IndyCar: Whenever Alexander Rossi wins, he dominates

Aside of his Indy 500 victory, all of the victories that Alexander Rossi has earned throughout his IndyCar career have come in dominant fashion.

The first victory of Alexander Rossi’s IndyCar career came in just his sixth career start when he won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on fuel strategy back in 2016. He ultimately took the checkered flag at a pace that resulted in him losing more than 10 seconds to the hard-charging second place Carlos Munoz on the final lap before he ran out of fuel on his victory lap.

Rossi’s victory in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was chalked up to nothing more than a fluke because of how he earned it.

Indeed, the 27-year-old Nevada City, California native has not won a race quite how he won this one or even close to how he won this one in his three-plus seasons competing in America’s premier open-wheel racing series since he won it.

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But he has proven that this win was no fluke.

Rossi has added six victories to his career win total since he won the Indy 500 just over three years ago. It took him until September of 2017 to earn the second victory of his career, but since then, he has been a perennial contender at the front of the pack at pretty much every track.

There is one thing that Rossi hasn’t yet done since winning the 2016 Indy 500, and that is win a race without dominating it. All six of his non-Indy 500 victories, including one in the 2017 season, three in the 2018 season and two through the first 10 races of the 17-race 2019 season, have been dominant victories.

Rossi earned his lone victory in the 2017 season in the race at Watkins Glen International. He took the pole position for this race and led 32 of its 60 laps, including its last 15 and 30 of its last 33, en route to a 0.951-second victory over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon that was really never in doubt at any point during the second half of this race. With all things considered, this victory is probably his least dominant non-Indy 500 victory.

In the 2018 season, Rossi took the pole position for the race on the streets of Long Beach, California. He led 71 of the race’s 85 laps and was never passed for the lead on the track itself en route to a 1.241-second victory over Team Penske’s Will Power.

Rossi then took the pole position for the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where, once again, he was never passed for the lead on the track itself. He led 66 of the race’s 90 laps en route to a 12.829-second victory over Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Robert Wickens.

Rossi started in third place in the race at Pocono Raceway, but he worked his way to the lead before the race’s first green flag lap had been completed. He went on to lead 180 of its 200 laps en route to a 4.498-second victory over Power and, once again, was never passed for the lead on the track.

Only two other drivers, Dixon and Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan’s Sebastien Bourdais, finished on the lead lap in this race at what is tied for the longest oval on the IndyCar schedule, and they took the white flag in third and fourth place, respectively, just before Rossi took the checkered flag.

Rossi’s return to the streets of Long Beach this season featured a dominant performance that resulted in him leading 80 of the race’s 85 laps and winning by a whopping 20.236 seconds over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, marking the largest margin of victory since Dixon won the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course by 29.780 seconds over Ryan Briscoe back in 2009. As usual, he was never passed for the lead on the track.

At Road America, which was statistically Rossi’s worst track on the schedule heading into the 2019 season, he outdid himself once again. He started in second place, took the lead on the opening lap and was unsurprisingly never passed for the lead on the track. He led 54 of the race’s 55 laps en route to a 28.439-second victory that was, once again, the largest margin of victory since Dixon’s at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 10 years ago.

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In the first six non-Indianapolis 500 victories of his IndyCar career, Alexander Rossi completed 575 laps, and he led 483 of these 575 laps (84.00%). He did not start any of the six races in which he earned these victories outside of the top three, and his average starting position in them is 1.50. Additionally, his average margin of victory in these six races is 11.366 seconds. In his most recent four victories, his average margin of victory is 16.501 seconds, and this season alone, his average margin of victory is 24.338 seconds.

Dominant is simply the only word to describe his performances in these victories.