IndyCar: Has Felix Rosenqvist locked up Rookie of the Year?

Following his runner-up performance at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, has Felix Rosenqvist locked up the Rookie of the Year Award for the 2019 IndyCar season?

The 2019 IndyCar rookie class is the deepest and most talented rookie class in recent memory, and each of the four rookies competing for the Rookie of the Year Award have achieved numerous highlights throughout the season.

But following the 13th race on the 17-race schedule, the Honda Indy 200, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, has one rookie already effectively locked up this award?

Unlike the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award, the Rookie of the Year Award goes to the highest finishing rookie, period. There is nothing subjective about it; if you are a rookie and there is no other rookie who scores as many points as you do, you win the award.

Has Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist locked up this award?

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Rosenqvist finished in a career-high second place behind teammate Scott Dixon in this 90-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile (3.634-kilometer) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course road course in Lexington, Ohio, and he finished just 0.0934 seconds behind him in what was an epic finish.

The 27-year-old Swede opened up the season looking like the Rookie of the Year favorite by finishing in fourth place in his IndyCar debut on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, but he quickly lost that title when he crashed in the next race at Circuit of the Americas, a race that was won by Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta.

Over the course of the season, the other two rookies, Dale Coyne Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Marcus Ericsson, have also seen their share of the spotlight.

Ferrucci was the highest finishing rookie in the Indy 500 with his seventh place finish, and he won the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Award. Ericsson recorded a career-high second place finish in the second race at the Raceway on Belle Isle, and Ferrucci then recorded a career-high finish of fourth in the race at Texas Motor Speedway to move to the top of the rookie championship standings.

A race at Iowa Speedway that saw him pass several cars on the outside in one attempt resulted in a disappointing 12th place for Ferrucci, but he still sits tied for fourth in the oval championship standings behind only Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi. He is tied with Team Penske’s Will Power with three of the season’s five oval races having been contested.

But after Rosenqvist’s outstanding performance at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, it will be tough for any one of the other three rookies to challenge him for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Here are the current rookie championship standings.

NOTE: Rank denotes overall rank in the championship standings.

Rank – Driver, Car, Team, Engine: Points (Behind)
9th – Felix Rosenqvist, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda: 296 (-)
13th – Santino Ferrucci, #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda: 259 (-37)
14th – Colton Herta, #88, Harding Steinbrenner Racing, Honda: 245 (-51)
15th – Marcus Ericsson, #7, Arrow SPM, Honda: 219 (-77)

Ferrucci hasn’t been able to secure the top results that the other three rookies have, so it is hard to see him making a run at Rosenqvist.

Herta has shown exceptional speed on a regular basis with an average starting position of 7.46, which is the fifth best average starting position among all drivers, and he is the only driver aside of Rossi who has qualified outside of the top 11 on only one occasion through the first 13 races of the season. But his speed has only translated into five top 10 finishes and a lackluster average finishing position of 15.00.

Ericsson simply hasn’t been as fast or as consistent as any of the other three rookies this season, and he is too far behind Rosenqvist to be considered a threat to pass him and win this award.

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Has Felix Rosenqvist effectively locked up the Rookie of the Year Award for the 2019 IndyCar season, or will Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta and/or Marcus Ericsson make a run and challenge him for it over the course of the season’s final four races?

Four races remain on the 2019 schedule, the first of which being the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 18.