'The clock continues to tick': Alexander Rossi closing in on a decade of IndyCar competition

Alexander Rossi is only four races away from putting 10 NTT IndyCar Series seasons in the books. 

The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner will head to his home race at Laguna Seca on July 27 in search of his ninth career IndyCar victory as he draws closer to completing a decade's worth of IndyCar competition. 

"The clock continues to tick for all of us," Rossi said regarding his longevity. "You just try and take advantage of every opportunity you have. Every time you're in a race car is a chance to prove yourself. On that same token, you're really only as good as your last race.

"It's a very demanding sport from that standpoint, but it's also immensely rewarding if you can get onto a pretty good run and have some momentum on your side." 

Good runs have been few and far between for Rossi this season, however. He finished 25th in Sunday's race at Toronto after a bizarre incident involving a wall that appeared to shift slightly over the course of the weekend — a la Ayrton Senna in Dallas in 1984. 

In his first year with Ed Carpenter Racing, Rossi is 18th in the standings through 13 races — but the veteran driver still feels there are reasons for optimism. 

"From a performance standpoint, it's probably higher than I was expecting," Rossi said regarding pre-season expectations. "Maybe that's not a fair thing to say, but the performance has been good in a lot of scenarios."

But Rossi knows it's not all sunshine and rainbows in the No. 20 paddock. Compared to previous years of his career, 2025 is set to be his worst from a statistical standpoint. 

"The execution on race day has been lacking," Rossi said. "Some of that has been elements that are completely outside of the team's control. Unfortunately, we've had quite a few mechanical failures this year.

It's the way the sport works. You look up and down the grid this year, and by no means are we alone in that category. There are so many variables, and you try your best to control all of them, but sometimes that's not possible and sometimes it's just a tough go for a little bit."

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.