Christian Rasmussen steals maiden IndyCar win after…

A spot of rain on a sunny day made all the difference for Christian Rasmussen at the Milwaukee Mile. Rasmussen came to pit road for a fresh tires after brief rain brought out a caution with 42 laps remaining and chased down a dominant Alex Palou over a final 28-lap run to score his first NTT IndyCar Series victory in the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250.

“Wow,” an overjoyed Rasmussen said after the race. “That’s a good Sunday.”

NEW LEADER: @ChristianR_DK 👏🫣 pic.twitter.com/fgAbTbFk1N
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 24, 2025

The Danish driver was running eighth when the caution first flew and sat sixth when the green finally came out 14 laps later. But he quickly surged forward when the final run began. Rasmussen was up to fourth with 25 to go, sneaking ahead of teammate Alexander Rossi to lead all drivers with fresh rubber. He passed Josef Newgarden for third a lap later, surged past Scott McLaughlin for second with 21 laps remaining and quickly chased Palou down.

By the time Rasmussen had caught the 2025 champ with 16 laps remaining, there was little doubt over what was to come. The 25-year-old jumped to Palou’s outside going into turn 3, survived a tense half-lap battle and marched off to a memorable victory for Ed Carpenter Racing.

“Today was amazing,” Rasmussen said. “We were talking about (it) before the race, that if there’s a late caution, then we want to go on new tires. Because it’s such an advantage. There was more people that did it than I thought there would (be) in that last stint, but it was definitely the right choice. We were so good on new tires, even compared to other cars on new tires.“

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

Palou was the dominant driver on the day, but had to settle for second after taking the checkered flag 1.9463s behind Rasmussen. He’ll fall at least one victory short of matching A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. for IndyCar’s single-season win record.

Scott McLaughlin held onto third to score his first podium since Barber Motorsports Park in May. Rossi and Pato O'Ward completed the top-five, with Christian Lundgaard, Josef Newgarden, David Malukas, Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong wrapping up the top 10.

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images)

The race was stalled out by a pair of early cautions, first for a crashing Nolan Siegel on the opening lap and again when Graham Rahal all-but-crashed on the lap 10 restart.

Those early slowdowns opened the door for a three-stop pit strategy, but significant tire wear left everyone planning for at least four stops over Sunday’s 250 laps. Rossi kicked off the first pit sequence before the race hit lap 50. Stops began again on lap 102 and again every time another 50 laps passed.

David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing (Photo by: Geoff Miller / Lumen via Getty Images)

For the bulk of the time, it looked like Palou would march off to another comfortable win, particularly after the last scheduled set of stops entering the race’s final 50 laps. But a little fateful rain and some late heroics helped Rasmussen etch his name into the list of IndyCar oval winners.

With Milwaukee complete, just one race remains in the 2025 IndyCar season. The campaign will wrap up next Sunday (Aug. 31), when the series ventures to Nashville Superspeedway for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix.

Photos from Milwaukee - Race

Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	250	2:02'08.1735		124.656	4	51
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	250	+1.9463 2:02'10.1198	1.9463	124.623	4	44
3	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	250	+10.6611 2:02'18.8346	8.7148	124.475	4	35
4	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	250	+11.4582 2:02'19.6317	0.7971	124.461	5	32
5	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	250	+12.0829 2:02'20.2564	0.6247	124.451	5	30
6	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	250	+12.8287 2:02'21.0022	0.7458	124.438	5	28
7	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	250	+14.4043 2:02'22.5778	1.5756	124.411	4	26
8	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	250	+15.0925 2:02'23.2660	0.6882	124.400	5	25
9	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	250	+15.6486 2:02'23.8221	0.5561	124.390	5	22
10	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	250	+16.4456 2:02'24.6191	0.7970	124.377	4	21
11	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	250	+16.8168 2:02'24.9903	0.3712	124.370	5	19
12	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	250	+17.8815 2:02'26.0550	1.0647	124.352	5	18
13	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	250	+19.0209 2:02'27.1944	1.1394	124.333	5	17
14	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	250	+19.8603 2:02'28.0338	0.8394	124.319	5	16
15	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	250	+20.2184 2:02'28.3919	0.3581	124.313	5	15
16	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	250	+22.9954 2:02'31.1689	2.7770	124.266	5	14
17	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	249	+1 Lap 2:02'08.8417	1 Lap	124.146	5	14
18	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	249	+1 Lap 2:02'17.7622	8.9205	123.995	4	12
19	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	249	+1 Lap 2:02'19.0937	1.3315	123.973	4	11
20	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	249	+1 Lap 2:02'31.0458	11.9521	123.771	5	10
21	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	50	248	+2 Laps 2:02'09.6193	1 Lap	123.634	5	9
22	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	248	+2 Laps 2:02'11.2425	1.6232	123.607	5	9
23	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	248	+2 Laps 2:02'34.5198	23.2773	123.216	5	7
24	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	247	+3 Laps 2:02'14.6791	1 Lap	123.051	5	6
25	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	138	+112 Laps 1:08'54.0868	109 Laps	121.974	2	5	Mechanical
26	W. Power Team Penske	12	102	+148 Laps 48'22.0696	36 Laps	128.428	2	5	Accident
27	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	0	+250 Laps 1.8498	102 Laps	0.000		5	Accident
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