Rasmussen carves through the field to take ECR's best result since 2022 at WWTR

Christian Rasmussen started 25th in the 260-lap IndyCar Series contest at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday night. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver was 23rd at the end of the first lap, then 22nd on the second lap in the No. 21 Chevy.

‘Razz’ was up to 20th on the fourth lap and fluctuated between 20th and 21st until the first caution on the 47th lap. He pitted with most of the field on lap 50, but drove away on fire and with his fuel tank only partially filled. The fire went out but he’d be forced to make an undesired stop at some point to rectify the short fill.

He was up to 18th on lap 59, then 15th on lap 64 before taking 15th on lap 66 and 14th on lap 67. It was 13th on lap 74, 12th on lap 76, 11th on lap 77, and 10th on lap 79. That’s 15 spots in the opening third of the race, and from there, the party really got started for the young Dane.

He’d get to ninth on lap 83 before pitting after just 33 laps to top up his fuel tank. Undeterred, Rasmussen held on, went down a lap, persevered, returned to the lead lap when those in front of him pitted, and by lap 106, he was up to fifth where he ran until lap 129 when the big crash involving Louis Foster and Josef Newgarden brought out an extended caution. With Newgarden out, the No. 21 Chevy improved to fourth, but he was running out of fuel and had to make an emergency stop when the pits were closed on lap 134.

Rasmussen would stop again on lap 141 to completely fill the tank and take new tires, but due to the lap 134 stop which wasn’t permitted, he had to take the lap 149 restart from 18th, last of all drivers on the lead lap. It wasn’t too far removed from having to start the back-to-front process over again, and by lap 160, he was up to 14th.

It became 13th on lap 163, then 12th on lap 170, and 10th on lap 174. He took ninth on lap 177, eighth on lap 181, seventh on lap 184, sixth on lap 185, and leapt to fourth on lap 190 before making his penultimate stop on lap 191. A lap 195 caution locked Rasmussen into seventh and when the race went back to green on lap 207, he picked up one spot to claim sixth.

Fifth became his on lap 209, the last stop for the No. 21 Chevy was completed on lap 225, and he started the last charge from 15th on lap 210. Rasmussen recorded his fastest lap of the race on lap 232 – while in 11th – and was running in eighth through lap 245.

Whether it was passing or watching as those up the road made their final stops, he went to fifth on lap 248, fourth on lap 253, and to third on lap 256 where he held on to stand on the podium for the first time in IndyCar.

The 2023 Indy NXT champion put on a show to deliver ECR’s best finish since 2022 when former driver Rinus VeeKay was second at Barber Motorsports Park, and the best of his brief career which is all of 15 races long.

“It's huge, and especially just with how this weekend has gone for us,” Rasmussen said. “We were really slow in practice one. We started 25th in the race. But yeah, just way to turn it around for ECR here today. This is definitely the best race of my life so far.”

The 24-year-old arrived at WWTR holding 17th in the championship and leaves in 14th, just six points behind teammate Alexander Rossi in 13th.

“As soon as I found out that the high line was so effective, I just started running high and I could just pass people” he said. “And I think we got a little bit unlucky. On one of the (pit) cycles we didn't get in, so we had to do emergency service, and we started at the tail end of the field. So I drove through, got sent to the bank, drove through again. So it was an awesome, awesome race for us.”