Christian Rasmussen got the break he needed from Mother Nature, and then he and Ed Carpenter Racing did the rest.
Rasmussen used deft tire strategy by his team during a late caution period and then powered his No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet past the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of pole sitter and freshly crowned series champion Alex Palou with 16 laps to go to win the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday, his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory.
2023 INDY NXT by Firestone season champion Rasmussen, in his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES season with ECR, earned his breakthrough victory in his 30th career start. He became the newest first-time winner in the series since fellow Danish driver Christian Lundgaard in July 2023 at Toronto, and this was the first victory for ECR since Rinus VeeKay triumphed in May 2021 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Rasmussen beat Palou to the finish by 1.9463 seconds after taking the lead on Lap 235 of 250. Scott McLaughlin finished third in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet of Team Penske, tying his season best.
Alexander Rossi finished a season-best fourth in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet to put two ECR cars in the top five at the checkered flag for the first time this year. Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Palou, who led 199 laps, saw a 2.011-second lead over McLaughlin evaporate when sprinkles around the historic 1.015-mile oval were reported on Lap 209, triggering the fifth and final caution period of the race.
During that caution, Palou, McLaughlin and third-place Josef Newgarden elected to stay out of the pits and keep their track position. Meanwhile, Rasmussen, Rossi and O’Ward were among a handful of drivers to dive into the pits for a quick change to fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, knowing speed diminished quickly when tire wear ramped up during this race.
After the restart on Lap 222, it took Rossi and Rasmussen just one lap to climb to fourth and fifth, respectively. Rasmussen then passed Rossi for fourth, with his sights set on Newgarden in third.
Rasmussen dove under Newgarden’s No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet in Turn 3 on Lap 227 and was .6 of a second behind second-place McLaughlin and 2.2 seconds behind Palou.
But the traction provided by the fresh Firestone tires – Palou, McLaughlin and Newgarden each made their final stops on Laps 196 or 197, nearly 15 laps earlier than Rasmussen – proved decisive.
Rasmussen was gobbling time on every area of the track with fresh rubber and his typically aggressive style, driving around McLaughlin with a high-line move in Turn 2 on Lap 230. Palou was 1.321 seconds ahead in the lead, but it appeared to be only a matter of time until Rasmussen would catch the four-time series champion and pounce.
That moment arrived on Lap 235 when Palou and Rasmussen went side by side through Turns 3 and 4, inches apart, with Palou hugging the low line and Rasmussen in the high groove. Rasmussen edged ahead on the front straightaway, officially taking the lead for good at the start-finish line, and finally got around Palou for clear sailing in Turn 1 on Lap 236.
It was the first time Rasmussen led all day, a spot he wouldn’t surrender. The Dane held steady while navigating lapped traffic over the closing laps for his momentous first win, which maybe shouldn’t be considered a stunner considering he, Palou and O’Ward are the only three drivers to finish in the top 10 in all five series oval races this season.
The runner-up finish for Palou was his 12th top three result in 16 starts this season, with eight victories.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 670, O’Ward 505, Dixon 433, Lundgaard 426, Kirkwood 405, Herta 352, Armstrong 352, Power 347, Rosenqvist 346, McLaughlin 320, Malukas 312, Rasmussen 308, VeeKay 287, Rossi 276, Ferrucci 269, Newgarden 265, Rahal 252, Simpson 250, Daly 237, Ericsson 219, Foster 203, Ilott 196, Shwartzman 195, Siegel 200, Robb 167, DeFrancesco 159, Abel 116, Takuma Sato 36, Helio Castroneves 20, Ed Carpenter 16, Jack Harvey 12, Ryan Hunter-Reay 10, Kyle Larson 6, Marco Andretti 5
Race Results (order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any))
1/ (9) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2/ (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 250, Running
3/ (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
4/ (12) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 250, Running
5/ (3) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
6/ (17) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 250, Running
7/ (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
8/ (2) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 250, Running
9/ (14) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
10/ (16) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 250, Running
11/ (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 250, Running
12/ (6) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 250, Running
13/ (8) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 250, Running
14/ (21) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 250, Running
15/ (11) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 250, Running
16/ (15) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 250, Running
17/ (27) Louis Foster, Honda, 249, Running
18/ (20) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 249, Running
19/ (13) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 249, Running
20/ (26) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 249, Running
21/ (22) Jacob Abel, Honda, 248, Running
22/ (25) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 248, Running
23/ (19) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 248, Running
24/ (10) Graham Rahal, Honda, 247, Running
25/ (23) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 137, Mechanical
26/ (5) Will Power, Chevrolet, 102, Contact
27/ (18) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
Comments