Alexander Rossi tipped to "raise the floor" at ECR in big IndyCar prediction

Alexander Rossi signed with Ed Carpenter Racing for the 2025 IndyCar season. Motorsport reporter Nathan Brown recently came out and tipped the ECR driver to raise the game at the team for the upcoming IndyCar season.

Brown was featured on the Trackside podcast's latest episode released on February 19, 2025. With the IndyCar season on the horizon, Brown and the host discussed the ins and outs of the upcoming season.

The host gave Nathan Brown a list of drivers which included Alexander Rossi at ECR, David Malukas at AJ Foyt Racing, Christian Lundgaard at Arrow McLaren and Rinus VeeKay at DCR. He asked the reporter which of these would make the biggest impact in their respective teams.

Brown picked Alexander Rossi and gave his reason as he said:

“I would go, I think I would pick Alexander Rossi from that list. And reason being, we've seen over the last couple of years in his stints with Andretti Autosport and Arrow McLaren, Alexander is maybe not nearly as sharp as he was in his title-contending days with Andretti in 2018 and 2019.”’ (1:19:14 onwards)

“But I think on a day, you know, if his pit crew doesn't let him down, if he doesn't fall victim to a weird caution or have an on-track incident, either is or isn't his fault, I feel like he can raise the floor of an organization, which I think a team like ECR is really important,” he added.

Alexander Rossi drove for Arrow McLaren for the last couple of seasons but was without a seat for the 2025 season when the team announced Christian Lundgaard as their 2025 driver in July 2024. However, a couple of months later, Ed Carpenter Racing signed Rossi for the upcoming season.

Rossi will be driving the #20 entry for ECR and will be partnered with Christian Rasmussen as his teammate. Rossi will run at the road course races, the Indianapolis 500, and the final three races around ovals.

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Alexander Rossi detailed his chances of winning the 2025 Indy 500 with ECR

Alexander Rossi made his Indy 500 debut in 2016 with Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global) and won the fabled open-wheel race on his first attempt. The ECR driver was featured in a video posted by IndyCar Radio on social media platform X as the host questioned him whether “he is a serious threat to win the Indy 500 this year”.

“Yes, Because Ed Carpenter has rapid fast cars and in your words, I haven't been a slouch at the 500,” replied Rossi.

“It's a race I love. Its a track I felt comfortable with right away in 2016. I've been very fortunate to have great teammates over the past nine years there to learn from, I've been fortunate to have good equipment, so I never got spooked early on. So, it's just a track and a race that comes naturally to me,” he added.

Rossi's stint at Andretti came to an end after the 2022 season as the American accumulated 8 wins during his time with the team.