Cole Powell Clinches Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco Rookie Of The Year Honors

It’s a north of the border style Sunoco Rookie of the Year celebration this year for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Cole Powell (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

With one event still remaining this season, Cole Powell has clinched the 2013 Rookie of the Year award.

Powell, from Mount Brydges, Ontario, was the top finishing rookie in nine of 13 events thus far this season on the Whelen Modified Tour.

The 21-year old is currently 15th in the Whelen Modified Tour standings. His ninth place finish at Stafford Motor Speedway on Aug. 2 stands as the best run of his rookie campaign.

Powell is the first Canadian driver to earn Rookie of the Year title in the 15 years is has been awarded.

“We’re really excited about it,” Powell said in a release from NASCAR. “It’s the first time we’ve really ever gone out for a full season of anything – Late Models or Modifieds – so we had a goal set to get the Rookie of the Year. It feels good to accomplish that goal.”

“From everything else that I’ve run [in the past], whether it be Pro Late Models or Super Late Models, I think the Whelen [Modified] Tours are the stiffest competition I’ve ever been in. We’ve gone through a lot of bad luck this year, but being the rookie I think you’re allowed to have a year like that, I think everybody goes through that. Going into next year we’ll just keep our head high and hope that things turn around.”

The Rookie of the Year standings are determined by driver’s finish relative to other rookies in each event. The top-finishing rookie in a race earns 10 points, the second-highest receives nine, and on down the line. Powell has earned 123 Rookie of the Year points through 13 of 14 events, nearly triple the total of his nearest competition.

Powell also grabbed rookie of the race honors in both of his NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour starts this year. He had a third place finish in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour event on Aug. 3 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.