LEXINGTON, OH — Christian Rasmussen braved the elements and was well on his way to a much needed Indy NXT victory on Sunday afternoon in Mid-Ohio.

Unfortunately for him, Andretti Autosport’s Louis Foster made an aggressive move for the lead entering Turn 4 with nine laps remaining.

It paid off.

Two laps later, points leader Nolan Siegel spun off course in the carousel. In what would have been a 39 point swing, was limited to 24 as Rasmussen had to settle for a third place finish in his No. 6 entry after leading the first 26 laps from pole.

Foster outlasted Rasmussen on the final restart to score his first career win. Kyffin Simpson passed Rasmussen for second on that same restart too.

It was Andretti’s 10th Mid-Ohio win in the last 11 tries here.

Foster now has four top six finishes in the last five races including three of which being on the podium. He started on the front row in second and took the win.

It was also Andretti’s first win of the season after beginning 0-for-6.

Rasmussen reentered the championship gray in going from two points ahead leaving Detroit to 40 points down leaving Road America. He now trails Siegel by 16 going to Iowa next month in a massive opportunity being lost.

Rasmussen had won here in every step. He won in 2019 in USF2000 in a weekend he finished 1st and 2nd respectively. He won four of the six visits in 2020 with finishes of 1st, 1st, 1st in one race weekend and 14th, 20th, 1st in the other.

In four Indy Pro 2000 starts here in 2021, he was 1st, 5th, 1st and 3rd. 

That’s 14 Mid-Ohio starts now with 7 wins. An 8th would have been massive.

Last years winner Hunter McElrea finished fourth while Reece Gold rounded out the top five in the 35 lap race that featured some mist around the 2.258 mile track.

McElrea now has four top four finishes in his No. 27 entry in the last five races run.