Alex Palou entered Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Milwaukee Mile with eight wins in 15 races this season. That equaled the total number of victories Ed Carpenter Racing had achieved in its 14-season history.

But in Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250, Christian Rasmussen in the No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet stole the spotlight, passing Palou with 16 laps to go in the 16th event of the 17-race season to secure his first career victory.

“I know he makes a lot of people nervous and there’s been a lot of talk about his driving, but that aggression is what it takes to win in this series,” ECR co-owner Ed Carpenter said. “He’s a bright star, and we’re happy to have him.”

Carpenter previously served as Rasmussen’s race strategist during the Sonsio Grand Prix in May on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where Rasmussen qualified and finished 19th. Carpenter later moved to Alexander Rossi’s pit box to call strategy for the final three races of the season, starting with the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI on Aug. 10.

Rossi responded with his first top-five finish of the year and backed it up with a fourth-place result in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet on a mild Wisconsin afternoon.

“It’s cool, man,” Rossi said. “Your first win is incredible. We’ll take the goodness of this one, and hopefully it transfers to Nashville.”

Rossi's race turned after a brilliant pit strategy call from Carpenter on Lap 48, making him the first of 27 starters to hit pit lane. He jumped from 11th to fifth and stayed in contention all afternoon. A late pit stop under caution for fresh Firestone Firehawk tires helped Rossi charge to his third top-seven finish in as many starts at Milwaukee Mile.

“We’ve got to be aggressive,” Rossi said. “We saved tires through practice for that scenario. I just wish we were able to be a little bit stronger on that restart.”

The double top-five result was the first in ECR’s history. The team previously had nine races with two cars finishing in the top 10, the last being the 2023 Indianapolis 500, when Conor Daly finished eighth and Rinus VeeKay 10th.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for ECR,” Rossi said. “But the belief that (new-for-2025 co-owner) Ted (Gelov) and Java House had in this organization, it’s never an easy road. There’s still a lot of work in front of us, but this is amazing.

“This team is growing. It has a huge runway in front of it. We got the investment and belief we needed coming into 2025, but that doesn’t guarantee immediate results. Foundations have to be laid before success. Looking to 2026, we’re light years ahead of where we were back in March.”

Scott McLaughlin

McLaughlin Earns Podium Finish

Scott McLaughlin (above photo, front) delivered a quiet but effective drive, starting fourth and finishing third in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet for Team Penske.

He cycled into second after the opening round of pit stops and shadowed Palou for much of the race. However, Rasmussen’s late-race charge dropped him to third.

“A second place that turned into a third-place car,” McLaughlin said. “We didn’t quite have the speed for Alex (Palou). I felt OK right behind him, could keep pace, but once we hit traffic, he was stronger getting through.”

The finish marked McLaughlin’s first podium result since Barber Motorsports Park on May 4. After enduring a mid-season slump – with an average finish of 19.62 from the Indy 500 through Toronto, including five results of 23rd or worse in eight races – he has posted three straight top-10s: 10th at Laguna Seca, seventh at Portland and third at Milwaukee.

“Nice to get some momentum back,” McLaughlin said. “A couple of top 10s, now a podium. Not exactly what we want, but it’s a start.”

David Malukas

Malukas Battles Back for Top-10 Finish

David Malukas (photo, above) started on the front row alongside Palou and took the lead on Lap 16 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. He initially pulled away, but handling issues let Palou reel him back in.

“We missed the setup a little bit early,” Malukas said. “We were a bit too free. After the first pit cycle and a wing adjustment, we were back.”

After exiting pit lane in third behind Palou and McLaughlin, Malukas lost ground due to a slow stop in the next round, dropping him to 18th and a lap down. But with a better-handling car, he mounted a charge and finished eighth.

“Beautiful chaos of Milwaukee,” Malukas said. “It was a fun one. We had a fast car. These guys gave me an incredible wheel, and things just didn’t play out for us.

“We were a lap down, and I saw the leader ahead of me. I knew I had to unlap myself and work through the field again. To still finish eighth, I’m really happy with the courage and fight we showed.

“The rest of the pit stops were fantastic. The guys worked really hard. One more to go. We’re going to put everything we have into the final race and try to get something out of it.”

Odds and Ends

  • The 2025 season concludes next Sunday with the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot at Nashville Superspeedway. Coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One, the FOX Sports app, and INDYCAR Radio Network.
  • Rossi (above) helped a couple with a marriage proposal on the starting grid before Sunday’s race.
  • Rasmussen became the 302nd driver to win an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race.
  • Pato O’Ward finished fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It was his 24th top-five result in 32 oval starts and his 10th top five of the season, a single-season career best.
  • Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet) finished seventh, extending his winless streak to 21 races. If he doesn’t win at Nashville, it will be his first winless season since 2014.
  • Christian Lundgaard has three top-seven finishes in five oval starts this season, his first driving the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. He had none in his 17 prior oval starts with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
  • Sunday's race saw 685 total on-track passes, 306 of them for position – both the second-most ever recorded in an INDYCAR SERIES race at Milwaukee Mile. Rasmussen and Scott Dixon each recorded a race-high 48 passes.
  • In INDY NXT by Firestone action, Salvador de Alba passed Dennis Hauger at the start and helped contribute to a series Milwaukee Mile record 110 on-track passes, 66 for position. De Alba won, Hauger finished second and Lochie Hughes placed third to give Andretti Global its first podium sweep since September 2022. Norwegian rookie Hauger also clinched the 2025 season championship in the INDYCAR development series.