Joshua Shipley used a balance of speed and consistency to not only finish third in the points in his first full season in the 2017 Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series Southwest Region but also clinch Rookie of the Year honors in the process.

Last week, Shipley wrapped up his freshman campaign with ninth- and 12th-place finishes in the Copper Class at Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, AZ.

"We really struggled at the beginning of the season," Shipley said. "I'm so proud of our team for never giving up and ending off the year with good hard races."

His Copper Classic effort closed the season the way rookies would hope: with enough momentum to carry them into the winter and results that show growth. Shipley was strong at the beginning of the weekend and did not fall off, but he had some road blocks that needed to be circumvented.

"On night one we started off really fast," Shipley said. "We were fourth fastest in practice, but I drew the high pill for qualifying and we went out last."

Still, he qualified 15th, which was good enough to line up third in his heat. He advanced one spot to finish second. With that result and his accumulated passing points, Shipley landed third on the grid for the A-main. In a stacked field that included NASCAR veteran Christopher Bell, Shipley dropped to ninth. It was his ninth top 10 of the season.

On night two, he qualified deeper in the field because an early pill draw forced him onto a surface that was not quite worked in.

"I drew the first pill for qualifying on Saturday," he said. "The track wasn't there yet when our group went out and I qualified 19th, which wasn't great."

Even so, there was a lesson to be learned from the experience. Shipley started that heat race fifth and moved up to fourth. Transferring into the A-main in 17th could have proved to be disastrous for a rookie driver, but Shipley passed five cars before the checkers waved and scored his 11th top 15 of the season.

During the 2017 season, Shipley recorded one ASCS Southwest win at Arizona Speedway in September. He led that race from start to finish. Odds are good that he will have his first multi-win season in 2018.