The penultimate round of the 2025 IndyCar season took place on Sunday, with drivers completing 250 laps around the iconic Milwaukee Mile.
Low banking and wide, sweeping turns produced side by side racing for much of the event, thrilling the fans that packed the fairground grandstands.
The end of the race was particularly thrilling, as three of the front running drivers chose not to take new tires while the rest of the field did.
READ MORE: IndyCar Milwaukee – Full Race Results
Christian Rasmussen positively rocketed through the field on his new tires, climbing from sixth up to second in a matter of a few laps.
His rush did not stop there, as he disposed of the leader Alex Palou in a similarly quick method. Rasmussen’s final pass was clean and neat on the outside, and allowed him to quickly build a gap.
In the final 15 laps, Rasmussen built up over a one second lead and took home his first ever IndyCar victory in style.
The Danish driver is wrapping up his first full season, having raced the road courses for a majority of last season, and secured Ed Carpenter Racing’s first win since 2021 in the process.
Palou led 195 laps, but was content to cross the line in second. He noted that it was one of his best oval performances, and had no external factors helping propel him to the front.
Finishing in third was Scott McLaughlin, who hung around near the front and was also undone by a decision to not pit on the final yellow flag period.
Rasmussen’s ECR team-mate Alexander Rossi was fourth, and Pato O’Ward finished fifth after starting on the second row.
Colton Herta climbed right through the field with an impressive performance. He was 11 positions ahead in just the first 20 laps, and ended up gaining 13 positions total.
After starting down the order due to a spin in qualifying, Herta finished in 11th.
Pit stops and strategy
There were ample amounts of pit stops during the afternoon, with tire wear the deciding factor for how long drivers could stay on track.
Instead of running a full fuel cycle, drivers largely chose to pit after only 50 laps or so to take on new Firestone tires.
The difference in speed with fresh rubber was massive, and when a couple teams attempted to extend their stints their drivers were immediately three to four miles per hour off the pace.
The winning strategy was to pit as often as possible, with the top teams stacking six sets of fresh tires in their pit boxes before the event began.
One of those pits stops proved to be David Malukas’ undoing, however, as his AJ Foyt crew struggled to get the right front wheel tightened.
Malukas had been battling for the lead in the early portion of the event and looked to have the best chance to unseat Palou at the top of the order.
But after the slow stop put him a lap down, he was caught in traffic and could not quite make it back to the front.
Malukas worked his way up to eighth, but rued what could have been if his pit stops had gone as cleanly as Palou’s.
Incidents galore
There were plenty of cautions to help facilitate pit stops, although some came too early to allow teams to fit new tires.
On the second lap of the event, Nolan Siegel touched the inside curb and spun hard into the outside barriers. His day was done before it even got started.
Graham Rahal spun on the ensuing restart and brought out a second caution, but he was able to keep his car out of the wall and continued only having lost a few positions.
During the second round of pit stops near lap 100, Will Power was pushed into the upper lane while battling with Kyffin Simpson.
His #12 Team Penske Chevy touched the wall, which broke the toe link. He could no longer keep control of his car with the damage, and spun across the track to bring out another caution.
There was another caution just past halfway when Callum Ilott’s engine expired on track, forcing him to retire in his pit box amid a cloud of smoke.
Race control used the break to inspect the mile long track for oil, but none was found and the action was restarted shortly after.
There was one final caution on lap 208 when a tiny rain shower dropped sprinkles over the speedway. The rain moved out immediately, and there were only a few laps under yellow before drivers were released again.
The impacts of the final stoppage were many, however, as it allowed Rasmussen to fit a fresh set to tires and fly to his first career win.
There is just one race left on the 2025 IndyCar calendar, and the paddock will reform next weekend in Nashville for the finale.
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