Christian Rasmussen reflects on his first IndyCar campaign and shares his ambitions for the 2026 season with Ed Carpenter Racing.
His journey through American open-wheel racing has been nothing short of remarkable. The 2025 season marked his first full campaign in the series, and it proved to be a successful one. Driving the No. 21 Chevrolet, Rasmussen scored two podium finishes and claimed his maiden IndyCar victory at the Milwaukee Mile, ultimately finishing 13th in the championship standings.
With confirmation that he’ll continue piloting the No. 21 Chevrolet in 2026, Rasmussen recently sat down with media outlets, including Pit Debrief, to discuss his progress, the team’s evolution, and his goals for the upcoming season.
Investment driving performance gains
Ed Carpenter Racing has undergone significant changes following major investment, with Christian Rasmussen witnessing the transformation firsthand. When asked about organisational changes announced in a recent press release, the Danish driver highlighted the team’s comprehensive approach to improvement.
“Yeah. Like I said before, there’s a lot of talent that has been brought on this winter,” Rasmussen explained. “The goal of upping our performance on everything, not only just the commercial side but also on the performance side, we’re looking at everyone, from engineers to crew guys to people’s overall health within the team. We hired a new strength coach that’s also our pit stop coach to get that more up to speed.”
The changes extend beyond personnel additions. “All the perimeters are cranked, and we’re doing everything we can to catch up to all the other big players in INDYCAR,” he added.
The investment has led to substantial growth in the team’s operations. “I think just in terms of added manpower to the team, I think we’ve gone from — I don’t know the exact numbers, but we’ve grown quite a bit as a team and just have more people involved,” Rasmussen noted.
This expansion has allowed for greater specialisation within the organisation. “Each person can have a more specialised job and hopefully do — if they have less stuff on their plate, hopefully they can do an even better job at that particular thing than they have in the past,” he said.
IndyCar qualifying performance is key
When asked to identify one area requiring the most attention, Rasmussen didn’t hesitate.
“I think for us on the 21 car particularly, I think our qualifying pace wasn’t what we — our qualifying performance wasn’t what we wanted it to be,” he admitted. “Also a lot of effort has gone into that in the off-season to try and improve that. So also excited to see what that is going to amount to in 2026.”
High-risk, high-reward on IndyCar ovals for Christian Rasmussen
Rasmussen has earned a reputation for his aggressive yet calculated approach to oval racing, particularly drawing attention from broadcast commentators. When asked whether he feels he’s pushing harder than his competitors and how he identifies the limit, the Dane offered a measured response.
“Yeah, it’s definitely something that you develop all the time and try to get better at judging and whatever,” he said. “When looking at it, I think we did a pretty good job of it, not a perfect job of it. Obviously, Nashville we didn’t really get to see much other than the first corner. But also overall I was the third-highest scoring points on the ovals combined out of all the drivers in INDYCAR last year, so we must have done something right.”
His third-place finish in the unofficial oval points demonstrates that his bold approach yields results.
“We’re honing, getting better all the time, but I think we’re on the right path at least,” Rasmussen added.
Christian Rasmussen setting the bar for success in IndyCar 2026
Looking ahead to the 2026 IndyCar season, Rasmussen has clear objectives. “I think just competing for race wins more often, and I think making our bad days less bad, being more consistent up front, being more consistently in the top 5, top 10, and yeah, definitely limiting the bad days to something other than last place for sure,” he stated.
Growth through experience
When asked by Pit Debrief where he felt he’d matured most as a driver during the 2025 season, Rasmussen reflected on the continuous learning process inherent to IndyCar competition.
“I don’t know,” he continued, “I think you develop from each race that you do. I think we’re trying to — at least I’m trying to learn from each time I hit the track and try to get better and better,” he said. “I think for us, I’m just kind of honing in on racing in INDYCAR, what you can get away with, what you can’t get away with, and I guess testing out some limits.”
Rasmussen views his development as an ongoing process, ahead of the 2026 IndyCar season.
“I think, again, just closer to where I want to be as a race car driver in INDYCAR and in the future, and again, just keep developing my skill, get better in the situations that I haven’t handled the best, try to up our qualifying performances from last year, which was definitely our Achilles heel, if you will, and yeah, just again, overall try and improve our performance, my performance.”
