Alexander Rossi‘s destination for the next few years has been the topic of much debate in the IndyCar community. Now, on Rossi’s 33rd birthday, Ed Carpenter Racing has announced that the California native will be joining the team on a multi-year deal to drive the No. 20 Chevrolet alongside Christian Rasmussen, who will pilot the No. 21 Chevrolet full-time in 2025.
For Rossi, this marks his third different team in the last few years. After spending the first part of his NTT IndyCar Series career with Andretti Global (and Bryan Herta Autosport in conjunction with Andretti in 2016-2017), Rossi moved to Arrow McLaren in 2023 in hopes that his bad fortune from the previous three seasons would turn around.
How bad were those three seasons? Well, after winning five races and scoring 21 top fives and 28 top-10 finishes from 34 starts in 2018-2019, Rossi had one win, 13 top fives and 25 top 10s across 47 races from 2020-2022.
Instead of finishing second or third in points, he was mired in ninth and 10th place. A change of scenery, however, did not reverse Rossi’s fortunes as he went winless in his time at McLaren with nine top fives and 21 top-10 finishes across his two seasons in papaya.
After Christian Lundgaard‘s confirmation in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for 2025, the guessing game began on Rossi’s plans, with many pointing to a simple seat swap with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
On the surface, it makes sense. RLL has three cars, many sponsors and an IMSA program that Rossi would be able to do some endurance races with whenever he wants.
However, RLL wouldn’t be Rossi’s best fit. The Zionsville-based squad has not had the consistency that Rossi would desire of his next home. RLL has had some tracks where they have been good and some where more often than not you can find them wearing concerned looks.
At the end of the day, the speed chart tells the story, and that story is best told at Indianapolis in May. RLL has had their cars near the bottom of the starting grid the last few years after winning in 2020 and Graham Rahal had the car to win in 2021 were it not for a wheel coming off after he left the pits too early on a mid-race pit stop.
With so much uncertainty about RLL’s pace at Indianapolis, that route isn’t an option for Rossi. Meyer Shank Racing was seemingly an option after David Malukas announced his move to A. J. Foyt Racing for 2025, but the No. 66 Honda went to Marcus Armstrong instead, perhaps having a tie-in with the new technical alliance building up between MSR and Chip Ganassi’s team.
Juncos Hollinger Racing wasn’t considered an option for Rossi nor was Dale Coyne Racing as both teams require funding from their drivers. As for PREMA, Rossi said that zero conversations took place with the Italian team, so that leaves Ed Carpenter Racing as the most logical choice.
Let’s look at this from an Indianapolis-focused standpoint. ECR has had very good (or nearly great) cars at Indianapolis, especially in qualifying, but for some reason getting across the finish line first has eluded the team based just under 10 miles away from IMS.
The best chance Rossi has to add another bas relief sculpture of his face to the base of the Borg-Warner Trophy comes with ECR. On it’s own, that should be enough to make the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner want to sign on the dotted line. But Rossi elaborated more on his weekly podcast with James Hinchcliffe about why he signed.
The tie-in with GM is big for a driver. That’s additional simulator time and other things that come with being a manufacturer-supported driver.
ECR also offers Rossi something that he hasn’t had for many years, and that’s undisputed team leader status. While many can argue that Pato O’Ward is the main focus at Arrow McLaren and Colton Herta was the main focus at Andretti during Rossi’s later tenure at the team, Rossi will be the alpha of this team with a sophomore driver completing the full-time lineup.
I’m not saying that Rossi will be the only focus of the team, but it has to be attractive from his standpoint that he’s the big name in the team, even if his name isn’t on the building.
Now, while those are the positives for ECR, there are also risks in moving to the team. Their last win was in 2021 with Rinus VeeKay winning at the IMS road course in May. Before that, it was 2016 with Josef Newgarden at Iowa Speedway in an impressive performance of total domination.
VeeKay got the team their most recent podium in 2022 at Barber Motorsports Park and their most recent top-five at Iowa Speedway this year, but he’s no longer with the team to make room for Rossi.
Speaking of VeeKay, it’s worth remembering that after Newgarden left ECR at the end of 2016, the Dutch racer has ECR’s best championship finish of 12th in 2021 and 2022.
There’s a lot of steps that go into a decision like this, and Rossi believes that ECR is his best option for future IndyCar success.
He may well be right, but only time will tell.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.