page_title: 2016 Indianapolis 500
section_title: Finish
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Indianapolis 500 / Race / Second half / Finish
caption_attribution_description: English: Alexander Rossi at the 2016 Indianapolis 500
context_page_description: The 2016 Indianapolis 500 took place on Sunday, May 29, 2016, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It was the premier event of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season. In a shocking finish, 24 year-old rookie Alexander Rossi of Andretti Herta Autosport won the race on fuel mileage over Carlos Muñoz and Josef Newgarden. Two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya entered the race as the defending champion.
  Over the final ten laps, most of the leaders were cycling through pit stops, as no one was expected to make it to the finish without pitting for fuel. Most drivers had not pitted since the previous caution that ended on lap 166. Alexander Rossi's team took a huge gamble and coached the driver into saving fuel. As the other leaders made their stops, Rossi inherited the lead on lap 197. He slowed down to save fuel, but on the final lap Carlos Muñoz began charging to catch up. Coming out of turn four on the final lap, Rossi pulled to the inside and literally coasted across the finish line, to take the checkered flag. Muñoz finished 4.4975 seconds behind, his second runner-up finish at Indy. Rossi was out of fuel, and came to a stop during his cool down lap.
context_section_description: With 10 laps to go, it became apparent that the leaders would need a splash of fuel to get the cars to the end of the race. Of the leading group, Tony Kanaan would be the first to pit, followed by Josef Newgarden a few laps later, and finally Carlos Muñoz with five laps to go. It appeared the winner would be the driver with the best pit stop.
  When Muñoz made his stop, the lead of the race passed to Alexander Rossi, who had been 10th at the time of the previous restart. With the guidance of Bryan Herta, Rossi attempted to gamble on fuel and finish the race without another pit stop. With two laps to go, Rossi began to slow considerably in order to bring the car to the finish. As the white flag fell, Rossi held a lead of over 20 seconds. Despite running a final lap at less than 180 mph and coasting from turn 4 to the finish line, Rossi was able to hang on to win by roughly 4.5 seconds over his teammate Carlos Muñoz. Rossi was the first rookie to win the Indianapolis 500 since 2001 when Hélio Castroneves took victory in his first attempt. Rossi would eventually run out of fuel on the cool-down lap, requiring his car to be towed into Victory Lane.
caption: Race winner Alexander Rossi.
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