FOR DANIELLE TROTTA and fellow broadcaster Adam Alexander, walking into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for NASCAR’s famed Brickyard 400 isn’t just a part of their job.
It’s a full-circle moment.
“There is no place like home,” says Trotta, a Carmel High School graduate now serving as a pit reporter for TNT Sports’ coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series. “I feel that way from the time I land at the airport to the time I get to the racetrack. And even though I’ve been there a million times as a fan and as a journalist, it’s breathtaking every time you walk in.”
For Alexander, the pull of Indianapolis runs just as deep. A graduate of North Central High School, the veteran broadcaster remembers selling newspapers outside the speedway as a teenager, never imagining he’d one day be calling races there.
“It wasn’t necessarily the foundation of my life like it was for so many people in Indy,” explains the veteran motorsports commentator who will serve as lead play-by-play commentator in the TNT broadcast booth for the Brickyard 400 on July 27 alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte. “But if you lived there in May in the late ’80s or early ’90s, you absolutely couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere.”
While their high school years never overlapped, Trotta and Alexander’s paths crossed in the broadcast world, co-hosting NASCAR Race Hub on FS1 from 2013 to 2017. Now, the two reunite on screen with fresh titles—and, in many ways, a renewed sense of purpose.
Coming off a well-received hosting stint as part of Amazon’s NASCAR coverage earlier this year, Trotta now finds herself tackling pit lane for the first time in her 17-year career.
“It’s a complete 180,” admits Trotta, who also currently hosts On Track on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I have never pit road reported before, so this is a completely new challenge for me. I’ve sidelined in the NFL, I’ve sidelined for the NBA, I’ve sidelined on ESPN doing college sports. I have a lot of sideline experience. It’s a muscle that I really love developing. I’ve spent so much time hosting, and I think it’s really important to be able to do both.”
“I don’t know why I keep challenging myself because it’s stressful,” Trotta says. “I know maybe I’m a masochist in some way, but I’m still 44 years old and tackling new frontiers and just doing the work, crossing my fingers, and hoping for the best.”
Both Hoosiers say they’re looking forward to getting back in front of the hometown crowd—and their hometown fans.
“Any time you get to go back and work or race or just get to go home in general for any event, there’s added value,” says Alexander. “Over the course of time, Indianapolis and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have just become more and more prominent in my life.”
For Trotta, it’s just as personal.
“There’s nothing more breathtaking than Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” she says. “It’s a feeling that never fades.”
