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James HinchcliffeHost1:00

This is Off Track.

Alexander RossiHost1:02

This is Off Track.

James HinchcliffeHost1:03

Are you saying that of all your multiple media commitments-

Alexander RossiHost1:06

I think that's what he just said

James HinchcliffeHost1:08

...

James HinchcliffeHost1:08

this is, this is one of your favorite? This is one you're okay to do?

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:10

I mean, it's always been a dream of, dream of mine to be important enough to be on the show, so I'm, I'm happy you guys could make a little time for me.

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:19

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost1:20

[laughs] Did you, did you even know we had a show? I feel like [laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:23

Man, Emil listens to it all the time.

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:25

She gives me all the, all the IndyCar insights.

James HinchcliffeHost1:27

Oh, do- oh, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost1:28

That's terrifying.

James HinchcliffeHost1:29

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost1:29

Yeah, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost1:29

It's good to, [laughs] it's good to know that she's keeping you up to speed on everything that we know.

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:34

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost1:34

Must be a short chat every week.

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:36

Exactly.

Felix RosenqvistGuest1:37

No, I, I heard you guys do a great job, and I've, I've seen a few episodes, yes, and I'm very honored to be here.

Alexander RossiHost1:44

Well, thanks, bro.

Alexander RossiHost1:45

This is not about us, though.

Alexander RossiHost1:47

Um, this is about becoming a part of history.

Alexander RossiHost1:52

Um, so why don't you, you know, we're gonna wanna talk to you about the race a little bit, but just take us through your past 48 hours.

Alexander RossiHost1:59

What's it been like? Did it...

Alexander RossiHost2:02

I know probably everyone told you what it was gonna be like.

Alexander RossiHost2:04

Has it met, exceeded, surpassed expectations? Give us the rundown.

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:08

Yeah, bro, it's, um, I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of different, I guess, than you, what you're gonna expect.

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:15

Um, it's, I think it's a lot more...

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:20

I mean, I, I think the, the whole, the racing part of it, I've, I've let that sink.

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:25

I've seen the, the replays and the commentaries and, uh, you know, I realized, like, the actual thing I've done on track is, is, is real and, and it was so, so cool.

Alexander RossiHost2:38

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:38

But the whole thing that comes with it, like this part, like going out to the Empire State Building and having, like, paparazzi stand there, like, you know, talking to me while I'm, they're taking photos, um, it, it's, yeah, that, that part is still pretty, yeah, pretty new to me, and I'm not a very, like, extravagant guy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest2:59

You know, when I...

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:01

Yeah, it's, it's just so not me, really, to, to have all these things.

Alexander RossiHost3:05

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:05

But it, it's so cool.

James HinchcliffeHost3:06

You're a pretty flashy, showy kind of dude, Felix.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:10

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost3:10

I don't know what you're talking about.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:11

Yeah, exactly.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:12

I always show up in a Rolls, you know? Uh.

James HinchcliffeHost3:14

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost3:14

Big ring.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:16

Mm-hmm.

James HinchcliffeHost3:17

So all right.

James HinchcliffeHost3:18

So let's, let's...

James HinchcliffeHost3:20

Y- you win the race.

James HinchcliffeHost3:21

You get, you drink the milk.

James HinchcliffeHost3:23

Um, I imagine what's next was a press conference.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:28

Yep.

Alexander RossiHost3:29

Have you seen, before you get there, have you seen the photo where you, like, delete your face with the milk yet?

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:33

I- it's so crazy.

Alexander RossiHost3:35

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:35

Like, when, so like that moment when, that you've been waiting for since you were five years old-

Alexander RossiHost3:41

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:42

... uh, you pour the milk, and I'm like, "How is this gonna work?" Because I have a hat.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:47

And I guess I ha- I poured it right on the, what do you call the thing that sticks out?

Alexander RossiHost3:51

The brim?

James HinchcliffeHost3:51

On the brim, yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest3:52

On the brim, and it was just, like, a perfect, like, waterfall in front of my [laughs] or milk fall, and I couldn't see anything for, like, a few seconds.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:00

I, I just saw the milk, like...

Alexander RossiHost4:03

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:03

So I guess you're supposed to pour it, uh, like further back.

Alexander RossiHost4:07

Backwards?

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:07

It's, uh, I don't know.

James HinchcliffeHost4:08

Dude, there's no rules.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:09

But-

James HinchcliffeHost4:09

You, you pour that milk however you wanna pour that milk

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:11

... you can do whatever you want.

Alexander RossiHost4:11

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost4:11

That's the, that's the, that's the, that's the beauty of it all.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:14

And someone posted it as, like, the Veiled Nun or something, that it looked-

Alexander RossiHost4:18

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:18

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost4:19

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost4:19

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost4:19

The Veiled Nun, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost4:20

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:20

But yeah, that, uh-

James HinchcliffeHost4:21

Okay, so-

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:21

Yeah, so all the, like, a million photos, victory circle, uh, all the different hats, uh, all the different partners and sponsors and stuff.

James HinchcliffeHost4:30

Mm-hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:30

And then a press conference was a lot of hours, a lot of interviews.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:35

Probably did, like, 100 interviews sitting there in my milky suit.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:39

Actually was the-

James HinchcliffeHost4:40

I was gonna say, how gross is that?

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:42

Mm.

James HinchcliffeHost4:42

Four-hour race-

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:43

Oh, I know

James HinchcliffeHost4:43

... and then you're covered in milk, and then you just sit there for hours.

James HinchcliffeHost4:48

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:48

And, uh, and that wreath, just, like, the smell of flowers and milk, it's, uh-

James HinchcliffeHost4:54

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:55

... it's something else.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:56

But, uh-

Alexander RossiHost4:57

The-

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:57

Yeah, the interviews.

Felix RosenqvistGuest4:58

I did a Da- I think the last one I did was David Land on the Grand Stand.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:01

So then all of a sudden, 'cause it rained, actually, when we kissed the bricks.

James HinchcliffeHost5:05

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost5:05

Mm-hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:05

And then after it was, like, the most beautiful sunset.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:08

It was, the skies were clear.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:10

Uh, did that last interview, and then I finally got to go home at around 10:00 in my suit still.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:17

Uh, went home.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:20

Uh-

James HinchcliffeHost5:20

Wait, still in your suit? You couldn't even go back to the trailer and change 'cause it was all locked up?

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:23

Well, I had to, like, I had to call Adam Rovezzini to get the code to the... 'Cause I couldn't get into the truck, and there's one of those, like, bike locks, I guess I'd call it, like, those physical locks.

Alexander RossiHost5:33

Oh.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:34

And I had to get the code-

James HinchcliffeHost5:35

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:35

... for that and open the gate and all that.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:36

And then I got changed, drove home, had, like, six tacos with my wife and some friends in our house, and then I went to the team-

James HinchcliffeHost5:47

Like, wait, hang on, hang on, hang on.

James HinchcliffeHost5:48

Like Taco Bell or, or did we, did we have a, did, did we make them? Like what are we doing here?

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:53

No, so, so Chris Wheeler sent me a we- message-

James HinchcliffeHost5:55

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:55

... asking, like, "Hey, what do you wanna eat?"And I said tacos.

Felix RosenqvistGuest5:59

And then when I came home, it was a massive box of Verde at a local restaurant in Indiana.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:04

Uh, maybe it's a chain one.

James HinchcliffeHost6:06

Got it.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:06

And they, the owner, was kind enough to, like, basically donate a bunch of tacos to us, and, uh [laughs]-

James HinchcliffeHost6:13

Nice

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:13

... yeah, so like six tacos.

James HinchcliffeHost6:14

Be- because the prize, because the prize money check hadn't hit yet.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:17

Yeah, exactly.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:18

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost6:18

Right.

Alexander RossiHost6:18

So you need it.

James HinchcliffeHost6:18

Yeah, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost6:19

Yes.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:19

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:20

Um, uh, yeah, had tacos, kissed the baby and Emil, and then went to the team party at Binkley's.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:28

We were there f- until like 3:00, 3:00 AM, I think.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:33

Um-

James HinchcliffeHost6:33

Nice.

James HinchcliffeHost6:34

All right, so you celebrated proper.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:36

Yeah, we did.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:37

I, I was like, "I gotta, I gotta cele-..." Like, I never celebrate anything.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:41

The last time I was properly drunk was probably at my wedding two years ago.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:45

So I was like, "I gotta do this." I had way too many gin and tonics.

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:51

Uh, s- one of my engineers-

James HinchcliffeHost6:52

Good choice

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:52

... took me home, and then I woke up at, like, 5:30 for another...

Felix RosenqvistGuest6:57

Like, I [laughs] and that, you thought, you're like, "Oh, I'm..." I posted a photo.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:00

I was like, "Oh, I'm tired.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:01

Like, this is wild." And it was like, oh, the, it was, it's only gotten started.

James HinchcliffeHost7:07

Mm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:07

And then you do the whole thing, like the, you go out to the bricks, you take the photo.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:12

But that's a long sitting.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:14

Like, you sit on the aero screen.

Alexander RossiHost7:15

With the milky wreath, yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:16

Yeah, so back in your day, Alex, you didn't have to sit on the aero screen, which, by the way, anyone who's involved in that thing, you should, you should develop, like, a seat pad, like a [laughs] some kind of a foam.

Alexander RossiHost7:30

Your butt hurt?

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:30

My-

Alexander RossiHost7:30

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:30

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:30

it still hurts, actually.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:32

I sat on it for, like, two and a half hours.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:35

Um, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost7:36

You need, like, you know, like, when Elio would race, uh, sports cars, rather than have, like, a seat insert-

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:42

Mm

James HinchcliffeHost7:42

... that he'd put in and take out, he would, like-

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:44

Like the turtle shell

James HinchcliffeHost7:44

... stitch it into his suit.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:45

Oh, yeah, he did that.

James HinchcliffeHost7:46

So he just had extra padding in the back of his suit.

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:48

Oh.

James HinchcliffeHost7:48

So that's what you, you need your, your 500 victory photo suit.

James HinchcliffeHost7:52

Just have, like, a little built-in butt pad-

Felix RosenqvistGuest7:54

Oh, yeah

James HinchcliffeHost7:54

... to keep, uh-

Alexander RossiHost7:55

Smart

James HinchcliffeHost7:56

...

James HinchcliffeHost7:56

so wait, so I, I need to know then, Alex, when you won, how late did you stay up, and what time did you have to get up for your photos?

Alexander RossiHost8:04

Um, [clears throat] I went to bed at, like, 9:00 PM and woke up at 6:00.

James HinchcliffeHost8:08

[laughs] Okay, so Al- [laughs] Alex did not do it the right way.

James HinchcliffeHost8:13

Felix did it the right way.

James HinchcliffeHost8:14

Okay.

Alexander RossiHost8:15

Yes.

Alexander RossiHost8:15

Yes.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:15

You're all in dad mode.

James HinchcliffeHost8:16

So you did two hours of photos.

James HinchcliffeHost8:18

Yeah, exactly.

James HinchcliffeHost8:19

He's just practicing.

James HinchcliffeHost8:20

Uh, two hours of photos there at the track first thing in the morning, and, and then what? We saw, saw Lando Norris stop by to say congratulations.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:28

Mm.

James HinchcliffeHost8:28

That was cool.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:29

Lando stopped by.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:30

We exchanged a few words, and then, let me think.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:35

Dude, it's like a blur.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:36

I'm so sleep deprived.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:37

Um, at some point-

James HinchcliffeHost8:40

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:41

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:41

I don't, I don't remember.

James HinchcliffeHost8:43

All right.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:43

I went, we did a bunch of stuff, went home, and then I flew to New York.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:47

I had to pack my ba- no, the, yeah, the, um, the banquet.

James HinchcliffeHost8:49

You, you did the banquet? Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:50

So I packed my bag-

James HinchcliffeHost8:51

So-

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:51

... went to the banquet with the bag.

James HinchcliffeHost8:53

Mm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:54

Did the banquet.

Felix RosenqvistGuest8:55

Uh, and then we flew to New York, and here we are two days later.

Alexander RossiHost8:58

And obviously, New York is, is cool.

Alexander RossiHost9:00

New York's probably even cooler for you with SiriusXM being, you know, the partner that they are and, and everything that you can do with them.

Felix RosenqvistGuest9:07

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost9:08

And we could spend a long time talking about the New York media tour, but I wanna get into the race, because I, along with, [clears throat] I think all of our peers, as well as the 350,000 people that were there, um, categorize this as one of the best Indy 500s ever.

Alexander RossiHost9:27

And James, James and I were talking about this yesterday, actually, and we are both so thrilled with the way that it ended, because before that red flag, the race was yours anyways.

Alexander RossiHost9:43

So-

Felix RosenqvistGuest9:43

We were cruising

Alexander RossiHost9:44

... why, why don't you walk us through up until that red flag? 'Cause I, I'm very curious.

Alexander RossiHost9:49

Obviously, you know, you, Pato, and, and a couple other cars went on the, you know, fuel save strategy to the end sort of thing, stretching those last two stints.

Alexander RossiHost9:59

Um, you were doing better on fuel than Pato was.

Alexander RossiHost10:02

I think you, you had him by two laps, uh, going into that last stint there.

Alexander RossiHost10:06

And then there was a moment in time where you were kind of done sitting behind him.

Alexander RossiHost10:11

Y- Pato didn't have any more kind of lap cars to help him, and you kind of went by.

Alexander RossiHost10:16

At that point, were you good on fuel, and did you know that, "Okay, this is mine, as long as nothing stupid happens"?

Felix RosenqvistGuest10:22

Yes.

Felix RosenqvistGuest10:23

So I don't even remember exactly, but there was one moment when I did that, but I still had to save a little bit.

Alexander RossiHost10:31

Mm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest10:32

And we kind of hoped we could break free from him, and then things happened, and we were back saving fuel again.

Felix RosenqvistGuest10:38

And then it, right before the, the second last yellow came, I was sitting just in his gearbox, and we were, I was just waiting for them to tell me, "Okay, go." And yeah, when we went, it was like, "Yeah, just send it," and-

Alexander RossiHost10:55

"This it.

Alexander RossiHost10:55

This is it." Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest10:55

... yeah, we, we, we had, we had such a good car, and we were able to just...

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:00

The whole ra- I think that's where we end up, 'cause a lot of people kind of looked at it as a off strategy, but from, from our point of view, it was actually, like, the only strategy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:08

'Cause we had that fuel mileage the whole race.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:11

We were just able to sit so close, and, um, it ma- it makes a big difference, man.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:17

Like, if you, if you have a really good car and you can sit, like, even when you're fifth or sixth in line, super close, man, you're basically, like, you burn, like, half the fuel than the leader is doing.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:29

It's crazy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:30

And that was basically what kind of gave us the opportunity to do that, and it was kind of cool.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:36

It was almost like playing chess in a way, um, with Pato.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:40

Like, I kind of felt bad for Pato, 'cause he was so unlucky with how everything unfolded, and then, like, Nick passed me on the outside and gave me more fuel.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:47

Like, it was, everything was, like, too perfect, and just when I thought, I allowed myself to think, like, "Oh, this is looking pretty good."

Alexander RossiHost11:55

"This is good." Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest11:56

Yeah, the yellow came, so it always does, doesn't it?

James HinchcliffeHost11:59

it?So you see the yellow, you see the red.

James HinchcliffeHost12:04

I mean, you come down pit lane.

James HinchcliffeHost12:05

What, like, what do you think? Are you just like, "Of course.

James HinchcliffeHost12:08

Of course, this has to happen.

James HinchcliffeHost12:09

Of course, this is how it's gotta go." But were you stressed? Were you still kind of cool, calm, and collected? What was your mindset when you were sat in the car waiting for, uh, the cleanup?

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:20

Uh, for a brief moment I was a little bit, you know, as I say, you, you're bummed that... 'Cause everything was, like, perfect.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:29

Um, but I, I was actually pretty calm just because I felt the car was so good.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:35

I knew the car was good in clean air, uh, it was good in traffic.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:39

It was, it was gonna be good if I was fifth in line or second in line, third in line.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:44

I literally felt like if you give me five laps, I'll, I'll take this car to the win.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:50

Uh, and I didn't know it was gonna end up being one lap.

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:53

And then I, then I got stressed-

James HinchcliffeHost12:56

Four corners.

James HinchcliffeHost12:56

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:56

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest12:56

when Adam told... 'Cause I was sure it was gonna be a two-lap dash, and when he told me it was a one-lap dash, I'm like, "Okay.

Felix RosenqvistGuest13:03

Uh, that's a different beast." [laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost13:08

So you talk, y- I, I saw a quote from you, and you said that everything that occurred in that last lap was kind of like muscle memory, and that you felt that you had, d- I don't remember, dreamed it or thought about it before.

James HinchcliffeHost13:24

Like, w- take us into that mindset, you know? Did you just take what was given to you in the sense that, you know, obviously lane two is free, um, or was it always in your mind that this is how you can win a race in the modern IndyCar era with how difficult it is to lead? Like, was this always...

James HinchcliffeHost13:47

'Cause e- eh, I think everyone through the whole month is kind of thinking in the back of their head, like, "If it comes down to the last lap, how am I gonna make the difference?"

Felix RosenqvistGuest13:54

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost13:54

So walk us through coming to that restart, like what you ended up doing.

Felix RosenqvistGuest13:59

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest13:59

So the way I thought about it was, "Okay, I'm sitting at third.

Felix RosenqvistGuest14:02

At some point, the leader's gonna get past," 'cause leading is not a good thing on a restart in Indy.

James HinchcliffeHost14:09

Mm-hmm.

James HinchcliffeHost14:09

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest14:09

Uh, and when they brake side by side, I'm still gonna pick up some kind of draft and kind of get a run, you know? And it's kind of ironic 'cause the run ended up being not very good, uh, 'cause when I, into turn one, when Marcus kind of opened up the corner and, and he tried to block my run a little bit and we came together and I lifted a little bit, and that kind of ruined [laughs] all my momentum, which was actually the be- best thing in the world, but at the time I was like, "Oh, okay," like...

Felix RosenqvistGuest14:37

And then I just got, got stuck on the outside with him, and we did, like, the exact same speed.

Felix RosenqvistGuest14:43

Um, and at that point, that's when I was like, "Okay, the only way I can do this now is to just try to be on the outside through, uh, turn two and turn three and not lift," and hopefully I would start picking up the tow from David, 'cause he was pretty far ahead at the time.

James HinchcliffeHost14:59

Mm-hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest14:59

Like, he was a...

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:01

I was like, "[beep] I mean, he might actually check out here." And then he did his little snake thing, uh, where it was like a Fast and the Furious moment for me and Marcus 'cause every time he went to the right side, I picked up, like, a foot, and then he picked up-

James HinchcliffeHost15:13

Yes, yes.

James HinchcliffeHost15:14

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:14

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:14

It was, it was like Ho- Hollywood stuff.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:17

Um-

James HinchcliffeHost15:18

You weren't downshifting, though?

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:19

No, I wish I had a-

James HinchcliffeHost15:21

You didn't downshift-

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:22

You, you-

James HinchcliffeHost15:22

... and go full throttle and hit the NOS?

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:23

Yeah, yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:24

No.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:24

Hit the clutch.

James HinchcliffeHost15:26

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:26

Uh, no, it was, um...

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:28

And then, but then I started to actually, like, once we got into three and I was like, "Okay, I gotta do three flat," that this is, uh, very essential, and once I did that and got into the short chute, 'cause then David basically s- slid in behi- uh, in front of me, and also, you know, when you do the highlight-

James HinchcliffeHost15:45

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:45

... you kind of get that good exit?

James HinchcliffeHost15:47

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:47

Like, you have your wheels straighter.

Felix RosenqvistGuest15:49

And then the car just picked up speed and, and, um, it was kind of a tough decision going into turn four 'cause I was just clearing Marcus, so I was like, "I kind of want to make sure I get over his front wing," and I don't wanna...

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:04

Yeah, it was like, I was worried if I went too far down, I was gonna push and not be able to do it flat behind David 'cause I came from such an outside angle.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:14

Uh, but it was, there was enough clean air to just kind of, like, go in front of Marcus.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:18

He had to...

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:19

He kind of backed up and then it was just me and David.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:22

And then I, he started doing the weavy, uh, snaky thing again, uh, which is very hard to follow someone.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:30

I don't know if you guys have done that-

James HinchcliffeHost16:31

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:31

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:31

but it's, it's, like, super-

James HinchcliffeHost16:34

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:34

... to, to drive at 200 whatever and follow someone who's, like, weaving, it's super difficult.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:39

The car is, like, sliding when you do it.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:41

You're, like, grip limited.

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:43

Uh, but I managed to, for a brief moment, I managed to have, like, a perfect, like, my car was just fully behind his car, and my RPM was, like, I was on the last shift light at that moment, so it was just like, "Rah," like, it was just, it was just accelerating and-

James HinchcliffeHost16:59

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:59

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest16:59

I think I deployed a little, I haven't, I can't confirm this yet, but I think I deployed, like, at a 10% burst from that little, uh, lift previously.

Felix RosenqvistGuest17:09

Um, yeah, and then, you know, I was just kind of praying.

Felix RosenqvistGuest17:14

[car zooming]

[crowd cheering] All right, full-time thoughts.

Craig, who stood out?

James HinchcliffeHost17:18

Brazil's lime cheesecake started bright, didn't let up.

Nah, for me, Italian cappuccino was the standout in the box.

But if we're talking decadent performance, that's all France.

Chocolate crème brûlée had the richest finishes.

Canadian fireworks really showed up big, too.

And Mexico's caramel churro iced cap-

Gave me chills.

James HinchcliffeHost17:34

We are, of course, talking about Tim's Taste of the Globe lineup.

New globally inspired Timbits and iced cap flavors available at Tim Horton's for a limited time.

Pick some up today, and while you're at it, check out Footy Prime daily.

[car zooming]

James HinchcliffeHost17:46

[laughs] So that was, that was the thing for me, right, is when you, you go through one and two, and Alex and I were talking about this, right? Like, y- you can roll one and two on the outside on restarts, like it's a thing.

James HinchcliffeHost17:57

By the time you get to three, like, you've built up a fair amount of speed, and if the guy on the inside hasn't been, like, checked up by a big line of cars and is in a bunch of dirty air and is lifting, like, you can see guysfourth, fifth, sixth, seventh in line, like peak out and hold it on the outside of three.

James HinchcliffeHost18:12

You guys were pretty clear.

James HinchcliffeHost18:14

And so when you, when you were heading into three, was it, "Man, I, I'm kind of hoping that he bails out of it and I can get down to the bottom," or were you just like, "It's the outside and that's all I've got, and that's just what we have to do"?

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:27

I mean, we were so...

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:29

We were fully side by side when I turned in, so I didn't really think I was gonna...

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:34

And I, I, I knew he wasn't really gonna lift at that point.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:37

Like he's, he was probably in the exact same mindset as me, where you just, you don't care.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:42

Like, you just want it.

James HinchcliffeHost18:44

Hm.

James HinchcliffeHost18:44

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:44

And nothing, nothing can bring out that feeling, uh, like Indy 500.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:48

Like, you just want it so much, you don't care.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:52

Like, you just...

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:54

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:55

And, and yeah, he, he didn't.

Felix RosenqvistGuest18:56

Like, he kept flat through three, but, um, but it was basically the fact that David was ahead of me that allowed me to move forward more than he did, 'cause he obviously had the inside and did a shorter distance, but the tow is like, I mean, it's, it, it's worth hundreds of horsepower.

James HinchcliffeHost19:11

'Cause if you think about it, like in the middle of three, he's actually in David's dirty air.

James HinchcliffeHost19:15

So yes, he might be getting a bit of tow in the middle of the corner, but he's also having to probably-

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:19

Yeah

James HinchcliffeHost19:19

... add more lock and scrub a bit more.

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:21

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost19:21

So you kind of have the clean air.

James HinchcliffeHost19:23

And then on the short chute he comes in front of you-

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:25

Yeah, true

James HinchcliffeHost19:25

... and tows you along.

James HinchcliffeHost19:26

So the outside's almost the place to be as long as the grip [laughs] is there in the track to hold the car.

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:32

And it's fu- it's funny now we talk about it, 'cause, uh, uh, me just like you guys, like we, we never really thought about this too much before, like the playing... 'Cause it's a rectangular track, right? It's not, it's not a, it's not an oval really.

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:46

It's not a circle.

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:47

So it's a completely different ballgame when you have the short chute and the, a 90 deg-

James HinchcliffeHost19:53

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:53

... 90-degree corner.

Felix RosenqvistGuest19:54

And we probably all should have studied way more how to approach that scenario, 'cause this was just kind of like gut feel and, and adrenaline.

James HinchcliffeHost20:01

Mm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:01

But, um, yeah, like it might, it might actually be the way we race from now on.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:07

I'm, I'm not sure.

James HinchcliffeHost20:08

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:08

Like it, it all depends on weather and wind.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:11

Like if it was 85 degrees, might have not been the case.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:14

I don't know.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:14

But yeah, it, it was so like-

James HinchcliffeHost20:17

Worked out.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:18

Yeah, it did.

Felix RosenqvistGuest20:19

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost20:19

So, so, so walk us through, I, I know you don't have a lot of time, but, um, just your whole month of May.

Alexander RossiHost20:25

So obviously, you know, through qualifying, um, weekend, or I guess it was just a day, you know, you were the, you were the car to beat.

Alexander RossiHost20:34

Um, it didn't quite come to you in the, in the Fast Six, but still, you know, a, an incredibly strong car.

Alexander RossiHost20:42

But I, I remember you saying on Friday, you know, you were, you had to work for the speed.

Alexander RossiHost20:47

Like it didn't, it didn't come automatic, uh, on Fast Friday when the boost got turned up.

Alexander RossiHost20:53

Did you know kind of through the whole month that you had a car that was, you know, gonna be a weapon around there? 'Cause I, I think a lot of people forget, like you've had some, some very strong runs at Indy, um, with MSR, I mean obviously with McLaren as well.

Alexander RossiHost21:09

You've also had a lot of failures that have taken you out of, of good running spots.

Alexander RossiHost21:13

So you know what a good car is.

Alexander RossiHost21:15

You obviously have the, the, the knack for the place.

Alexander RossiHost21:18

But was this month of May any different for you or, or did it all kind of just come together when it mattered the most?

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:26

It was, um, I think I just kind of did my normal thing with my engineer, Ross.

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:32

Uh, we kind of just focused on ourself during race running.

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:36

I think we were a little, to be honest, surprised how good we were in the race, 'cause we almost felt like maybe we, we don't really care much about lap times during the practice, and it seems like maybe in a way that ended up being a bit of sandbagging for us.

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:52

We probably out there-

Alexander RossiHost21:54

Hm

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:54

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:54

in the worst conditions and, you know, full tank runs and stuff like that.

Felix RosenqvistGuest21:58

Um, so I think that was one thing where we're like, "Oh, we showed up for race days." Like obviously, I think team nailed the setup as well and about it, 'cause it wa- it was very good.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:08

Uh, but it wasn't like we did something crazy going into the race with the setup or anything.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:13

Uh-

Alexander RossiHost22:13

But it's not like through all of practice you were, you were thinking, "This is the best thing I've ever driven."

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:17

No.

Alexander RossiHost22:17

It was-

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:18

Not, not in race running.

Alexander RossiHost22:19

Okay, yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:19

And we, in, in fact, in carb day we, you know, we had a little issue and we had to go back to the garage, and we parked not super happy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:27

But we, we felt like we'd be fine.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:28

Like we'll, you know, if we have track position, we'll be, we'll be there and happy starting fourth.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:34

Uh, the qual car, obviously that was all, yeah, as you said, a kind of crazy story.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:37

We found quite a lot of lap time, more than normally, I'd say, uh, for what, what you normally do in, in, in IndyCar, uh, through, through those days and, and ended up being, yeah, or should or could have been the pole position maybe.

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:54

But, um, yeah, no, uh, like always, you don't really...

Felix RosenqvistGuest22:59

It's kind of like a feel you get through the race and, and the car changes through the race too.

Felix RosenqvistGuest23:03

And ours just, even if we didn't change anything, [laughs] it actually got better and better through the race.

Felix RosenqvistGuest23:08

It ca- it came to us.

James HinchcliffeHost23:09

Felix, you, you showed a lot of emotion obviously at the end of the race, and a big part of that was not having your family there with you, not having Emil and Stella.

James HinchcliffeHost23:21

Um, what was it like coming home and getting to kind of see them for the first time after all the me- 'Cause it's not like you get to run straight home, as you said.

James HinchcliffeHost23:28

You had to go through all this stuff.

James HinchcliffeHost23:30

It was hours and hours and hours before you were finally able to get home and, you know, and give your wife a hug and, you know, we know how much, and we talk a lot about the sacrifice the families make and, and what it's like being the partner of an IndyCar driver, especially this month.

James HinchcliffeHost23:44

So just, you know, what was, what was that moment like when you got to see them for the first time?

Felix RosenqvistGuest23:48

It was, um, I, I still, I still kind of think that moment hasn't come fully.

Felix RosenqvistGuest23:54

But yeah, it's just seeing her, uh, was just incredible, and, and both of them for that fact.

Felix RosenqvistGuest23:59

I, I saw that she had had a, I mean, she had had a pretty rough day.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:03

I obviously ecstatic, but very tired from, of being pretty much an a- alone mother for, for most of this May.

James HinchcliffeHost24:11

Mm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:11

Mm.Yeah, it was just, she was such a big part of it, uh, both of them were.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:17

I think, I think both of them were directly related to the win and, uh, you know, helping me to, to get to that position.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:25

Uh, but yeah, I'm still waiting to get home from New York and just sitting down for, like, more than 10 minutes.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:31

But we ac- actually, before I went to the banquet, like, I laid down, because she's like, "You probably need to, like, nap for 10 minutes," and I went to my bed, and obviously I didn't nap because my brain was, like, exploding.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:40

And she, like, joined me in the bed for five minutes, and we just, like, we, we just started crying.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:46

It was crazy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:46

Like, what, what the hell just happened? It, it was...

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:49

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:50

It, well yeah, it'll take time to, to let that sink in.

James HinchcliffeHost24:53

Mm-hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:53

But it's what you say, like, it's kind of a tease in a way.

Felix RosenqvistGuest24:57

Like, you, you're there on track for hours or...

Felix RosenqvistGuest25:01

And then you go to New York for two days, then you have to go to Detroit.

Felix RosenqvistGuest25:04

You, you, you're, you're still waiting to just kind of, like...

Felix RosenqvistGuest25:07

I mean, I don't know what you think about that, Alex, because you did exact the same thing, but at some point do you just want to, like, go to a beach and just talk about it?

James HinchcliffeHost25:15

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest25:15

Just you, you and, you and your wife and your kid.

James HinchcliffeHost25:17

I want to, I want to end on, on, uh...

James HinchcliffeHost25:21

I, I at least have one more question.

James HinchcliffeHost25:22

I, I don't know about James, but we don't want to take too much of your time.

James HinchcliffeHost25:25

You bring up Detroit.

James HinchcliffeHost25:26

Like, like, walk us through the mentality now, right? You know, there's...

James HinchcliffeHost25:31

[clears throat] You look, you look at the start of the year.

James HinchcliffeHost25:33

You, you know, you've obviously, um, been quick.

James HinchcliffeHost25:37

There's been some, maybe some races that have gotten away or whatever.

James HinchcliffeHost25:41

Do you see...

James HinchcliffeHost25:43

I, I'm just, I'm so curious to know guys' mindset.

James HinchcliffeHost25:45

Do you see now, like, anything else that happens after this year as a bonus? Or do you see it as, "I just got 50 points.

James HinchcliffeHost25:54

You know, I'm now back in a, in a championship," kind of title scenario-

Felix RosenqvistGuest25:59

Conversation

James HinchcliffeHost25:59

... conversation, and, like, Detroit has to be perfect.

James HinchcliffeHost26:02

Detroit has to go well.

James HinchcliffeHost26:05

Obviously, you're a competitor, so that's your mindset.

James HinchcliffeHost26:08

But is it also, like, stress and pressure of having a good year, especially considering this year is a contract year? Does that kind of diminish a little bit or, or where are you at with that?

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:17

I think if anything, it's, it's taken a lot of pressure off.

James HinchcliffeHost26:21

Hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:22

Uh, I know I talked previously also the fact that I became a dad has somehow, uh, taken the pressure off.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:28

It's ironic.

James HinchcliffeHost26:29

Mm-hmm.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:29

Alex sent me a message when, when the baby came, and he's like, "You're probably gonna win now.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:35

You have a baby."

James HinchcliffeHost26:36

You're gonna go faster, man.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:37

Uh, yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:38

And-

James HinchcliffeHost26:38

I've, I've...

James HinchcliffeHost26:38

I'm telling you

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:39

... it's, it's ironic.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:39

I can probably find that message.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:41

Uh-

James HinchcliffeHost26:42

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:43

... no, and I think the win did the same thing.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:45

You just, it's kind of like a monkey off your back in a way-

James HinchcliffeHost26:48

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:48

... uh, for your whole career.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:49

Like, no one can take it away from you.

Felix RosenqvistGuest26:52

Uh, obviously we have, you know, 16 other races to race and, and you would love to just bathe in this victory for, for the longest time.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:01

But, uh, I think, I think it helps me.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:03

I don't feel any added pressure to this.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:06

I know that it's a completely different race than Detroit, but we...

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:10

It wasn't like a...

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:12

You know, it, it would be a different thing if we had, like, the worst season and then we came in to Indy and had, like, a randomly good race.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:20

Uh, but we actually had a great momentum coming into this as well from Long Beach-

James HinchcliffeHost27:25

Mm

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:25

... where we, you know, kind of had a similar day when we were controlling it.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:29

Then the yellow came, and then we didn't come out on top.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:31

And then great speed in Indy GP, where I unfortunately took out my buddy Pato in the first corner.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:37

Um, so yeah, I feel like we're actually coming off a very, very strong, uh, wave, or, like, we're riding a really good wave right now with, with the Meyer Shank Racing team.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:48

So, um, yeah, let's, let's just continue.

James HinchcliffeHost27:52

Good to hear it, man.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:52

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost27:54

I mean, as a friend, not as a competitor.

Felix RosenqvistGuest27:56

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost27:56

You're the competitor.

Alexander RossiHost27:57

You can go pound sand, but, you know.

James HinchcliffeHost27:59

[laughs] Um, I, I can say it as a, as a friend and, and it's fine.

James HinchcliffeHost28:04

So it's, it's legitimately for me.

James HinchcliffeHost28:06

Um-

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:06

Yeah

James HinchcliffeHost28:06

... no, so two, two quick things.

James HinchcliffeHost28:08

One, I mean, you, you talk about how tired you are and you're, and you're not done, and you, and you still do have Detroit this weekend.

James HinchcliffeHost28:14

And, and we talk about it on the broadcast all the time, that May hangover and how the 500 winner struggles when they get to Detroit just out of pure exhaustion.

James HinchcliffeHost28:22

It's totally understandable.

James HinchcliffeHost28:24

Uh, are you worried about that? And what's kind of a, what's kind of a, a good weekend for you in Detroit, all things considered?

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:31

I, I, I feel like it's kind of back to a normal mindset.

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:36

Like, you kind of have to reset your expectation a little bit going to, uh, to Detroit.

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:41

Um, you know, a podium would be amazing.

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:44

I've been on the podium there before, and that's kind of, like, the ballpark of, like...

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:50

A podium would be amazing.

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:51

A top five is a great weekend.

Felix RosenqvistGuest28:54

You know, top 10 coming off the 500 with massive sleep deprivation, probably not terrible.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:01

Uh, you know, so I, I feel like I have a pretty similar frame of approach, uh, to it.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:06

I, I am, I'm curious how I'll feel on the first lap, because it's always kind of-

James HinchcliffeHost29:12

Yeah [laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:12

... tricky going back to a bumpy track after Indy like that.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:15

And the fact that I've, I probably haven't been in the gym for, like, a month, and I've eaten, like-

James HinchcliffeHost29:22

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:22

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:22

Skittles and gin and tonics-

James HinchcliffeHost29:24

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:25

... and I don't know.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:25

It, it's like...

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:26

But it's weird.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:27

Like, we all, all us drivers talk about this, and, and it's always those periods you perform the best, because you're somehow relaxed.

James HinchcliffeHost29:35

Yeah, I see.

James HinchcliffeHost29:35

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:35

And I heard so many drivers say this, that the moment you just stop...

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:40

Like, the less you care, actually, the better.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:42

Not, not that you're not focused on your work, and you-

James HinchcliffeHost29:45

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:46

... you, you, you work hard and you show up, but it, I think it's the time at home.

Felix RosenqvistGuest29:51

If you walk around thinking about racing and preparing, like too, if you do that too much, I think it, at least for me, it, it, it's probably not a great thing.

James HinchcliffeHost30:01

It wears on you.

Felix RosenqvistGuest30:02

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost30:02

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest30:02

It wears you, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost30:03

I've got one final thing and we'll let you go.

James HinchcliffeHost30:05

Uh, it's actually for both of you.

James HinchcliffeHost30:07

So Felix, you know, I'm not sure who to ask this first.

James HinchcliffeHost30:11

Us, Felix first, and then, and then Alex.

James HinchcliffeHost30:13

But-You know, you know most of what's coming over the next 12 months as a 500 winner in terms of, like, the key moments, the key cool things that you're gonna get to experience, right? Getting your pictures done for your carving, the ticket reveal, whatever it is.

James HinchcliffeHost30:28

There's a lot of stuff coming your way.

James HinchcliffeHost30:30

Um, which of those things are you most looking forward to?

Felix RosenqvistGuest30:36

Give me more examples, 'cause, um, my brain is fried.

James HinchcliffeHost30:39

Well, A- Alex, why don't you co- So the, the, the follow-up to Alex was gonna be you've been through it once.

James HinchcliffeHost30:47

I- if you win it again, when you win it again-

Felix RosenqvistGuest30:49

Hmm

James HinchcliffeHost30:50

... what is, of those different elements that you get to experience, which one, having been through it, are you looking forward to getting the chance to do again?

Alexander RossiHost30:58

So, so I, I don't think any of those moments matter or are as cool as when Felix is going to get the opportunity to show back up in May next year as the defending winner.

Alexander RossiHost31:15

Because-

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:15

Oh, I like that

Alexander RossiHost31:16

... what [laughs] your...

Alexander RossiHost31:19

You obviously have a- an immense amount of appreciation and respect for this race and the Speedway and the fans and, and everything.

Alexander RossiHost31:26

But your, your idea of it will, can be completely shifted, and the n- the, the following May is, like, one of the coolest things-

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:36

Okay

Alexander RossiHost31:36

... you'll ever experience.

Alexander RossiHost31:37

Um-

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:37

That's, that's honestly the last thing I would, would have guessed.

Alexander RossiHost31:41

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:41

Uh, that's amazing.

Alexander RossiHost31:42

So, like, yeah, I mean, getting your, the, the, your face revealed, super cool.

Alexander RossiHost31:47

You know, getting the baby Borg is very, I mean, it's all very cool.

Alexander RossiHost31:50

But it doesn't, like, bring out the emotions or the, the r- the true realization of what you accomplished-

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:57

Yeah

Alexander RossiHost31:57

... until you show back up as the defending winner.

Felix RosenqvistGuest31:59

That, that makes a lot of sense.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:01

Um-

Alexander RossiHost32:01

Hmm

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:01

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:01

I mean, j- yeah, like, just the location and seeing everything.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:04

And then you have to do a bunch-

Alexander RossiHost32:05

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost32:05

Oh, yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:05

... of other stuff, right? You have to go out with a, with-

Alexander RossiHost32:08

Oh, yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:08

... your cool jacket on the-

Alexander RossiHost32:10

Oh, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost32:10

Oh, yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:10

... on the breaks and take photos but-

Alexander RossiHost32:11

Unless you, unless you break your ankle, then you don't have to do that.

Alexander RossiHost32:15

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:16

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost32:16

Yeah, if you wanna get out of anything, just break your ankle.

Alexander RossiHost32:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost32:18

Apparently it's, like, a catch-all excuse.

Alexander RossiHost32:20

I know a guy, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost32:21

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:22

A- a- and also I think-

James HinchcliffeHost32:23

Play, buddy

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:24

... um, going to Sweden, uh, I'm not sure if that's like-

James HinchcliffeHost32:27

Hmm.

Alexander RossiHost32:27

Oh, yeah, of course

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:28

...

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:28

if we're actually doing that or not.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:29

I think we are, but, uh, that would be so cool to go back to my hometown.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:33

I think I would actually [laughs] kind of make me nervous.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:36

It, it's weird, like, your hometown is related to so many core memories.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:40

So go- going back there in that posi- like, it, it'll be really cool and weird at the same time.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:47

But I, I really hope we can do that, 'cause I know there's, there's been a lot of, um, uh, the Swedes are yearning for, for some Fro, apparently.

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:56

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost32:57

I was, I was gonna say, they're, they're g-

Felix RosenqvistGuest32:59

No

James HinchcliffeHost32:59

... they're getting, they're getting pretty used to the, the Borg-Warner going over there between-

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:03

Yeah

James HinchcliffeHost33:03

... uh, you know, Marcus a couple years ago, now you.

James HinchcliffeHost33:05

Get the, get the Borg going down Main Street, Värnamo, Sweden.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:08

Dude.

James HinchcliffeHost33:09

Could be a cool look.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:10

I think it w- It's, it's actually a pretty beautiful city.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:12

I think we'll, we'll make it look good.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:14

And we also have, uh, Kenny Brack in '99.

Alexander RossiHost33:16

There you go.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:17

There's three Swedes.

Alexander RossiHost33:18

I know.

Alexander RossiHost33:18

Good to know.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:18

That's, uh, oh, by the way, did, uh-

James HinchcliffeHost33:19

Isn't, like, 60% of all Swedes have won an Indy 500?

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:22

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost33:22

Like, that have participated?

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:24

Three out of, three out of five.

James HinchcliffeHost33:26

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost33:26

No, of all, of all of them ever born.

James HinchcliffeHost33:28

No. [laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:28

Yeah.

Felix RosenqvistGuest33:28

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost33:28

It's, no, so this is actually a funny little story, 'cause I know we're already going over time, but I'll leave you with this story 'cause it's quite funny.

James HinchcliffeHost33:34

So our stats guy, he's, does a great job, Tom Bowles.

James HinchcliffeHost33:38

Shout out, Tom.

James HinchcliffeHost33:39

And, um, the night before the race, he did this kind of final document that was a, a, a little bit of a rundown on each driver, right? And it was, I don't know how big, 10 pages of stuff.

James HinchcliffeHost33:49

And I'm sitting there in my hotel room on Saturday night, and I'm just kinda doing all my final notes, a little bit more prep before the race.

James HinchcliffeHost33:54

And I'm going through, and I had two notes for him that I noticed were a little bit of, uh, of a typo.

James HinchcliffeHost33:59

Because each driver, it says, like, the driver, a couple facts, and then there's always an if wins, right? So if wins it'll be, you know, it would've been David Malukas' first IndyCar race-

Felix RosenqvistGuest34:10

Hmm

James HinchcliffeHost34:10

... a win, you know? I- if wins, this will be whatever, whatever.

James HinchcliffeHost34:14

So there's all these if win stats.

James HinchcliffeHost34:15

And under yours it said, "If wins, will be the second Swede to win the Indy 500." And I just wrote him a little note.

James HinchcliffeHost34:22

I was like, "Hey, man, just m- saw the sheet.

James HinchcliffeHost34:24

Thanks for sending it through.

James HinchcliffeHost34:25

Real quick, technically if," you know, he's actually the third, Kenny and, and, and Marcus.

James HinchcliffeHost34:30

And he's like, "Oh." It's always one of those obscure stats, and that's always one that ends up making the air.

James HinchcliffeHost34:34

And then that was before the race.

James HinchcliffeHost34:35

And then the race ends, like, you cross the line, and we look at each other across in the booth.

James HinchcliffeHost34:39

It's like, "I [beep] told you, man."

Felix RosenqvistGuest34:41

[laughs]

James HinchcliffeHost34:41

"I told you." I should've known.

James HinchcliffeHost34:43

That, that's what-

Alexander RossiHost34:43

Dude

James HinchcliffeHost34:43

...

James HinchcliffeHost34:43

I should've known, that that's, it was going your way.

James HinchcliffeHost34:45

[laughs]

Felix RosenqvistGuest34:46

Dude, that's crazy.

Felix RosenqvistGuest34:47

Well, thanks for, uh-

James HinchcliffeHost34:49

Yeah

Felix RosenqvistGuest34:49

... you know, making our country look a little better.

James HinchcliffeHost34:51

There you go.

James HinchcliffeHost34:51

There you go.

Alexander RossiHost34:52

Well, listen, bro, uh, thanks for the time.

Alexander RossiHost34:54

Very, very happy for you.

Alexander RossiHost34:55

Um, I think that this has been something that, quite honestly, um, is a long time coming.

Alexander RossiHost35:02

Not just an Indy 500 win, but just getting back to victory lane, man.

Alexander RossiHost35:07

Like, you've had so much bad luck.

Alexander RossiHost35:09

Um, it's good to see it finally go right for you, so congrats to, to you, Emil, Stella, and we'll see you in a couple days.

Felix RosenqvistGuest35:15

Thank you, brother.

Alexander RossiHost35:16

Later.

Felix RosenqvistGuest35:16

Thank you, guys.

James HinchcliffeHost35:17

Get some rest.

James HinchcliffeHost35:18

Kiss to the girls, and we'll see you soon.

James HinchcliffeHost35:20

[car roaring] This has been Off Track with Hinch and Rossi.

James HinchcliffeHost35:23

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James HinchcliffeHost35:27

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James HinchcliffeHost35:32

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James HinchcliffeHost35:34

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James HinchcliffeHost35:42

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James HinchcliffeHost35:48

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James HinchcliffeHost35:52

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James HinchcliffeHost35:55

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