Rasmussen delivers ECR a $1 million drive at Nashville
09/15/2024 07:31 PM
Christian Rasmussen was given an amazing endorsement by his boss Ed Carpenter, who asked the Danish rookie to step in and take his place over the last three oval events and move the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy into contention for a Leaders Circle contract.
The prize money program, devised in the 2000s where the vast majority of the season's prize fund is split evenly among the top finishers in the entrants' championship, rewards those who place inside the top 22 in the entrants' standings, and with the No. 20 sitting 23rd entering the season finale, Rasmussen was focused on finishing ahead of the 22nd-place No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy driven by Sting Ray Robb.
It was looking dicey for the first half of the 206-lap race as Robb held the upper hand, but Rasmussen—the 2023 Indy NXT champion—was able to rally and improve to 14th at the checkered flag, six spots ahead of Robb, who was dealing with food poisoning all day.
Moments after climbing from the car, Rasmussen was being celebrated by his crew and ECR's leadership for delivering a $1 million payday for the team.
"Good day, a good day," the Dane told RACER. "I felt like the race for me was very up and down. I didn’t really know where we were, and I don’t know if we made a little mistake on the pit stop, which sent us to the back, so I made up spots, and then we got sent to the back. I felt like I did that a few times."
ECR asked Rasmussen to conserve fuel to finish the race, and once he had enough in reserve, it was time to go on the attack.
"Once we got kicked loose and I got off my fuel number, we had a lot of pace, and we basically put a lap on Sting Ray in a very short time," he said. "We were flying, so that was super fun. There was one objective today and we got it."
The faith placed by Carpenter in Rasmussen was duly rewarded. With one IndyCar oval race to his credit, taking the reins from an oval expert like Carpenter came with lofty expectations.
"It’s a huge trust," Rasmussen said. "I got presented with the opportunity and went to it very humbly. I know we had an objective, but I just wanted to do the best I could for the team. It was the right choice. It was not an easy task, coming to two new ovals without any test days or anything on a short oval, but it worked out pretty well — P11, P16 and P13 in my first three ovals in an IndyCar other than the Indy 500 — so I'm happy with that."
