By: Marcus Wilson

MARKHAM, Ontario — After qualifying 15th for the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, Christian Rasmussen thought he had the car to compete in the race. Unfortunately, it did not go as planned.

Despite the No. 21 from Ed Carpenter Racing starting 21st after an unapproved engine change, Rasmussen made his way up to the top 10. Then an incident between the No. 9 of Chip Gannasi Racing’s Scott Dixon and the No. 19 of Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger on Lap 35 ultimately collected and ended the day of Rasmussen.

After leaving University of Indiana IndyCar Medical, Rasmussen told reporters the incident started when Dixon spun in front of him.

“I don’t know if he got tagged by the McLaren car or if he spun by himself, but spun all the way around,” he told News From The Pits. “I saw him coming, and like, I had nowhere to go. I dived to the inside, so I thought that was that would be my best option, but he kind of kept rolling back, so I just like got pinched.”

Since a seventh place finish at Mid-Ohio, Rasmussen has had some struggles in his 21 machine, not finishing on the lead lap with a pair of DNFs in the last 3 races.

“So, man, we were having a good day, which just makes it even more unfortunate,” he commented. “But you know, that’s the type of year we’re having, you know? Like, things out of our control just keep taking us out of races. It’s the fifth or sixth time this year this has happened, so I’m just tired of the bad luck.”