Alexander Rossi thrilled for ECR’s Milwaukee success…

When Christian Rasmussen emerged from his No. 21 Chevrolet to celebrate his first NTT IndyCar Series victory on Sunday, the first one to greet him was teammate Alexander Rossi.

It was a rare moment of bliss for two drivers and an organization that have had mixed results in 2025.
“Your first-career win is a moment you’ll obviously never forget,” Rossi said afterward. “It’s huge for your career, and he’s been so good on the ovals this year.

“It’s been a long time coming for ECR as well. It’s been a tough couple years for them. … It’s never an easy road and there’s a lot of work still in front of us. But it’s just an amazing accomplishment for the organization today.”

Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Ed Carpenter Racing entered 2025 expecting growing pains. The company had a big new presence, bringing in Rossi - the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2018 championship runner-up - to replace Rinus VeeKay. But Rossi arrived with one win from the prior five seasons and was entering at an organization with just one podium in the three years prior.

Rossi told IndyCar.com in January that he knew the organization was “not going to go from the results that have existed the past couple of years to all of a sudden winning every race,” but felt there was “potential to surprise a lot of people at points.”

That proved true Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, as the company put both cars in the top-four with an aggressive strategy that saw Rossi’s teammate, Rasmussen, shock the field for his maiden series triumph.

Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

When Rasmussen first arrived at Ed Carpenter Racing in 2024, the 2023 Indy NXT champion was only meant to contest road-and-street course races in the No. 20 Chevrolet. Ed Carpenter himself was still piloting the machine for ovals, so outside of a run in the Indianapolis 500, the Dane was meant to avoid the ovals.

Carpenter stepped out of the cockpit outside of Indianapolis in August 2024. In the year since, Rasmussen has emerged as one of IndyCar’s top short oval drivers - a fact he was able to put on display in dramatic fashion in the closing stages of the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250.

Rossi was the lead ECR driver for the bulk of Sunday’s race, rising from 12th into the top-five by short-pitting the entire field on the opening pit sequence. But when a brief rain shower opened the door for both drivers to pit for fresh rubber heading into a 28-lap closing sequence, it opened the door for Rasmussen to surge from sixth to first.

Teammate of the year 🫶 pic.twitter.com/Zq7PQCCIeb
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 24, 2025

Unfortunately for Rossi, he didn’t have the same short run pace. The Californian could only rise to fourth before the checkered flag flew, crossing the line 11.45s behind his teammate.

“We saved tires through practice for that scenario,” Rossi said. “I just wish we were able to be a little bit stronger on that restart. Got caught up fighting Pato (O’Ward) a little bit.

“It is what it is. I mean, it still was the right call, obviously. It won the race.”

Even without the win, Rossi was all smiles on pit road after a rare moment of shared success for both ECR teams. Each driver has shown glimmers of promise at different times this year. Rossi opened the season with three top 10s in four races and earned his second-straight top-five Sunday. Rasmussen had come home third at World Ride Technology Raceway and had three top 10s in five races heading into Wisconsin.
ECR had pace. But the company had yet to see both teams excel in the same weekend. That finally changed Sunday. It marked the first race in 2025 where both drivers finished in the top-five, or even top 10.

The Milwaukee result was a breakthrough. And with just one race left in the 2025 season, it gives Rossi, Rasmussen and Carpenter a collective success to build on after a year previously highlighted by individual moments.

“There was a lot of missed opportunities this year,” Rossi admitted. “… There’s been some really good moments and really disappointing moments, but ultimately I think we knew that, especially on the ovals, the pace was in the car. We showed that today.”