Polesitter Scott Dixon forged to the front of the field on a clean opening lap, establishing an early command over the field as Ed Carpenter took second and gave chase, but by lap five it was a one-two punch for Chip Ganassi Racing after Tony Kanaan joined the fray behind his teammate.
One circuit later, Kanaan made his move to the lead, dipping inside of Dixon at the end of the backstretch and pulling out to a similar three-car length gap in the early going.
The duo remained in that formation until lap 25, when Rossi disposed of Dixon for second in a similar fashion as Kanaan’s pass for the race lead.
Kanaan began the pit stop cycle on lap 27, ceding the top spot and beginning a shuffle that saw Rossi, Carpenter, J.R. Hildebrand and Juan Pablo Montoya lead during the cycle of service.
When the field shuffled out on the 32nd round, it was Carpenter leading Rossi and two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, but Alonso had no aspirations of staying put for very long.
After starting fifth, Alonso dove underneath Rossi entering Turn 1 to take the lead for the first time on lap 37, opening up as much as three-quarters of a second over the field before Rossi began to pare the gap back down.
It was on the 43rd circuit that Rossi moved back in front, sparking a duel between he and Alonso lasting for the majority of Sunday’s race.
Lap 53 saw the first incident of the race, and it was a huge impact.
Jay Howard got up into the outside wall in the South short chute, and as he slowed going towards Turn 2, Dixon drove up over Howard’s left rear tire with nowhere to go.
Dixon launched into the air before impacting a safety barrier at the bottom of the track, where the car went into a barrel roll before landing on the roll-bar and rotating back onto its wheels.
Both drivers climbed out under their own power, and were later checked and released from the infield care center.
Following a red flag period of just over 18 minutes, racing resumed on lap 61 with Alonso out front, but the ensuing shuffle saw Rossi go to the front quickly before their Andretti teammate, Takuma Sato, joined the fray and went to the top of the pylon on the 65th lap.
Moments later, the day’s second yellow flew when Conor Daly hit the outside wall in Turn 3, slowing the pace on lap 66 with four Andretti Autosport cars heading the field.
Ten laps later, the green flag returned and Rossi wasted no time in going back to the head of the field, pulling Hunter-Reay along with him into second as the Andretti battle continued out front.
A short-lived caution for debris on the frontstretch at lap 80 did nothing to quell the waters, despite pit stops for the frontrunners that shuffled Will Power to the point.
Max Chilton jumped from behind Power and into the lead on the lap 85 restart, but Hunter-Reay and Rossi returned to the sharp end a circuit later.
Continued on the next page…
