Champion of the 2025 IndyCar season Alex Palou almost took a ninth seasonal win in Milwaukee. In spite of a rather dominant race weekend, during which he was able to secure pole position and to lead the vast majority of the short oval race, in the end Christian Rasmussen managed to secure his first ever career win in the championship.
Always improving
IndyCar’s Palou admits he is not completely satisfied with the way his oval racing has been progressing, even after achieving his first ever oval win earlier in the season, the Indy 500. Nonetheless he was pleased at the end of the race in Milwaukee.
“Honestly, it was a bit slower than I wanted or that I thought, at least at the beginning, to try and have that confidence and get those qualifyings and trying to get through that traffic. I think Indy was the best. Iowa was 50% there.”
He is looking forward to the last race of the season in Nashville in order to further build on his great oval performances.
“This was much, much better, at least from my point of view. I have to rewatch the race. Yeah, felt great. I’m feeling more confident. I don’t know if I’m feeling more confident everywhere or just here in Milwaukee. I’m excited for Nashville next week so we can see if we can do better. For sure I’m feeling much better. That’s the most important thing.“
A bol strategical call
Among the pivotal moments which led to ECR’s first race win since 2021 there definitely was the strategical choice of pitting Rasmussen in the final stages of the race, as soon as the caution for rain was issued.
Ultimately, race leader Palou nor P2 McLaughlin had opted for pitting at IndyCar Milwaukee, preferring to hold on to track position. However, it was not enough to account for the great pace the Danish driver was able to sustain on fresh boots when racing resumed.
The Ganassi driver commented on the pit call, explaining that it was a rather close one.
“I think it actually only worked for some, it wasn’t that black and white. I think it was 50/50. It’s really tough when you’re leading. Everybody stayed out, suddenly you pit from first and you go to eighth. There’s no way with lap cars in between we would end up winning.”
He doesn’t regret opting for the more conservative approach of not pitting, as he explained it could have potentially turned a positive day into a nightmare.
“I would still do the same. Obviously now if you look at the result, you would say, Why you didn’t pit? I think it was a tough decision. I just started getting really confident out of two and out of four. I was able to pass quite a lot of cars.
“At the end it was not as easy. I think everybody kind of got to a rhythm, kind of looked or found what was best for their driving style. Yeah, that moment, that period of the race, I was feeling really confident.”
An exploding talent
The Spanish driver ultimately had kind words for the first time IndyCar race winner in Milwaukee, espcially while recalling the pace and rhythm which led Christian Rasmussen to the top spot.
“They were updating me on the radio. I knew that he was fourth. Next corner he was third. Then he was second. He was only a second and a half. Then I started pushing 100%. I wanted to get at least one more second or try and extend a little bit more the laps. I couldn’t make it. I knew that he was coming and he didn’t caught me by surprise.
“Obviously I didn’t want him to overtake me. He was very good on the outside in one, two, getting great exits. Also three and four. Yeah, couldn’t do very much,” concluded IndyCar champion Palou, recalling the rather impressive display of dominance from Rasmussen in the final stages of the Milwaukee Mile race.
