IndyCar: Robert Wickens clinches Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award

By Asher Fair | Sep 5, 2018

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Robert Wickens, driver of the #6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda, pits during the Verizon IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

Robert Wickens has clinched the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award for the 2018 IndyCar season following the Grand Prix of Portland.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens hasn’t competed in an IndyCar race since suffering multiple injuries in the massive accident in which he was involved during the ABC Supply 500 on Sunday, August 19.

However, while the 29-year-old Canadian has competed in only 14 of the 16 races that have been contested so far in the 17-race 2018 season, he has officially clinched the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.

With one race remaining on this year’s schedule, the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma, at Sonoma Raceway, each driver can score a maximum of 104 points. The points for finishing the race are doubled for each position in this race because it is the season finale, meaning the race winner will receive 100 points instead of 50 points.

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One bonus point is awarded to the race polesitter, one bonus point is awarded to any driver who leads at least one lap of the race and two bonus points are awarded to the driver who leads more laps than anybody else in the field.

The driver of the #6 Honda earned 391 points in the 14 races that he contested this year. Heading into the season finale, this means that all rookie drivers who do not have at least 287 points and therefore are not within 104 points of him have been eliminated from Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award contention.

No other rookies have 287 points, meaning Wickens, who currently sits in seventh place in the championship standings and sat in sixth when his injuries sidelined him for the remainder of the season, has clinched the award after an impressive rookie season.

Aside of Wickens, there are only two other full-time rookie drivers this season. Those two drivers are Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach and A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Matheus Leist.

Heading into the season finale, Veach sits in 15th place in the championship standings with 281 points (110 points behind Wickens) and Leist sits in 18th in the standings with 231 points (160 points behind Wickens). As a result, there is no way by which either driver can catch and pass Wickens as the top rookie in 2018.

Wickens finished this season with seven top five finishes and 10 top 10 finishes in 14 races. He finished in a career-high second place in the races at ISM Raceway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

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Congratulations to Robert Wickens on winning the 2018 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. Our continued thoughts and prayers are with him and his friends, family and fans as he continues to recover from the injuries he suffered in that terrible crash at Pocono Raceway two and a half weeks ago.