After securing his first IndyCar pole position David Malukas lead the field to green for the first race at Phoenix in a long time. With team mate and number two on the grid Josef Newgarden topping Final Practice, Team Penske would be the favourites going into the race.
Romain Grosjean didn’t take the start as his Dale Coyne entry struggled with hybrid issues.
Hauger causes first caution
The Good Ranchers 250 saw a great start for both Alexander Rossi and Álex Palou, with them jumping to third and fourth behind both front-row Penskes. Newgarden briefy challenged Malukas, but the young American closed the door and immediatel started to draw a gap.
Rinus VeeKay also had a great start and is in fifth. Same could be said for Dennis Hauger who was in a battle with Christian Rasmussen unti he spun around. He managed to keep his car out of the wall, but brought out the caution nonetheless.
The caution prompts a bunch of the backmarkers to make a stop and go for an alternative strategy.
Palou crashes out after contact with VeeKay
At the restart Graham Rahal agressively takes two places, and in his wake VeeKay tries to overtake Palou on the high side. The gap however closes and the championship leader gets tagged into the wall, taking him out of the race. The Dutchman has to go to the pits for repairs, dropping him a few laps down.
The subsequent restart goes well, although there is a hairy moment when Will Power and Rasmussen make contact. It costs some momentum for the Ozzy veteran, causing him to drop a few places in the following laps.
With a fifth of the race in the books it is still Malukas leading from Newgarden and Rossi. Man on the rise is Rasmussen, who is in seventh and closing in on Pato O’Ward. He eventually passes the Mexican and sets his sights on Scott McLaughlin.
Pit stop chaos shuffles top 10
McLaughlin also falls prey to the Ed Carpenter Racing driver, followed by Rahal a few laps later, making him the biggest mover in the IndyCar race at Phoenix thus far.
O’Ward is the first of the drivers to make a regular scheduled stop, followed by McLaughlin. All while Rasmussen keeps overtaking and disposes of team mate Rossi.
The leading Penske duo follows a few laps later, but with Newgarden stopping a bit earlier, the two time Indy 500-winner comes out ahead of Malukas. They are both behind O’Ward however, who is the virtual leader now.
Both drivers briefly swap position as they approach Mick Schumacher who suffered from a slow pit stop.
Rasmussen charges through to the lead
Scott Dixon stops just before the 100 lap mark of the race in Phoenix, handing over the lead to O’Ward, as Rasmussen continues to charge up the IndyCar field. He passes both Penske drives en route to second.
In little to no time the Dane closes the gap to O’Ward and doesn’t hesitate. He overtakes the Arrow McLaren driver and leaves him behind immediately.
O’Ward stops a few laps later as Rasmussen is scrapping with some backmarkers, again trying to go for the undercut.
Rasmussen responds by stopping just over the halfway point, followed by Newgarden and Malukas. The latter has a scrappy stop, getting away slowly.
Again Rasmussen leaves nothing to chance and immediately disposes of Rossi and Hauger, to close the gap to O’Ward. He overtakes again, this time using the lapped car of Santino Ferrucci.
A few laps later he overtakes Christian Lundgaard for the lead outright, not waiting until the alternate strategy folks make their stop.
Dixon cycles through to the front
Just when Lundgaard pits it is Louis Foster who brings out the third caution of the day. The Briton clobbered the wall after getting into the marbles.
Rasmussen likes his chances and stops for new tyres, as do the other lead drivers. Scott Dixon emerges ahead of the Dane, but behind Kyle Kirkwood and Power, who opted to stay out. Rasmussen’s team mate Rossi had a bad stop, as his left rear would not attach in one go.
The race goes back to green with a little under 100 laps to go, and Rasmussen immediately goes on the attack. Dixon however is unfazed and stays in third, despit a little bit of contact.
Ferrucci is also on the move, but a big moment in turn 4 causes him to lose a few spots to Rahal and Malukas.
Rasmussen and Power come to blows
With 75 laps to go in the Phoenix IndyCar race, Rasmussen finally makes the move stick on Dixon, leaving the Ganassi driver behind. He repeats the same trick on Power a few laps later,
Rossi is the first to make his final pitstop and comes out ahead of Rasmussen. He quickly disposes of Kirkwood, with Rasmussen following a few laps later.
Rasmussen makes his final stop with a bout 56 laps to go, bringing him out just behind Kirkwood, with both behind O’Ward and Power. Marcus Armstrong has poor stop, dropping him quite a few places back.
It doesn’t however take a long time for Rasmussen to get by Kirkwood and O’Ward. He tries a late lunge into turn 3, but Power manages to hang it out around the outside.
A few laps later Rasmussen tries around the outside, but with Power fading to the outside the two make contact. Rasmussen hits the wall and cuts Power’s tyre. In the resulting caution O’Ward and Newgarden sacrifice track position for a new set of tyres.
Newgarden seals the deal with great strategic call
The restart reveals Rasmussen’s car looks okay, but behind the leaders the cars that stopped are fast. O’Ward is quickly back into the op 5, and with 25 laps to go he overtakes Armstrong for fourth. Newgarden is in his wake, and quickly closes in on the lead as well.
With 15 laps to go, O’Ward is still behind Malukas, but Rasmussen begins to struggle, and Kirkwood is gaining on the one-time winner.
Behind them Newgarden is now in third with 10 laps to go, which prompts Kirkwood to go for the overtake on Rasmussen. The Dane hits the wall again and has to let both Kirkwood and Newgarden go.
Newgarden takes the lead with six laps to go as Rasmussen drops down the field. None of the IndyCar drivers have an answer to the Penske driver, and Newgarden takes the race win in Phoenix.
Kirkwood finsishes second from Malukas and O’Ward. Armstrong comes home fifth, ahead of Rossi, Dixon and McLaughlin. Rahal and Simpson round out the top 10, with Rasmussen eventually finishing in 14th.
