IndyCar Driver Alexander Rossi Announces Endorsement With Cracker Barrel

Seeing as we've reached the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend — the first race weekend of the 2025 NTT IndyCar season — news is going to come thick and fast.

Penske's Scot MacLaughlin has signed a new deal to stay with the team, while his teammate and reigning-two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden has signed Rich Pauls’ Klutch Sports Group, and becomes the first racecar driver on their roster.

But the news I want to talk about? 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi has a new endorsement with everyone's favorite restaurant/general store Cracker Barrel.

The iconic highway-side chain announced Rossi — who is about to begin his first season with Ed Carpenter Racing — as an official partner.

Drivers get endorsements and partnerships all the time (at least, you hope you do) and I'm sure there are somewhere it's just kind of part of doing business; they're just not that exciting.

But Cracker Barrel? If someone was like, "Hey, Matt — looking handsome as hell today, by the way; did you lose weight? — we want you to be a Cracker Barrel ambassador," my only questions would be, "Where do I sign?" and "Do I get a free one of those little tablets where you use a pen with a magnet in it to put a mustache of magnetic shavings on the cartoon guy's face?"

Like, imagine having to go sit in rocking chairs and eat hashbrown casserole for work. That is Alexander Rossi's reality!

(Quick aside: my family used to use Cracker Barrels as our rest stop of choice on road trips, so I was well into my teens before I realized that it was a restaurant first, and my family's place to pee second. I was always wondering why so many people were eating at a bathroom, then I realized that we were the ones using it incorrectly).

It's a good time for Cracker Barrel to get in on Rossi — who will drive the No. 20 Chevrolet for ECR — because I think this could be a big year for him. His time at Arrow McLaren after years with Andretti, didn't go according to plan, but I think a smaller, two-car team alongside teammate Christian Rasmussen could do him well.

Plus, Ed Carpenter Racing tends to run well at Indy — and that includes the boss himself — so don't be shocked if you see Rossi at the front for a good chunk of the race on Memorial Day weekend.