You can, but you will need to draw a MIDI control change (CC) curve in the MIDI clip to accomplish this, not an automation curve.
The reason for the separate methods has to do with the original MIDI definition from the 1980s. Mod wheel, pitch bend, aftertouch and others are are assigned a MIDI CC as they are performance controls and are recorded into the same MIDI clip as the MIDI notes. Automation came later with DAWs and plug-ins when people wanted to manipulate plug-in parameters inside their host applications. Automation does not use MIDI CC for the parameter changes.
Having mod wheel and pitch wheel automation would be redundant and possibly create conflicts if you drew curves using both options.
Please refer to your DAW/host help documents for information on creating MIDI CC curves for the mod wheel and pitch wheel.