Rasmussen Looks To Continue Season Rebound at Road America
Photo: Amber Peitz/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Second from last in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings entering the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, the 2026 season has not gone the way Christian Rasmussen had envisioned how it would go.
But a strong third-place finish on the 1.25-mile oval outside of St. Louis has the driver of the No. 21 Splenda ECR Chevrolet looking to build some momentum heading to next week’s XPEL Grand Prix presented by AMR at Elkhart Lake’s Road America, and the rest of the season.
“We've had a tough year,” stated Rasmussen. “Feeling like we kind of had a win robbed from us back in Phoenix. Coming right back to an oval and kind of starting up where we finished off was a good feeling.
“Yeah, I mean, like I think we had a third-place car. I couldn't hang with those guys (Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson) there at the end. I was very happy with a third-place finish. I think it's a good way to start building some momentum for the rest of the year.”
At 4.048-miles and 14 turns, Road America is about as different from a short oval as it gets in the INDYCAR SERIES. But it’s not the only reason why Rasmussen was one of 13 drivers to take part in a test day at the track earlier this week. It’s also about trying to figure out where the team went wrong in 2025.
“Yeah, that's what days like today is all about,” said Rasmussen. “Road America is a place that we really struggled last year, which is also why we chose this test day to come to and try and improve our package, so yeah, we'll just keep working away and hopefully end up with something pretty good here.”
Photo: Aaron Skillman/Penske Entertainment
Despite his struggles last year, Road America is a track where Rasmussen has enjoyed success previously.
“Yeah, Road America has always been one of my favorites. You know, I love coming here. Always have loved coming here. This was the place where I first won my first INDY NXT victory was here (in 2022). So have good memories here. Love coming here. I think the racing here is great. So hopefully we can prepare a better race car than we did last year for the race.”
One thing that the 25-year-old Dane is looking to improve upon this season is qualifying.
“Obviously we are not qualifying as well as we want to,” Rasmussen acknowledged. “We're ever so slightly missing the balance in qualifying. We need to do some work to try and improve that so we don't have to make it that hard on ourselves every single time.
“But it's also good to know that when we are in this position, we do have a tough qualifying, that we can still get away with these results.”
Rasmussen recently signed a multi-year contract extension with ECR, adding to his positive outlook heading to Road America.
“Yeah, it obviously means that they continue believing in me, even though we have had a tough year with a lot of stuff that's both been outside my own control and outside of the team's control, so they're obviously seeing something. Yeah, I'm excited to keep building together with ECR, and and try to reach our full potential together.”
As far as rewarding the team’s faith in him with last week’s podium finish, Rasmussen smiled and said, “Yeah, that's what I'm here to do.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.