Alexander Rossi sees Indy 500 hopes go up in flames on pit road

IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi was having an incredible day at the Indianapolis 500 as he was competing toward the front of the pack, but it all ended in the blink of an eye.

On Lap 73, Rossi’s vehicle began to leak fluid from the back. It was causing problems for Alex Palou, who was immediately behind Rossi’s No. 20. Rossi entered the pits and was told the crew would take a minute to figure out what was going on with his car.

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Rossi pulled into his pit box, and his car was covered in flames. He rushed out of his cockpit as officials came over to extinguish the fire. Rossi got out of the car and threw his gloves down to the ground. 

Rossi’s fueler Mike Miller needed to be attended to as well, as he still had flames on him in the pits. He appeared to be OK as the issue was being taken care of.

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"Thankfully Mike’s OK too. It’s always a terrible situation and it’s so disappointing," Rossi told FOX from his pit box. "That was such a phenomenal racecar, and the team made a great decision to stay out there when that first split happened with the strategy, and everything we were doing on the 20 Java House stand was awesome. That’s what’s so painful about this day is you got to have so many things go right. It’s just disappointing because it’s another opportunity gone."

Rossi said the gearbox’s temperature started to increase as the race went on, and he believed that was at least one of the reasons why his vehicle went up in flames.

Rossi won the race in 2016. He finished fourth in 2024 and fifth in 2023 and 2022.

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