Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi believes the fuel mileage advantage he had over Simon Pagenaud was killed off by the late race caution periods during the Indianapolis 500.
Throughout the race, it was clear the Honda engines were able to manage a fuel advantage over the Chevrolet powered entries, albeit they lacked the same horsepower in clear air to keep pace with their rivals.
Rossi, who had come through the field while Pagenaud led the race for 116 laps, was able to stretch the fuel stints longer than the Penske driver and appeared to have an advantage going into the final quarter of the race should it have remained green.
However, two cautions were thrown, one on lap 138 for the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports #7 car of Marcus Ericsson who crashed entering the pit-lane, and one for the five-car pile-up in Turn 3 on lap 178.
Pagenaud was able to save fuel and push his #22 Menards-Chevrolet all the way to the finish as the pair went toe-to-toe for the remaining 13 laps.
"We just didn't have the straight-line speed," said a disconsolate Rossi. "There's not much we can do about that from my side inside the car.
"Obviously the #22 guys fully deserve it. They were on pole. He led probably 70 percent of the laps. Yeah, I mean, he was a deserving winner for sure.
"But that last yellow really hurt us because we were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than he was, so that was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin, and yeah, the second one was just – we didn't have the speed out front.
"I mean, I was flat for the last 15 laps, and there's not much more you can do."
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