Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen captured his first career NTT INDYCAR Series victory by leading the final 16 laps of the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250. The crowd cheered as the Danish driver masterfully passed Alex Palou for the lead on Lap 235.
“Today was amazing,” said Rasmussen. “Great job by the team this weekend. We started pretty rough, struggling in practice one. Got it turned around for qualifying. Qualified better than I thought we would (10th). The race went our way. Our oval set-up has been pretty good this year.
“We did what we do best on ovals, running whatever line the car in front is not,” continued Rasmussen, who made many saves as his car got sideways from understeer mid-corner to the crowd’s delight. “We were amazing in traffic, which made the main difference today. Then a good call at the end going to the new tires gave us something to fight with. We talked about, if there is a late caution, we’d come in for new tires. It was the right choice. A twenty-lap tire difference makes a big difference. We were so good on new tires, even compared to other cars on new tires.
“Alex (Rossi – ECR teammate) has been a massive, massive help,” explained the Danish sophomore, winner of the NXT series title in 2023. “Having a real veteran driver that has been around and with the top teams, I see up close how he operates, which is quite different from what I’ve been used to coming through the ranks. Having Alex as a mentor and trusting whenever he says something to me – that it’s the right thing. You don’t always have that.”
A short few-minute rain shower, likely from one cloud over the track, set up the fifth and final caution on Lap 209 of 250, setting the stage for an exciting shootout. All but the first three drivers – Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden – and three lap-down cars pitted for fresh tires. Rasmussen charged into the lead in just 13 laps, from seventh on the final restart, having recovered earlier in the race from a pit speed violation that sent him to the back of the field.
“I thought it was a really good race,” said Palou, who led 199 laps, but stayed out during the final caution as Rasmussen pitted for new tires. “You never know until the last lap. This was my best oval race of my career. I had lots of fun. Christian was just a little better than us.
“It’s really tough when you’re leading,” continued Palou. “If we pitted and drivers stayed out, we could go to eighth and not be able to move forward. There’s no way with lap cars in between we would end up winning. It was a tough decision. Obviously now, if you look at the result, you would say, ‘Why you didn’t pit?’ I would still do the same.”
Asked about where he’d place his car when he saw Rasmussen coming, Palou answered, “there’s that difference on tires. I didn’t know what to do. With new tires, you can open the arc of the corner, you can gain more speed and balance it. With used tires, you cannot open up the corner as much. As soon as you slide a little bit, you end up leaving him more room to go (past). I couldn’t do much and tried to block the outside. He had so much grip that he could have taken the inside. I didn’t want to make it easy on him. Even if he didn’t overtake me (then), he would pass me on another occasion. I knew he was going to race hard. He always races hard. He was going to pass me or go into the wall.”
McLaughlin, who tied his best finish of the season in third place, driving for Team Penske, agreed.
“We were a second-place car that turned into third place,” explained McLaughlin, winner of the 2024 Milwaukee race. “Rasmussen was stronger than I was in passing people, super quick and super brave. That’s how he races. You’ve got to respect it. He makes some really nice split-second decisions. He’s learning and getting better. He’s not scared of taking the chance.”
Rasmussen has been exciting to watch this season as the driver who gets sideways on ovals and somehow saves it where others would crash.
“I’m definitely aggressive on track, but not overly aggressive,” defended Rasmussen, about his driving style. “I learned a lot of lessons last year of how people drive in the series and replicated that. We’ve finished every race this year other than an engine failure or fuel issue.”
Teammate Rossi had his best finish of the season in fourth. The last time Ed Carpenter Racing won a race was in 2021 on the IMS road course with driver Rinus VeeKay.
There were five cautions for a total of 49 laps. The race had 11 lead changes and 685 on-track passes, 306 for position, the second-most at the Milwaukee Mile. Rasmussen made 48 of those passes, working his way forward from his speeding penalty, having to physically pass 24 cars on track.
“Christian impressed us a ton before he ever got in one of our cars, the way he finished off the INDY NXT championship,” said team owner Ed Carpenter. “The back half of that season was a tight battle, but he really took control of it at the end. That level of intensity, dedication, and improvement that he showed from his two years in the NXT championship is really what stood out to me.
“When you put a car in front of him, especially when he’s got a tire advantage, it’s a scary thing,” continued Carpenter. “People talk about (that) they don’t like everything he does. We haven’t asked him to change one thing. He’s attacking and being aggressive, not settling for anything. That’s the mentality we want to have as a team.”
The last time there was a first-time winner was at the 2023 Toronto race, when Christian Lundgaard won from the pole for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team. Rasmussen becomes the sixth winner in 16 events this season, joining Alex Palou (eight wins), Kyle Kirkwood (three), Pato O’Ward (two), and Scott Dixon and Will Power (one victory each).
Toronto’s Devlin DeFrancesco started 15th, his highest oval start this season for his first race on the wide and very flat Milwaukee Mile.
“The boys did a good job on strategy,” said DeFrancesco, finishing 16th, ahead of teammates Louis Foster (17th) and Graham Rahal (24th). “We got undercut at the end and I think that cost us a little bit in the last pit sequence before the last yellow. We just need to find a bit more rear grip in general. But we obviously made a huge step forward on our short oval package from last year, which shows we are making gains and going in the right direction. We just need to keep moving forward.”
The series heads to the final race of the season on the Nashville oval on August 31.
