Alexander Rossi says Memorial Day Weekend ‘sucked’ without Indy 500

By Asher Fair | May 29, 2020

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport, IndyCar (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Alexander Rossi said Memorial Day Weekend without the Indy 500 “sucked”, but he is keeping busy ahead of the 2020 IndyCar season with the Red Bull Homestretch.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the start of the 2020 IndyCar season to be postponed from its initial date of Sunday, March 15, and first the first time since the World War II era, the Indy 500 did not take place on Memorial Day Weekend this year.

The season is slated to get underway next Saturday, June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, and the 104th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, initially scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 24, has been rescheduled to Sunday, August 23. This would mark the first time it has been run outside of the month of May.

Amid the pandemic and the unexpected time off from real racing, 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi and many of the other IndyCar drivers competed in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge. That virtual racing series ended toward the beginning of May.

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But in recent weeks, Rossi has still been busy racing virtually, as he has gotten involved in another series, the Red Bull Homestretch.

The Red Bull Homestretch is a no-holds barred series of weekly virtual races which kicked off on Thursday, May 14 on Red Bull’s Twitch channel. All of the races have taken place on Gran Turismo Sport on PlayStation 4. Aside of Rossi, there are seven other professional racers in the field, including Travis Pastrana and Sebastian Loeb

Additionally, there is “Wildcard Seat” each race for surprise celebrities, musicians, athletes or notable personalities.

Los Angeles Rams All-Pro quarterback Jared Goff, Chicago Cubs star third baseman Kris Bryant and WNBA star Breanna Stewart have all been involved. The “Wildcard Seat” competitors take part in a Student Driver Training Session led by racing pro Scott Speed to help prepare them.

But now that Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone with nothing to do race-wise outside of the virtual world, Rossi told FanSided’s Mark Carman that the reality of what is going on in the world has really started to sink in.

“Yeah, it sucked,” said Rossi when asked about this past weekend not including the world’s greatest race. “This whole quarantine thing didn’t really hit me until Memorial Day Weekend., when it was just so clear that we weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing.”

Rossi’s 2016 Indy 500 win came exactly four years ago today, when he won the race while running out of fuel ahead of hard-charging Andretti Autosport teammate Carlos Munoz.

“I live in Indianapolis, so the whole town just had a weird vibe to it, which was a shame. But ultimately, we’re rescheduled for August, so now the countdown for August kind of starts now.”

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Tune in to NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 6 for the live broadcast of the season-opening Genesys 300 from Texas Motor Speedway. NBC is also set to broadcast the Indy 500 live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 23. This race is the eighth race on the revised 14-race 2020 schedule.