On a blisteringly hot day in the Pacific Northwest, the already sweltering temperature was raised several degrees higher thanks to an escalating incident between Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen.
The conclusion of the contretemps, which started on lap 13 and ended on lap 15, was a vicious hit into the turn 11 tire barriers for the driver of the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet that looked bad but could have been so much worse given the severity of the impact. Daly was, unsurprisingly, not best pleased.
“I just got hit by Christian, like twice in two laps, it was kind of a shame,” Daly told Frontstretch. “I saw him drive Colton [Herta], almost into the wall in the back straight, so that gave me an opportunity to pass Colton, and he was really slow. So I tried to make a move and he drove me off into [turn] 7 so aggressively that I was miles off the track and he also went off the track.
“So, when you try to drive someone off that aggressively, you kind of make a fool of yourself. And then I had a huge run on him, easy enough, but he just, he was never going to break. So, again, he drove straight into my car and in a really dangerous corner, and that’s how it worked out.”
Thankfully, Daly walked away from the incident unscathed but he was crystal clear in his perspective of what transpired. When asked if he thought it was worth a conversation with the Ed Carpenter Racing wheelman, Daly didn’t mince words.
“I don’t think it’ll change. I mean, I like Christian. I think he’s a good dude, but that’s really inexcusable racing. I mean, that’s up to the stewards, it’s not up to me to handle.”
Daly continued his theme on X a short while later, reinforcing his point in case anyone had any doubt as to his perspective.
Rasmussen, in his first full season for Ed Carpenter Racing, had a much different perspective than the veteran, Daly.
“I think we were up to 13th, 12th or something right at the start, so we were cooking pretty good there, but I was really struggling with the pace on the blacks and especially in the left-hand corners,” Rasmussen told Frontstretch post-race.
“I was struggling a lot, so [for example, in] turn 6, people would get runs on me as well, I was just kind of in full defend mode. Then I had a little incident with Conor, where I kind of touched him in [turn] 7, trying to roll my outside and I just understeered into him, which is on me, but it took us both off the track.
When pushed on Daly’s obvious frustration, Rasmussen was open to a conversation but not to shouldering the blame.
“Sure, I’m hoping to have a conversation with him. I do think that when you try to roll the outside in a corner like turn ten, that’s kind of what to be expected,” he said. “I mean, I was on the inside, I had the inside line, so I wasn’t going to pull out of it, so I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I’m sorry to see Conor in the wall like that.
“That was a hard hit. I’m glad he’s OK, but at the end of the day, I think that’s kind of what you can expect in an incident like that. I haven’t watched it on video, so maybe I’ll change my mind, but that’s kind of how I see it now.
Danny Peters has written for Frontstretch since 2006. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.