first time in three years, Alexander Rossi is a NTT IndyCar Series winner.

On lap 42, Colton Herta hit the curb in turn 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course hard and apparently damaged his gearbox. Herta had been leading the race at the time, and although he only led a relative handful of laps, he had spent much of the race up to that point as the de facto leader within the pit cycle.

Rossi took the lead and never lost it again for the last 42 laps of the Gallagher Grand Prix.

It’s OVER for Colton Herta!

The race leader has issues immediately after hitting the curb. Listen.

📺 : @nbc and @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/QQazU6fcG4

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 30, 2022

“It’s a relief, man,” Rossi told NBC Sports in victory lane. “It’s been so many things for so long.

“I do feel for Colton, I do. But I’m happy. Thankfully, something came our way. … There’s still [four] races to go, and a lot of really good tracks for us. But to kind of come back at Indianapolis, at home, is pretty amazing.”

It’s the eighth win of Rossi’s career, and the first since winning at Road America in 2019. It’s also the first win for Rossi at Indianapolis since his surprise victory in the Indianapolis 500 in 2016.

Rookie Christian Lundgaard scored the first podium in his short IndyCar career, finishing second in his 14th career start.

Team Penske finished third (Will Power), fourth (Scott McLaughlin) and fifth (Josef Newgarden), with all three driving near each other in the closing laps but unable to pass each other.

On turn 2 of lap one, Herta and Power came together with no damage to either car, but Power drifted into Pato O’Ward, sending the Mexican into a spin. O’Ward was able to turn around and continue. The first caution came out a couple of laps later, when Dalton Kellett spun out in turn 7 and stalled out.

On lap 35, Simon Pagenaud stalled out after running out of fuel. IndyCar delayed the caution by a lap in order to give every driver a chance to pit, as the field was deep into green flag pit stops.

In the point standings, with just four races remaining, Power now leads Marcus Ericsson (who finished 11th in the race) by nine points. As far as drivers within a race’s worth of points of the lead, Newgarden is in third with 32 points and Dixon is fourth down by 38. O’Ward remains a long shot, 46 points behind in fifth.

The series returns next week on the Streets of Nashville on Aug. 7.