Christian Rasmussen takes head of steam into next week’s season finale at Nashville.
Ed Carpenter Racing lands both entries in top five as Alexander Rossi barely misses podium.
New nemesis Conor Daly expresses goodwill, respect for Rasmussen before race starts.
Driving like a Wisconsin tornado was barreling toward the rear wing of his Splenda Chevrolet, Christian Rasmussen surged past leader Alex Palou with 15 laps to go Sunday on the Milwaukee Mile to earn the first NTT IndyCar Series at the Snap-on 250.
The Copenhagen, Denmark, driver became only the sixth different winner in 15 of the 16 races in hand, and he led Ed Carpenter Racing’s shiniest moment. Teammate Alexander Rossi, who started 12th, finished fourth just behind third-place Scott McLaughlin.
In the process, Rasmussen was the first first-time victor in 40 races, since Christian Lundgaard, also from Denmark, won July 16, 2023, at Toronto.
Rasmussen also denied Alex Palou, who led 199 of the 250 laps Sunday, the chance to tie A.J. Foyt and Al Unser with 10 victories. The closest to a completely historic season the current and four-time champion can come is to win the Aug. 31 season-ending Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Speedway and tie Mario Andretti with nine victories in a single season.
Palou said, “I thought it was my best race on an oval, even though we didn't win. The [Indianapolis] 500, I think it was just different how everything played out. Today was amazing, a bunch of fun. Good on Christian. I think he was really fast. It's great to see him win. They were updating me on the radio. I knew that he was fourth. Next corner he was third. Then he was second. He was only a second and a half. I knew that he was coming and he didn't catch me by surprise. I knew he was going to race hard. He always races hard. He was going to pass me or go to the wall.”
Carpenter said, “People talk about 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. This sport, especially in this era right now, the dominance we're seeing out of one driver and one team, that's what makes this one the most special to me, watching Christian beat the best in the business right now. When you can go head-to-head and beat Alex, makes it's that much sweeter.”
McLaughlin, who lamented that he had a “second-place that turned into a third-place car,” nevertheless said, “Massive congrats to Christian. As Alex said, he's been super-quick on ovals, super-brave. He's doing an awesome job with that car. That's how he races. You got to respect it. I think he's very fast. He's very brave. He makes some really nice split-second decisions. As we've seen, it's bit him in the backside a couple of times, as well. He's learning. He's getting better. I've said for a long time he's going to win a race at some point. He's been really strong. He's not scared of taking the chance.”
The winner’s full name is Hans Christian Rasmussen, and his fairy-tale performance Sunday, fittingly, was poetic. But ironically, Rasmussen’s aggressive driving style, vilified two weeks ago at Portland, Ore., following an incident in which he bashed Conor Daly off the course, took on superhero status Sunday. He made a dicey move to pass Felix Rosenqvist with just nine laps remaining, not content with also picking off Rossi, Pato O’Ward, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin with an alarming fury to get to Palou. His team urged him to settle into commanding rhythm, telling him he didn’t need to pass anybody else.
“I knew this was coming for Christian. He’s the best there is right now on short ovals,” team owner Ed Carpenter said before dashing to victory lane. Afterward, he said of Rasmussen, “He’s relentless when he’s feeling it. He wanted it today more than anyone else.”
Rasmussen said, “We did what we do best on ovals: running whatever line the car in front is not. We were amazing in traffic. That's what made the main difference today, then with a good call there at the end going onto the new tires, having something to fight with. We were so good on new tires, compared to other cars on new tires. That’s a good day, a good Sunday.”
Team Penske Driver Praises Rival Team Owner
Scott McLaughlin, of Team Penske, gave a compliment to Milwaukee Mile winning team owner Ed Carpenter: “I think one thing that's really cool about Ed is his want to give people a shot. He gave Christian a shot. He's being rewarded. I think Christian is being rewarded, too. That's a lot to do with his confidence in the talent, his confidence in wanting to make the series bigger and brighter in the future.”
Palou agreed: “It's great to see a smaller team [succeed] – it's not as small now, with a partner. I think they've grown up a lot. They've been really fast at many, many places. I'm sure it's not going to be their last. We're going to see more wins.”
Conor Daly Still Has Portland on His Mind
Christian Rasmussen, whose aggressive driving and his tangle with Conor Day at Portland in the previous event caused a buzz for the past two weeks, said before the green flag that Sunday’s drive would be business as usual.
Daly put his perspective in perspective: “I think everyone wants me to say, like, ‘No, I'm going to punch that guy in the throat. He's a terrible person.’ But no, he's actually a nice guy, honestly. So, I think we both disagree on it [the incident in which the contact with Rasmussen crashed Daly off the track] entirely, but a lot of people disagree on things. And he's a good oval racer, and I feel like I know what I'm doing here. So we'll see what happens.”
Results
Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250
Results Sunday of the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with 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
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 124.656 mph
Time of race: 02:02:08.1735
Margin of victory: 1.9463 seconds
Cautions: 5 for 49 laps
Lead changes: 10 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Palou, Alex 1 - 15
Malukas, David 16 - 40
Palou, Alex 41 - 58
Foster, Louis 59
Palou, Alex 60 - 145
Armstrong, Marcus 146 - 153
Palou, Alex 154 - 196
Rosenqvist, Felix 197
Palou, Alex 198 - 234
Rasmussen, Christian 235 - 250
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.
*Clinched 2026 championship.
Comments