When Alexander Rossi took the checkered flag on Saturday, he earned his first victory in IndyCar since his 2019 win in Road America.
The long drought was broken as he nears the end of his time with Andretti Autosport and has a deal in place to race for Arrow McLaren SP in 2023.
Having raced with Andretti since he joined the series in 2016, Rossi was prepared to move on while logging a streak of winless results in the final three years of their tenure together.
His long-awaited victory put an end to that notion, however, and gives him and his crew a fond memory to part ways with.
“It would have been a pretty sad story if we weren’t able to [win this year],” said Rossi. “That’s not the goal, right, because I’m not really thinking about ’23. You’re thinking about just what you can still accomplish in 2022.
“But yes, I’m happy that we don’t have to have that conversation of like, ‘Oh, well, it’s been cool. Too bad we couldn’t win in three, four – whatever.’ So I’m glad we don’t have to have that conversation.
“I’ve had the majority of the same group of guys, probably 70 percent of the same group of guys since 2017. As I said before, it’s been hard for them, as well, so it’s great to do it as a unit and as a group on the 27 car, to get this behind us. Hopefully we can have a pretty strong run to the end of the year.”
Rossi started his relationship with Andretti Autosport, and with IndyCar, with an incredibly unlikely Indy 500 win in his rookie season.
He went on to finish runner up in the championship in 2018, but has struggled to produce consistent results since then.
The 30-year-old moves over to AMSP next season to drive the team’s new third entry, and will try to get back to winning races with regularity while he’s still in peak driving form.
