INDIANAPOLIS – Alexander Rossi, the winner of the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016, summed it up perfectly when asked if the current Indy car is the most weather dependent car he has ever driven?

“No, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most weather dependent track I’ve ever raced on,” Rossi told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I think the race will be better than last year. The question mark will be by how much?”

The 33-car starting lineup will get a full range of weather conditions in the two practice sessions scheduled for the week. During Monday’s two-hour practice session, the temperature was 60 degrees ambient, and that allowed tremendous grip on the 2.5-mile asphalt surface with the new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 Tires.

Friday’s weather conditions for the final 90-minute practice session on Carb Day however, calls for warmer and more conditions.

Sunday’s forecast calls for a high of 77 degrees with cloudy skies and if that is the case, it may allow some very close racing during the 200 laps of this 500.

“I think there is going to be quite a bit of passing, probably more than last year,” Eric Bretzman, Andretti Autosport technical director told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I think there are a lot of good cars at this point.”

Team Penske president Tim Cindric believes higher temperatures will induce more passing because of tire wear creating “comers and goers.” But a cooler track will encourage closer racing throughout the field.

“You have enough adjustability in the cars, the good cars are still going to go to the front,” Cindric told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I don’t think the colder weather will make for better racing.”

Rossi what he described as a happy car during Monday’s two-hour practice session earlier in the week.

“It was 89 degrees track temperature and anything looks good in that temperature,” Rossi said. “We’ll see what race day brings. I think Carb Day will be more representative to what we see in the race.

“I think we have a really good race car.”

Nineteen-year-old rookie Colton Herta is preparing for his first Indy 500 and believes cooler is better for race day, but he is prepared to race hard in any weather condition.

“You can follow closer in cooler conditions because everybody’s car works much better,” Herta told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “The front two cars can pass, but further back it’s more difficult. You have to wait for mistakes.

“It’s nice to get back to race running and follow closer to the cars and see who is good and who isn’t.”

Herta has had a relatively flawless month and that is impressive for a rookie at the Indianapolis 500. But he did have one moment in Monday’s full-tank session when he hit pit road too fast and had to get on the brakes hard to keep from running into another car.

“I locked up,” Herta admitted. “I just pushed the brakes too hard. I’ve never done this, so I’m trying to get the feel how much I can hit the brakes because it’s a lot different than on a road course.

“When we ran around the back, it wasn’t much fun. I hope we are not back there because we are starting fifth.”

Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud starts on the pole and hopes for a much hotter track for reasons that would benefit him over the others.

“I would welcome a higher temperature because I think we have a better chassis than most,” Pagenaud said. “I think it will make more of a disparity with other cars, so I would welcome that, obviously, as a competitor.

“As a race fan, I would rather have a cool race in terms of temperature because the racing would be a lot more packed and more fun to watch. But a day like today would be really good racing, really fun to watch. So, we'll see.

“I think no matter what, I think IndyCar made some really good changes on the Firestone tires. They did a great job giving us a little bit more grip, and the new front wing extensions were working really well in traffic. All in all, it's very positive.”

The race airs on NBC on Sunday at 11 a.m., with the Advanced Auto Parts Radio Network also having coverage.