February 11, 2025

Rasmussen holds off Abel at Iowa, takes over IndyNXT points lead

Closest race ever in the series at Iowa Speedway was decided by .1227 of a second

By Troy Hyde

IndyNXT driver Christian Rasmussen celebrates his win at Iowa Speedway with runner-up finisher Jacob Abel in Victory Lane on Saturday night. Rasmussen defeated Abel by only .1227 of a second to take over the points lead in the series. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Not even a late restart would stop Christian Rasmussen on Saturday.

The driver of the No. 6 HMD Motorsports car did have to sweat out the final few laps but held off a late push from Jacob Abel and won the IndyNXT by Firestone race at Iowa Speedway in what turned out to be the closest race in the series ever at the 7/8-mile oval.

“I’m not sure if I would have won the race if it was 76 laps,” Rasmussen said after claiming his second win of the season and the fourth in his career. “I wasn’t too happy with the caution, but I was able to hold them off.”

Christian Rasmussen, center, won the IndyNXT race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night and took over the points lead in the series. Jacob Abel, left, finished second and Rasmus Lindh scored the first podium finish of his career in third. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

The IndyNXT race was delayed from Saturday morning to Saturday night after heavy rain came through Newton for a short period of time earlier in the day.

The win shoots Rasmussen into the points lead. He now leads Nolan Siegel by 22 points.

Siegel came into the weekend on top of the standings but registered his second straight 15th-place finish after he and Hunter McElrea made contact on turn 2 of lap 60 to force the only caution of the race.

Rasmussen won the race by .1227 of a second after holding off Abel on the restart. He led 74 of the 75 laps after passing Abel, who started on the pole, on turn 4 of lap 2.

“We have been so good here for a long time,” Rasmussen said. “We were fastest at the test and at practice and had a fast car in qualifying, too.

“I knew from practice that I could run any line I wanted to. It was just about predicting where Jacob was going to go and going the other way.”

IndyNXT drivers Ernie Francis Jr. (99) and Matthew Brabham race on the front stretch of Iowa Speedway on Saturday during the 75-lap race. Brabham finished fourth in his first race of the season and Francis Jr. ended up eighth. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Abel earned his third podium of the season in second and Rasmus Lindh grabbed the first podium finish of his career in third.

Matthew Brabham, who was called in this week as a replacement driver, finished fourth and McElrea was the final driver on the lead lap in fifth.

“We only had a one-car team this weekend,” Abel said. “It shows our team’s experience. They gave me a great car.”

A pair of rookies — Josh Pierson and Louis Foster — were sixth and seventh, Ernie Francis Jr. placed eighth, James Roe was ninth and rookie Jamie Chadwick rounded out the top 10.

Abel’s runner-up finish pushes him into third in the championship race, while Foster now sits fifth. Pierson is 19th in the standings after posting his second top-10 finish of the season.

IndyNXT driver Hunter McElrea autographs a picture for a young racing fan on Friday at Iowa Speedway. McElrea finished fifth at Saturday's 75-lap race. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Lindh came into the weekend 18th in points but is now 12th.

“We have been working really hard for this,” Lindh said. “It felt good in practice.”