Louis Foster is tied in the standings with Robert Shwartzman, of Prema Racing in the chase for top rookie for 2025.
Shwartzman has the tiebreaker for the moment, based on the best race finish.
Shwartzman finished ninth in second race at Iowa (July 13), and had another top-10 at Detroit.
Any NTT IndyCar Series driver who is 162 points or more off leader Alex Palou’s pace following this weekend’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will be eliminated from contention for the series championship.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Louis Foster is one of those on the outside looking in, but he still has plenty to race for in 2025 season—namely the Rookie of the Year award.
Foster is tied in the standings with Robert Shwartzman, of Prema Racing, in the chase for top rookie for 2025. Neither has a victory. Each has captured a pole position, Foster in June at Road America a month and four days after Shwartzman rocked the auto racing world by blasting to the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Shwartzman has the tiebreaker for the moment, based on the best race finish. He finished ninth in second race at Iowa (July 13), and had another top-10 at Detroit. Foster’s best showing was 11th, twice (Indianapolis Grand Prix, Road America). Shwartzman has led eight laps this season, Foster four.
So Foster is in a bit of a fight for the $50,000 prize that comes with the Rookie of the Year honor.
“Obviously, I’m thinking about that in the back of my head and where Robert is in relation to my standings,” Foster said. “If we’re having a bad race but I’m still ahead of him, I’m thinking ‘Well at least there is that.’ It’s definitely something we want to win, but I feel like it’s something that with the pace that we’ve had shouldn’t really be a question. We’re focusing a lot higher than that right now. We’re looking at the big picture, but we want to make sure we finish the races and wrap that up.”
Jacob Abel, one of just four drivers behind Foster and Shwartzman in the standings, is the other rookie this season.
Only four drivers – Palou, Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, and Scott Dixon – still are mathematically alive in the title hunt. Palou’s closest challenger, O’Ward, is 99 points out of first place, making Palou’s current margin the largest points lead with four races to go since Scott Dixon won the championship in 2008.
And since that year, only Dario Franchitti in 2010 and Scott Dixon in 2015 have mounted successful comebacks from any significant deficit. Franchitti recorded the largest margin to overcome, 59 points, as ultimately he beat out Will Power by five points. Dixon overcame Juan Pablo Montoya’s 54-point advantage.
Practice for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey is set for Friday at 2 p.m. (PT) with a practice session. The second practice round will start at 8:30 a.m. (PT) Saturday, followed by qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six at 11:30 a.m. (PT). Sunday’s 95-lap, 212-mile race is set for a noon (PT) start.
Comments