Rossi cleared to drive after Indy 500 practice crash

Alexander Rossi has been cleared to return to the cockpit for Carb Day and the Indianapolis 500.

Rossi sustained injuries to his hand and foot when he crashed the ECR’s No.20 Chevrolet at Turn 2 during practice on Monday.

“I am cleared to race,” Rossi said at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday. “I will have to be on crutches because it's a non-weight-bearing injury. Fortunately to drive a race car, you don't have to bear weight. Range of motion is good. Pain is minimal. Swelling… I fit into my race boot. I'm good to go."

Rossi's injuries both require stabilization, and a brace is currently being produced to help protect his foot.

"There will be a brace of sorts that's still kind of being finalized," he said. "There's a lot of different things to consider. From a size standpoint, you got to preserve the function of being able to do that on the pedals, you have to ensure it's providing stability, fire resistant. There's a lot of caveats. It's been an incredible team effort from no less than 12 people in order to make this happen."

The 2016 Indy 500 winner also said that he doesn’t expect his injured finger to give him any trouble while driving, but he was less certain about what actually caused the crash in the first place.

“It's a little bit of a weird one,” he said. “I don't know that there's a specific answer. The Speedway is a punishing place for any sort of… it minimizes margins, I think. We just were a little bit too far out of that window.

“That's the way it goes around here sometimes. Unfortunate, obviously, to have it happen. In some ways, incredibly fortunate that it happened on a Monday after qualifying, where the ultimate true car speed isn't as important. Very fortunate it didn't happen on Carb Day, so the team has had quite a bit of time, unfortunately for them, to rebuild a car from scratch. It's the car I raced last year. It's always been a Speedway car.

“A trying couple of days for everyone involved in the 20 car. Also, it will be a very rewarding one if we can accomplish what we think we can on Sunday.”

Rossi has qualified second on the grid for Sunday’s race.