It was Easter weekend and there was not much going on. Corey Heim won at Rockingham, his 25th NASCAR Truck Series victory, moving him into fifth all-time and Heim is now the championship leader despite having missed two of five races run this season. Super Formula began its season in a deluge. Supercross remains a tight championship. Ben Keating is going to miss the first rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season due to an elbow injury. With not much going on during a holiday weekend, it is a good time to look ahead.
Let's Talk Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
There is no great time to talk about important issues surrounding the Indianapolis 500.
If you wait until May, it is too late. Any other time of the year feels out of place. There are pockets over winter, but even then the event is far off. The start of April is a good time. It isn't too early. It is early, but it is not excessively early, and there used to be a day when entries were getting finalized the entry list was being announced. Besides, IndyCar just had an off weekend, there are two more weeks until the next race, and then there are two weekends off after that. It feels like a good opening.
Last year, many were upset with how the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was decided, and that has been a common feeling recently post-Indianapolis 500.
In case you forgot, Robert Shwartzman won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, thanks to his pole position but negating his pit lane accident that ended his race after 87 laps and placed the Israeli driver in 26th. This was despite Louis Foster finishing 15th, the best rookie on the road and completing all 500 miles, and Foster would later elevate to 12th after three post-race penalties were applied to the results.
It was the third time in four years the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was not the top finishing rookie. In 2022, Jimmie Johnson took the honors but was 28th while David Malukas was 16th. In 2024, Kyle Larson did run all 500 mile and finished 18th, earning him Rookie of the Year, but Christian Rasmussen was the top finishing rookie in 12th.
The most recent Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year to be the best finishing rookie was Benjamin Pedersen in 2023, a year when none of the rookies finished and Pedersen was 21st. It was also a year when an argument could have been made the best rookie was not the best finishing rookie. Agustín Canapino had a good case.
For two of those years, there was an us-versus-them element to it. The drivers with NASCAR backgrounds won even if less recognizable names did better. Last year's angst was over a driver who made it 500 miles and a driver who hit crew members in the pit lane got the honor.
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was only first honored in 1952. In the 74 races it has been awarded, it has gone to 79 drivers thanks to a few ties. In 74 years, only 13 times did the top rookie finisher not at least get a share of Rookie of the Year.
The award doesn't go to the best finisher, and there is actual criteria. It is not as simple as giving it to the best rookie finisher, and it is a good thing it isn't that black-and-white, but could more be done?
An argument can be made the best rookie finisher should at least get time in the post-race press conference. Select media members decide who wins Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. If that is the voting bloc, present them with who was the best finisher at least. If there is a worry about a driver being overlooked, give that driver a platform to share the story of his or her day and make the voters aware of that performance.
The votes could also be made public. Some of those people do not cover IndyCar beyond the Indianapolis 500. Some cover NASCAR 51 weeks of the year, and one week IndyCar gets the most focus. It shouldn't be a purity test, but Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is inconsequential in day-to-day life. If the votes are public, we at least know how everyone votes and we can at least get explanations for decision-making.
I wish more data was made available through IndyCar's live timing and scoring. There is a lap chart that is presented at the end of each race that shows where each car was running at the end of each lap. All the data is there to calculate average running position and number of laps spent in the top five and top ten. That information could go a long way. Would people have voted differently if they knew Jimmie Johnson's average running position in 2022 was 21.326, and that Johnson spent 111 laps running outside the top twenty while David Malukas only spent four laps outside the top twenty and had an average running position of 14.43? I don't think it is a bad thing to paint a full picture.
It is good that we are at least aware before this year's race because it might not be as clear as the top finisher getting the award, and that is fine. There are going to be years when the best rookie wasn't the best finisher, and one team stretched fuel and finished ten spots better than where it spent most of the race. That doesn't mean that driver who stretched fuel should get the award. The finish was better but there is more to it than that. Just because a driver finished ninth doesn't mean he or she was clearly better than the driver in tenth. It is ok for this to be subjective.
For 2026, we are not expecting an outsider with a great following beyond IndyCar to come in and have an unintentional bias. It looks like the rookies will be the same as the rookies we have full-time, Caio Collet, Dennis Hauger and Mick Schumacher. It is possible Jacob Abel will be back as a one-off and will be eligible for Rookie of the Year as Abel did not qualify for last year's race. If anyone has more attention, it is Mick Schumacher. The last name carries a lot of weight. I don't know if it pushes the scales in his favor before he ever gets on track, but it is one of the most notable names in motorsports. If he running decent, it will attract more eyes than Collet, Haguer or Abel.
It has been knee-jerk to suggest an overhaul of the decision procession for Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, and to entirely make it cut-and-dry based on finishing position does take away some of the lure and the pageantry we get every year in the month of May. It is harmless if it is a vote. Adjustments can still be made to help the voters and help the competitors. I don't think IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be afraid to do more when it comes to Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Compared to the race winner, it is lower on the totem pole, but it is ok to embrace what it is and strengthen its place among the post-race festivities.
Champion From the Weekend
Haiden Deegan clinched the Supercross 250cc West championship with his victory in the East-West Showdown at St. Louis. It is Deegan's second consecutive title, and St. Louis was his sixth victory of the season.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Corey Heim and Haidan Deegan, but did you know...
William Sawalich won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Rockingham, his first career victory.
Kakunoshin Ohta swept the Super Formula races from Motegi.
Ken Roczen won the Supercross race from St. Louis, his third victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR will be at Bristol.
There are three season openers, starting with Super GT at Okayama.
Euroepean Le Mans Series will be at Barcelona.
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Supercars are at Taupō.
Supercross has a day event in Nashville.
The World Rally Championship will be in Croatia.
