Christian Rasmussen received incredible support from his boss Ed Carpenter, who asked the Danish rookie to take his place in the last three oval events and put Ed Carpenter Racing’s Chevy No. 20 in contention for a Leaders Circle contract.
The cash prize program, created in the 2000s, where the vast majority of the season prize is divided equally among the top finishers in the entrants’ championship, rewards those who finish among the top 22 in the entrants’ standings, with number 20 in 23rd place reaching the end of the season, Rasmussen was focused on finishing ahead of No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy, driven by Sting Ray Robb, who was in 22nd place.
The first half of the 206-lap race seemed risky, with Robb having the advantage, but Rasmussen, the 2023 Indy NXT champion, managed to recover and finish 14th at the checkered flag, six positions ahead of Robb, who had been dealing with food poisoning all day.
Moments after getting out of the car, Rasmussen was being honored by his team and ECR leadership for delivering a $1 million payout to the team.
“Good morning, a good day,” the Danish driver told RACER. “I felt like the race for me was very up and down. I really didn’t know where we were, and I don’t know if we made a little mistake in the pit stop that sent us back, then I gained positions, and then we were sent back. I felt like I did that a few times.”
ECR asked Rasmussen to save fuel to finish the race, and when he had enough in reserve, it was time to go on the attack.
“After we were kicked out and I took my fuel number off, we had a lot of pace and basically lapped Sting Ray in a very short time,” he said. “We were flying, so it was super fun. There was a goal today and we achieved it.”
The faith placed by Carpenter in Rasmussen was duly rewarded. With an IndyCar oval race to his credit, taking the reins from an oval specialist like Carpenter came with high expectations.
“It’s a huge confidence boost,” Rasmussen said. “I was given the opportunity and I went about it very humbly. I knew we had a goal, but I just wanted to do the best I could for the team. It was the right choice. It wasn’t an easy task, going to two new ovals without any test days or anything on a short oval, but it worked out very well — P11, P16, and P13 in my first three ovals in a different IndyCar from the Indy 500 — so I’m happy with that.”
