Christian Rasmussen is one step closer to the INDY NXT by Firestone championship after enduring a close call and winning the OUTFRONT Showdown on Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Championship leader Rasmussen earned his fourth victory of the season in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR car, outrunning the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car of Andretti Autosport rookie Louis Foster to the finish by 1.7805 seconds. Rasmussen has won three of the last four races in the INDYCAR development series to expand his lead to 50 points over Hunter McElrea of Andretti Autosport with three races remaining.
Rasmussen, from Denmark, earned his sixth career INDY NXT by Firestone victory at an event that featured just 30 minutes of track time before the 75-lap race due to persistent morning and afternoon thunderstorms in the St. Louis area. Rasmussen led that short practice by more than 3 mph. The starting grid was set by entrant points after qualifying was rained out.
“What a race,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been kind of a weird weekend. It’s definitely been the weekend of my career where I’ve had the least amount of laps around the track before we go into the race. I think we did a great job in practice; we were super quick. But we were super sharp on the changes we made, as well.”
INDY NXT by Firestone OUTFRONT Showdown
Race Results
1. (1) Christian Rasmussen, 75, Running
2. (5) Louis Foster, 75, Running
3. (2) Hunter McElrea, 75, Running
4. (4) Jacob Abel, 75, Running
5. (8) Danial Frost, 75, Running
6. (3) Nolan Siegel, 75, Running
7. (11) Matthew Brabham, 75, Running
8. (12) Ernie Francis Jr., 75, Running
9. (7) Reece Gold, 75, Running
10. (10) Josh Pierson, 75, Running
11. (14) Christian Bogle, 75, Running
12. (13) Jamie Chadwick, 74, Running
13. (15) Colin Kaminsky, 74, Running
14. (9) Rasmus Lindh, 74, Running
15. (6) James Roe, 53, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 135.303 mph
Time of Race: 00:41:34.4069
Margin of victory: 1.7805 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 7 laps
Lead changes: 2 among 2 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Rasmussen, Christian 1 – 29
McElrea, Hunter 30 – 34
Rasmussen, Christian 35 – 75
Story and photo courtesy of INDYCAR Communications