While the IndyCar championship battle wrapped up in Portland, one battle for a coveted trophy went down to the wire, which was for the Rookie of the Year award. The fight came down to PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster at the Nashville Superspeedway, and only one driver prevailed.
Heading into the 2025 season, three rookie drivers joined the 27-car grid in the form of Shwartzman, Foster, and Jacob Abel. While the latter two drivers arrived from the Indy ladder as they claimed the top two spots in the Indy NXT championship, the Russian-Israeli driver moved over the Atlantic to aid PREMA Racing in their debut year.
Initially, the battle was expected to be a close one between the trio, but Abel’s lack of a top-10 finish throughout the year saw him out of the running early on. He finished the year with a meagre 121 points tally, the lowest among the full-time drivers. That left only Shwartzman and Foster in the fight for the prestigious title, which comes along with a $50,000 bonus.
Heading into the season finale, the duo were separated by eight points, with the balance tipping in the favor of Louis Foster. The two drivers had a stellar 2025 season from their own perspective, as Robert Shwartzman clinched the pole position as a rookie for the Indy 500, while Foster led the field to the race start in Road America.
So, with their battle for the IndyCar Rookie of the Year going down to the slimmest of margins, Shwartzman aimed to claim a strong result to strengthen his case. However, a late-race drive-through penalty saw him drop down from a top-10 position to finish 14th on the road.
Despite finishing six places ahead of his rookie rival, Foster’s eight-point cushion saw him out as the gap between the two in the championship standings came down to two points, with Foster having the upper hand. Leading the Briton to win the fabled Rookie of the Year title.
Robert Shwartzman would seemingly not be taken aback by losing out on the IndyCar Rookie of the Year title
Robert Shwartzman arrived in the IndyCar paddock with the hopes of settling down in the open-wheel racing scene in the United States. Though he did not clinch the ROTY title, the 25-year-old still has a lot of positives to look upon in the upcoming months.
Shwartzman is the only driver among the rookies to have scored top-10 finishes in the 17-race calendar. With the Indy 500 pole already bolstering his achievements, Shwartzman had shared ahead of the Nashville Grand Prix that moving ahead with the team is the main target, with the ROTY title being a lesser priority, as he said (via IndyCar’s official website):
«I really appreciate the Rookie of the Year, and it’s a good thing. But I generally focus on how to make my team and my car good because I want to believe that we’re going to continue (together) next year, and I want to come to a stage where we’re going to do it again.»
While Louis Foster’s consistency has helped him claim the award, the next fleet of rookies in 2026 would be looking to clinch the title in the forthcoming season.
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Edited by Rupesh
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