It was a wild day for ex-F1 driver Romain Grosjean in the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. The Dale Coyne Racing driver was running as high as fifth during the late-race red flag, and while he fell back a few places in the end, it was still his best-ever finish in the Indy 500.
Grosjean also did it while carrying a No. 18 stylized in honor of fallen NASCAR legend Kyle Busch, and the car number he carried to 56 of his 63 Cup Series wins — as well as both of his Cup Series titles in 2015 and 2019.
Grosjean never meant Kyle, but he did meet his older brother Kurt through their connection at Haas. Driving that Busch-esque No. 18, Grosjean started 24th in his fourth Indy 500 start. After 200 laps of intense wheel-to-wheel racing, he was ninth, a full ten positions higher than his previous best finish in the 500.
Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Photo by: Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“It was a weird day,” remarked Grosjean during the Indy 500 Victory Celebration on Monday. “129 laps into the race, we were a lap down and P30. Got a penalty (for passing under yellow), and then somehow the car came alive — Honda gave us a really good engine with good mileage.”
On the final stint of of the race, Grosjean said: “I knew when we pitted on lap 165, we would go to the end. At that point, I was 20th and I was told that 12 drivers had to pit in front of us. I did the math and saw I could get P8, and I’ll take that any day … I’m very happy to be top ten, very proud of the whole team. a bit of a crazy race, crazy day.”
Grosjean was also the race’s biggest mover, gaining 15 positions from his starting spot to final race result.
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