The IndyCar Afterburn: Milwaukee 2025

Today’s theme music: “Maskinen” by Skåmslåkkar

Indianapolis Motor Speedway may be the crown jewel of IndyCar, but no track on Earth has ever seen more American championship open-wheel racing than the Milwaukee Mile. From its beginnings on dirt to its decades as the doubleheader right after the 500, this historic oval has been a longtime fixture of our sport in one form or another, and it’s always a welcome sight on the calendar.

Because a certain Spaniard went God mode and wrapped up the National Championship way in advance, the Milwaukee Mile 250 didn’t get to play a part in that title fight or the Manufacturers’ Cup this year. However, the prestige of the Mile clearly still mattered, because these drivers went absolutely all-out in pursuit of victory and gave us the shock of the year in the process. So without further ado, let’s get into the ups, downs, and all-arounds from Indy racing’s 117th Mile run and see what’s left to play for at next week’s season finale.

Rasmussen goes all in for the win

On the day’s preshow, the Fox booth talked up a trio of hopefuls from smaller teams with dark horse potential. “I’m Keeping My Eye On” Santino Ferrucci was absolutely nowhere all day except the mouths of the broadcasters. Conor Daly had a hot start much like the one that set up his shock podium here last year, but couldn’t repeat it on the restarts and slipped into the midpack. But the third of the trio, Christian Rasmussen, ended up delivering beyond most people’s wildest dreams.

With a loose, twitchy setup designed to maximize Rasmussen’s ability to make moves, the Dane hung respectably in the top 10 most of the day, overcoming a pit speeding penalty and having multiple enticing fights for position with Kyle Kirkwood. However, it was the final stint, where a late caution prompted all but the top three to take new tires, where the #21 went absolutely ballistic, picking off driver after driver until he went all the way around the outside through turns 3 and 4 to snipe the lead from Álex Palou. For the next 16 laps, the world held its breath as Rasmussen went full checkers or wreckers, squeezing past lapped traffic by some incredibly thin margins to make sure Palou couldn’t catch up.

Fortunately for all involved, it worked out, and Rasmussen took what will almost certainly be the most popular win of the year. This also gives Ed Carpenter Racing its first win since 2021, and combined with a strategic masterclass to put Alexander Rossi in 4th, it’s a contender for the team’s best overall outing to date.

Rain on Palou’s parade

Not content to rest on his laurels after clinching the championship two races early, Álex Palou drove like he needed another win just to stay alive. After cracking 163 miles an hour to take his sixth pole of the season, the Spaniard spent much of the race making everyone look foolish, clocking 199 laps led and taking his gap into double digits at times. However, his eventual undoing arrived on lap 209, when a brief sunshower forced the track to go yellow. His gamble to keep the tires he had, rather than pitting a fifth time for new ones, seemed like it should’ve paid off. Clearly, though, a mad Dane flying up the field hadn’t factored into the calculations, and once Rasmussen got past, Palou never got another whiff of the win. Still, it’s podium number 12 out of 16 races for King Kong, and he’ll surely go gorilla again

Return of the (Scotty) Mac

After finally getting a win last time out in Portland, Team Penske continued to glue themselves together with another strong day. Thanks to last year’s doubleheader, Scott McLaughlin came in with half of the local crown, and he fought hard to make it undisputed. The former Supercars champion ran in the podium places pretty much all day, with Josef Newgarden regularly right behind. Though Newgarden would slip down to 7th on the final stint, thanks in part to Rasmussen’s electrifying last charge, McLaughlin fended off Alexander Rossi and multiple McLarens to return to the podium for the first time since Alabama. After the year Scotty Mac’s had, he needed this badly, and he’ll look to end the year even stronger.

Malukas’s gun jams

The early romantic pick to stop Palou was the other man on the front row, David Malukas, and at first, he lived up to the hype. Lil Dave forced the first lead change of the race on lap 16, posting the fastest lap of the day in the process, and he’d stay in front for 25 laps until Palou got back ahead. Everything looked on track for at least another podium, but on his second stop, the right rear wheel gun wouldn’t fire, forcing that pit crew to grab the backup. That quick thinking saved him from a DNF, but 30 seconds in the box plus a disastrously-timed yellow put Malukas a lap down. Even so, he pulled a miraculous salvage job from there, bringing the #4 all the way back up to 8th by race’s end.

Overcut zeal backfires on Armstrong

Marcus Armstrong and his near-religious devotion to leading laps on the overcut has been one of the more consistent running gags of the season. He brought it back once again on the third pit cycle of the day, staying out to secure eight laps led under yellow. However, when the race went green again, the plan completely blew up in Armstrong’s face. Palou got back past the Kiwi on turn 1, and within two laps Armstrong was thoroughly out of the mix again. However, the fact he managed to claw back to 10th has to count for something, and he’ll now head to Nashville looking to end his strongest season to date on a high note.

The Sicko’s Guide to DNFs: no, Prema, we already chose a Pope

First-lap crashes are nothing new on ovals, and we just barely avoided another one to start this race. Right as Álex Palou crossed the line to start lap 2, Nolan Siegel got too low coming into turn 4 and spun up into the wall. With five DNFs and a DNS to his name this year, McLaren might have to start asking themselves if Siegel would be better off in their sports car programs.

After Graham Rahal spun enough to bring out the yellow, but not enough to wreck, Will Power became our next casualty. In an attempt to get around Kyffin Simpson, the Australian got up into the marbles, managing to hit both the outside and inside walls. From a Penske perspective, however, it was at least a productive wreck, as the timing of Power’s crash locked David Malukas out of contention and made it that much easier for Scott McLaughlin to reach the podium.

Finally, Callum Ilott’s day ended abruptly when his Prema #90 started to smoke. That caused the fourth of the day’s five cautions, and it also disappointingly ended Ilott’s streak of top-8 finishes at three.

Championship Collage: viva España

Our official unofficial Nations’ Cup chase ended a week early, as despite losing the race late, Spain put the United States 57 points behind to officially take the title. That top two is mathematically locked, with Mexico, New Zealand, and Denmark set to battle for the bronze next week.

That leaves just the Rookie of the Year award to focus on. Louis Foster took another steady step towards valedictorian status for the 2025 class, leading a lap and finishing ahead of Robert Shwartzman to give himself eight points of breathing room. This won’t exactly be a clash of titans next week, 

Future Flames: a Nashville finale

We’ve got just one race left before the season is officially over, and for the second straight year, it’ll end with a war for a guitar. At Nashville Superspeedway’s Music City Grand Prix, our drivers will get one last chance to prove their worth 1.33 miles at a time on the lone tri-oval on the schedule.

Colton Herta enters as the reigning local champion, and if there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s finish strong. He’s already won three IndyCar season finales, and he’d love nothing more than to make it four. But he’ll have plenty of threats on his tail, including the obvious Álex Palou; Scott Dixon, who won three straight at this track in the 2000s; and hometown hero Josef Newgarden, who’ll do anything to make sure he doesn’t go winless for the first time since 2014.