Alex Palou’s rivals hope to create double problems in Milwaukee

Last year's NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at the Milwaukee Mile was so successful that organizers chose to repeat it this year.

Well, that's probably not the motivation for this weekend's doubleheader, but fans of the sport will benefit as they'll have double the fun with two 250-mile races.

If the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 or the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 are as exciting as last year's race, the adrenaline will be guaranteed. Christian Rasmussen's final sprint capped two hours of pure wheel-to-wheel excitement. The victory was Rasmussen's first in the category, achieved at the expense of defending champion Alex Palou, who led 199 of the first 234 laps. Rasmussen led the last 16 laps.

The action behind the leaders was equally exciting and intensified with a late-race yellow flag. Rasmussen started from seventh position, using fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, and led Ed Carpenter Racing to victory for the first time since Rinus VeeKay won for the team in 2021 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway co-ed course.

Milwaukee showed balance in the series last year.

Last year's top five reflected the competitive balance of this series.

Just behind Palou, Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin finished third, equaling his best result of the season. Alexander Rossi came fourth, and ECR placed two drivers in the top four for the first time this season. Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward completed the top five.

Changing tires for what turned out to be the final contest was undoubtedly the right decision for most teams, although without them McLaughlin only dropped from second to third, while his Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden dropped from third to seventh. Of course, Palou lost the lead. These three drivers made their final stops 15 laps before Rasmussen and the others, and this proved decisive.

Six teams placed drivers in the top 10, with four teams (Ed Carpenter Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Arrow McLaren) each having two drivers in the group.

Next: Several riders appear ready

Rasmussen's first victory in the series came in his 30th start (pictured above), and he became the most recent driver to claim his first victory in the series since fellow Dane Christian Lundgaard won in Toronto in July 2023. Rasmussen became the 299th driver in history to win a race in the series.

So which driver will be number 300?

The list of competitors begins with Team Penske's David Malukas, who has excelled on short oval circuits throughout his five-year career. He has two podium finishes at World Wide Technology Raceway (2022 and 2023) and has placed in the top three on seven occasions (three times at WWTR and twice each at Iowa Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile, including last year). He finished eighth in last year's Milwaukee race for AJ Foyt Racing.

Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong with Curb Agajanian (pictured above) also continues to knock on the door of victory. This season, he has earned eight top-eight starting positions and posted top-five finishes at Phoenix Raceway and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Saturday's race will mark Malukas' 77th start in the series and Armstrong's 62nd. Both finished in the top 10 at last year's Milwaukee race, with Malukas eighth and Armstrong tenth. Malukas is fourth in this year's overall standings, while Armstrong is 15th.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson is another driver looking for his first victory in the series. He is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., last weekend.

Title fight 'a little' tighter

Even with a disastrous result in Washington, Palou maintains a considerable lead in the overall standings and could secure his record-equalling fourth consecutive title and fifth in six years, even with modest results this weekend.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver will secure the title if he finishes the double round with a 53-point lead (he holds the tiebreaker, which is the most wins in the season). In reality, he only needs to be ahead by 48 points as long as he participates in the final race of the season on September 6 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as all drivers who start are guaranteed five points.

Palou's lead over Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood is 91 points, which is a bit concerning considering he dropped 41 points in Washington. But this represents a worst-case scenario, which rarely happens among leaders. Kirkwood collected 53 of a possible 54 points as the race winner, while Palou collected just 11 points as the winner of the NTT P1 Award (which is worth one point) and finished in 20th place.

Palou needs 71 ​​points in the last three races to secure the title. That equates to an average finish of 8.0, which is below both his season average of 6.3 and his average over the past two years of 5.1.

Officially, Lundgaard, Malukas and O'Ward also have a mathematical chance of winning the championship, but the three candidates are 110 points or more behind Palou. Basically, they need Palou to have three Washington-like results while they win all their remaining games. Kirkwood almost needs it too.

Bottom line: Palou is still in control, has proven he can win on short tracks (Iowa in 2025) and has won three of the last four races at Laguna Seca, including the last two starting from pole position. Remember, he has a two-race lead with three races remaining.

Andretti Global eyeing a hat trick

With Kirkwood's victory in last weekend's race (pictured above), Andretti Global became the third team this season to win back-to-back races. Marcus Ericsson won the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on August 16th.

Palou gave Chip Ganassi Racing back-to-back victories on two occasions, and Arrow McLaren won at Road America and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in back-to-back races with Lundgaard and O'Ward, respectively.

Palou won a third personal championship last year and contributed to Chip Ganassi's team winning the final four races of the 2023 season (Scott Dixon won three and Palou one). Palou also won three consecutive races earlier that season.

It has been 14 years since Andretti Global won three consecutive races. That was Ryan Hunter-Reay's achievement in Milwaukee, Iowa and Toronto in 2012, when the team was still called Andretti Autosport. To open the 2013 season, Michael Andretti's team won three of the four races contested, with James Hinchcliffe (two wins) and Hunter-Reay (one).