Louis Foster secures 2025 IndyCar Rookie of the Year

The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series finale didn’t go to plan for Louis Foster and the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team, but the British driver left the weekend with Rookie of the Year honours after a dramatic late race swing.

Foster qualified a distant 23rd and spent most of Sunday’s race on the back-foot. The 22-year-old was lapped early and then hit with a penalty for a controversial run-in with A.J. Foyt Racing’s David Malukas. Malukas was coming up on Foster and looking to his outside when Foster appeared to swerve up the track.

The pair then made contact going down into turn 1, sending Malukas careening into the turn 1 wall in a vicious crash.

The incident knocked Malukas out of the race. He was later transported to a local medical center for further evaluation out of an abundance of caution.

Foster suffered minimal damage in the incident, but was issued a drive-through penalty for blocking that he was required to serve under green. The incident trapped Foster two lap down and deep in the field. In doing so, it opened the door for Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter Robert Shwartzman to potentially steal the top rookie honors away in the final race.

Shwartzman had entered the Nashville Superspeedway just eight points behind Foster in the standings, meaning a big enough differential between the pair could swing the rookie award his way. Heading into the closing laps, the Prema Racing prospect was in position to snatch the honor. While Foster was trapped down in 20th, Shwartzman ran 10th heading into the final 11-lap run.

Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing earlier in the 2025 season

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

A clean, quick final run was all the Russian-Israeli driver needed to lock in rookie honors. But Shwartzman made a critical mistake in the final laps, earning a penalty for blocking on lap 220 of 225 that knocked him out of contention just minutes before the checkered flag flew.

The penalty left Shwartzman a lap down in 14th at race’s end, leaving the Russian-Israeli driver two points behind Foster in the season-ending standings. Foster finished 23rd with 213 points, while Shwartzman followed in 24th with 211 points.

Through the 2025 season

Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing earlier in the year

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Foster’s 2025 season ends with mixed results. The 2024 Indy NXT champion showed promising pace at times – particularly in qualifying, where he earned a Road America pole and made the Fast Six three times.

But he never cracked the top 10 in a race.

Foster’s best finish was 11th on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Road America. He had seven top-15 finishes, including a 12th-place run in the Indianapolis 500.