Alexander Rossi and the 5 best IndyCar storylines to watch this season

1. Alexander Rossi’s encore

The rise of Alexander Rossi has been one of the great IndyCar stories over the last few years. He’s become one of the league’s most exciting drivers, in relatively short order; 2019 is only going to be his fourth season!

But Rossi’s already racked up quite a few accomplishments. He grabbed national attention when he won the 2016 Indy 500 as a rookie after a heady fuel strategy play. Since then, every season, he’s gotten markedly better—from 11th place in the championship standings that year, to 7th in 2017, to the runner-up for the title last year. He’s not just improving; he’s really taking leaps and bounds each season.

It feels like it’s only a matter of time until Alexander Rossi adds IndyCar champion to his resume. He won three races last season and finished on the podium at five others; in fact, he only ended up outside the Top 10 in three of the 17 races in the 2018 IndyCar campaign. So how is he going to follow that impressive line score up?

Rossi’s tremendously talented and also tremendously competitive, and he’s coming into 2019 on a hot streak. Everyone else on the grid should be a little bit scared of him. But if you’re a race fan, you should be excited; he’s incredibly thrilling to watch, and the way he’s become a huge part of IndyCar is a far cry from the driver that people thought might bolt back to Formula 1 two years ago. He’s really embraced IndyCar, and IndyCar has loved him right back.

The only thing missing is a championship. But if Rossi can take another huge step forward yet again, he could easily fix that. And for the race fans who want to see more American success stories, well, Rossi would be the second American IndyCar champion in three years (following Josef Newgarden in 2017). What’s not to get excited about?

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