Scott McLaughlin at the Milwaukee Mile. Image: Joe Skibinski
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver put on a clinic in his 30th career start, pitting late and making the most of a tyre advantage to surge from seventh to the lead.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was the dominant force all day, leading 199 of the 250-lap race distance from pole position.
He made his final pit stop on Lap 196. Rasmussen stopped on Lap 191 but when a light shower came across the circuit and brought out the caution, he gambled on a fifth pit stop on Lap 213.
The tyre disparity between Rasmussen and Palou paid dividends.
Palou led the field to green on Lap 222 with Team Penske duo Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden in tow. Pato O’Ward, the first driver on fresh tyres, was fourth followed by Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard, Rasmussen, Scott Dixon, David Malukas, and Marcus Armstrong.
Rasmussen began ripping the high line and went around O’Ward and Rossi before dispatching Newgarden down low. With 20 laps to go, Rasmussen got McLaughlin around the outside.
Rasmussen quickly ate through a 1.5-second deficit to Palou and the race-winning move came on Lap 235 around the Spaniard’s outside. Then the Danish driver cleared out to a two-second lead to take the win.
OH MY GOODNESS CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN TO THE LEAD AT MILWAUKEE! pic.twitter.com/lXqa0vNQh1
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) August 24, 2025
In Victory Lane, Rasmussen was greeted by his teammate Rossi, who finished fourth behind McLaughlin.
“Our ovals have been pretty good this year. Today was amazing,” said Rasmussen.
“We were talking about before the race that if there’s a late caution then we want to go on new tyres because it’s just such an advantage.
“There were more people that did it than I thought there would in the last stint, but it was definitely the right choice.
“We were so good on new tyres even compared to other cars on new tyres. Wow. That’s a good day.”
Team owner Ed Carpenter hailed Rasmussen’s race-winning run.
“I knew this was coming for Christian,” said Carpenter.
“He’s the best there is right now on short ovals, he’s shown it all season long.
“That yellow really played into his hand and he did an amazing job taking advantage of his new tyres and Chevy power.
“It feels so good. It’s been a while since we won a race. Happy to be here and really a great team weekend with Alex in P4.”
Trouble for Will Power. pic.twitter.com/7wo9wub9lf
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) August 24, 2025
The race was punctuated by two incidents, the first on Lap 1 when McLaren’s Nolan Siegal spun coming through the final turn.
On Lap 104, Will Power tried to round up Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson. However, the Team Penske driver’s bid to go around the outside wound up with him clattering the wall.
Callum Ilott drew the caution on Lap 140 when his Prema cried no more and smoke began to pour from the engine.
Results: IndyCar Series Milwaukee Mile 250, Milwaukee Mile
Pos
Num
Driver
Team Penske
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
21
Christian Rasmussen
Ed Carpenter Racing
250 laps
2
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
1.946
1.946
3
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
10.661
8.715
4
20
Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter Racing
11.458
0.797
5
5
Pato O’Ward
Arrow McLaren
12.083
0.625
6
7
Christian Lundgaard
Arrow McLaren
12.829
0.746
7
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
14.404
1.576
8
4
David Malukas
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
15.092
0.688
9
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
15.649
0.556
10
66
Marcus Armstrong
Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian
16.446
0.797
11
26
Colton Herta
Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian
16.817
0.371
12
27
Kyle Kirkwood
Andretti Global
17.881
1.065
13
76
Conor Daly
Juncos Hollinger Racing
19.021
1.139
14
14
Santino Ferrucci
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
19.86
0.839
15
18
Rinus VeeKay
Dale Coyne Racing
20.218
0.358
16
30
Devlin DeFrancesco
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
22.995
2.777
17
45
Louis Foster
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
1 lap
1 lap
18
83
Robert Shwartzman
PREMA Racing
8.921
8.921
19
28
Marcus Ericsson
Andretti Global
10.252
1.331
20
8
Kyffin Simpson
Chip Ganassi Racing
22.204
11.952
21
50
Jacob Abel
Dale Coyne Racing
2 laps
1 lap
22
60
Felix Rosenqvist
Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian
1.623
1.623
23
77
Sting Ray Robb
Juncos Hollinger Racing
24.901
23.277
24
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3 laps
1 lap
25
90
Callum Ilott
PREMA Racing
112 laps
109 laps
26
12
Will Power
Team Penske
148 laps
36 laps
27
6
Nolan Siegel
Arrow McLaren
250 laps
102 laps