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Rookie Of The Year
By Andrew Cutler September 23 2008
Once again, consistancy pays off. While two of the other 2008 IndyCar Series rookies - some of whom had several years in the CCWS under their belts - found their way into Victory Lane, wildly fluctuating fortunes throughout the rest of the year kept them from racking up the highest points tally come September.

Meanwhile, while his Andretti/Green Racing teammates kept making sports news headlines - usually for the wrong reasons - rookie driver Hideki Mutoh kept his head down & concentrated on comming to grips with his Dallara/Honda & learning several tracks that he had never seen before. The end result was a impressive thirteen top 15 finishes, including 7 top tens & a season's best second place at Iowa. 

This gave Mutoh a 2008 series championship points total of 346, good enough for 10th place overall & 6 points better than fellow rookie Justin Wilson. Thus, Mutoh was the obvious choice for Rookie Of The Year honors.

"I knew it was going to be tough to win the rookie championship, so I'm very proud to be rookie of the year," Mutoh observed. "It is very good for my race career."

Team co-owner Michael Andretti added that Mutoh has been a great addition to the team. "Hideki really impressed us with the way he handled his first season in the IndyCar Series. He tried to take in as much information as he could from his teammates and really developed a lot as a driver as the year went on."

Hideki will be back at AGR for the 2009 IndyCar season.

 

 

 

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