Paddock Buzz: Christian Rasmussen Rallies Twice for Career-Best Night

INDYCAR
If Kyle Kirkwood was the happiest driver Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway, he had company. Christian Rasmussen was wildly celebrating, too.
Rasmussen put on a show in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline, driving from the 25th starting position to finish a career-best third.
Actually, Rasmussen came from the back twice in the 260-lap affair, the second time the result of a penalty for taking service and fuel from his Ed Carpenter Racing crew in a closed pit. The driver of the No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet didn't have a choice but to pit as he couldn't wait for the long caution period to end before running out of fuel.
But Rasmussen was a rocket in his car before and after that, passing a race-high 62 cars as he used a high line that seemed to offer the fastest way around the 1.25-mile oval.
'As soon as I found out that the high line was so effective, like my car was so good up there both in (Turns) 1 and 2 and 3 and 4,' he said. 'I just started running high, and I could just pass people.'
The only drivers finishing ahead of the 24-year-old Dane were Kirkwood, the driver of the No. 27 Siemens Honda of Andretti Global who scored his third win of the season, and seven-time race winner Pato O'Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet).
ECR owner Ed Carpenter was one of the first to congratulate Rasmussen, who stretched his string of races led to three.
'You did great,' Carpenter told him on pit road.
'Ah, it's huge, and especially with how this has gone for us,' 2023 INDY NXT by Firestone champion Rasmussen said. 'We were slow in (Saturday's first practice), we didn't get it done in (qualifications), we started 25th in the race. But we turned it around for ECR today. This is awesome.
'Definitely the best race of my life so far.'
Newgarden, Foster Escape Injury
Josef Newgarden's year to forget continued with a mid-race crash that will long be remembered.
Newgarden was leading en route to a fifth win in the past six races at this track when he prepared to lap series points leader Alex Palou coming off Turn 4. But what Newgarden couldn't see what the damaged car of series rookie Louis Foster sliding across the front straightaway after scraping the outside wall.
At the last second, Newgarden realized the oncoming danger. He seemed to pull his hands from the steering wheel as the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet slammed into Foster's car and, at the same time, the inside wall.
The ferocious impact on the front straightaway vaulted Newgarden's car on its nose before landing upside down. Foster and his No. 45 Droplight/Desnuda Tequilla Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing similarly absorbed a massive impact. Fortunately, both drivers escaped injury.
Newgarden declined comment after walking from the infield care center.
The incident began due to Foster's car pushing to the outside wall in Turn 4. He was moments from pitting for new tires.
'One, two laps too long trying the high line,' he said. 'I got up behind (Santino Ferrucci), got a bit of a wiggle – it had wiggled all race there – but just got a bit too high onto the dark stuff. You see it there (on replay), a wiggle right there, then I just went to (the) marbles and was really a passenger.'
Remembering how Newgarden vaulted over the top of his car seemed to stop him.
'I couldn't stop the car,' he said. 'Obviously, (a) really scary impact. Josef, glad he's OK.'
Finishing 24th tumbled Newgarden to 16th in the standings as the season approaches its halfway point. The two-time series champion also had seat belt come loose in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and lost a fuel pump in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
Power Foresaw Strain on Tire
Will Power couldn't convert the 71st career pole into his first win of the season.
Power got jumped on the opening lap by David Malukas, and the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet saw the A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver stretch the lead to more than five seconds. On Lap 46, Power's race effectively came to an end when he slid into the Turn 4 wall after his right front tire failed.
'I felt last night when we were running (in the second practice) pretty much flat through (Turns) 3 and 4 every lap and I was like, 'Man, that's a lot of load (on the right front tire),'' Power said. 'When I had a failure at Iowa (Speedway) it felt the same. Yeah, that actually happened. Unfortunate for us.'
Power said he was saving fuel at the time of the incident, which explains why Malukas was pulling away from him.
Malukas later had trouble of his own. While trying to overtake Kirkwood, who had just pitted, his No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet drifted into the wall. After leading a race-high 67 laps, he finished 12th.
DeFrancesco's Double Trouble
Devlin DeFrancesco's race didn't last long. He lost control of his No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in Turn 1 on Lap 4.
The damaged car was removed from the track by a tow truck, and DeFrancesco was in the garage area when he started running back to pit road followed by a FOX cameraman. About the time the driver reached his pit box, he stopped, and the cameraman ran into him. The contact and the ensuing fall were caught on live television. Neither was injured.
Odds and Ends Palou still hasn't led a lap in seven races at World Wide Technology Raceway, and he finished 14.1018 seconds off the winner's pace in this race. But the series points leader managed to finish eighth to keep a strong hold on the championship. He leads O'Ward by 73 points and Kirkwood by 75 as the season approaches its halfway point with next week's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America (Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). Palou (five wins) and Kirkwood (three) remain the only two drivers to win races this season, the first time that's happened in this sport since 1980 when Johnny Rutherford won five and Bobby Unser three. Unser won that season's ninth race to extend the two-driver dominance. Honda-powered cars have now won the first eight races of the season. O'Ward has finished second three times, pushing his career total to 30 top-three finishes. For the second oval race in a row, Scott McLaughlin had trouble before the race even began. In this case, the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet wouldn't immediately start leaving the grid, but he got it going. At Indy, he crashed on the warmup laps while swerving to get heat in his tires. McLaughlin and Malukas each were forced to give back three positions for improper lane usage leaving their pit boxes. Both exited straight to the fast lane, which is not allowed as it impedes oncoming traffic. McLaughlin became the third Team Penske driver to retire from the race when he said something broke coming off Turn 2. Andretti Global's Lochie Hughes used a late charge to win Sunday's INDY NXT by Firestone race at the track. The win was his second of his rookie season. The Australian drove the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car to a 4.3521-second victory over Myles Rowe, who earned a career-best second place in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy entry.
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