INDYCAR: Driver Ratings for 2023 Big Machine Music City GP at Nashville

Crash INDYCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville.
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske at Nashville
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske at Nashville

Kyle Kirkwood: 10

The sophomore driver is cementing himself as theไ alpha dog in his first season with Andretti Autosport.

Scott McLaughlin: 9

Another Nashville pole, another N♔ashville runne🐓r-up for the Team Penske driver.

Alex Palou: 9

Yet another podium finish for Pal𒈔ou, who extended his championship lead with just four races remaining.

Josef Newgarden: 9

It was a great day for the hometown rac꧃er, who climbed his way ♐to the front, but he still finished behind Palou.

Scott Dixon: 8

Although he was never in position to win the 💧race, it was a third consecutive top-five finish for Dixon at Nashville🍸.

Romain Grosjean: 8

A 6th place finish almost felt like a podium for Grosjean, who kept it clean, led some laps,ﷺ and brought the car home in one piece.

Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean

Marcus Ericsson: 6

It was an odd weekend for Ericsson, who was at both ends of the spectrum at time⛎sꩵ but still earned a solid 7th place finish.

Pato O'Ward: 7

Arrow McLaren didn'🦹t have race-winning cars this weekend, but Pato made the most of the situation and earned another top-ten result.

Christian Lundgaard: 7

Lundgaard once again led the way for an RLL Racing team that is 𒊎still trying to figure things o🍷ut.

Will Power: 7

Power was frustrated by his mistake in qual🎀ifying, and was never able to find his way t💫o the front on Sunday.

Helio Castroneves: 8

This was the b꧒est race of the season for Castroneves, and a solid weekend overall for Meyer Shank Racing.

Callum Ilott: 7

Ilott didn't have any highlights ꦉthis weekend but still a decent ✱day for the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver.

Marcus Armstrong: 7

Given his performances already this season, this weekend seemed like somewhat of a disappo🧸intment for the talented rookie.

Rinus VeeKay: 5

A decent run was thrown away yet again as VeeKay was penalized for ཧmaking side contact with Alexander Rossi in a high-speed section of the track.

Graham Rahal: 6

This wꦗas another mediocre run for Rahal, finishing in the middle of the pꦏack once again.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: 6

Not a bad d🐎ay for the veteran, as he continues to make slow and steady progress wiܫth Ed Carpenter Racing.

Sting Ray Robb: 6

There were no issues for the rookie or his team this weekend, which is a positive takeaway❀.

Santino Ferrucci: 5

The AJ Foyt Racing cars are not ﷺknown for their strength on street courses, so this result was not much of a sur🤡prise.

Alexander Rossi: 3

He was nearly taken out by VeeKay, but even before that, Rossi struggled to keep pace with the front oꦐf the field.

Agustin Canapino: 5

Before he got into the run-off area on the♛ final restart, Canapino was having a decent day making clean passes on t♏rack.

Colton Herta: 2

A♚ great qualifying Saturday and a terrible race o♑n Sunday. Rinse and repeat for Herta, who continues to have issues when the green flag waves.

Felix Rosenqvist: 5

Felix had a mostly positive day until the i▨ncident in the closing laps when he got into the tire barriers.

Benjamin Pedersen: 3

The rookie w𒈔as𝓡 involved in the three-car pileup, but was also a non-factor today.

Jack Harvey: 4

Harvꦕey showed some im🐼provement early on in the race, but that ended when he slid head-first into the wall later in the day.

Linus Lundqvist: 8

A sensational debut for the rookie, who was runnin♓g inside the top-five without his hood scoop for much of the day. The end result was just ꧑a tiny mistake, that could have happened to anyone.

Devlin DeFrancesco: 5

Nothing positive came from Devlin's weekend, other than the fꦕact that he had an amazing livery.

David Malukas: 7

Malukas had a great run going inside the top-five when a mechanical failure on his Da🅰le Coyne Racing Hond🐎a ended his day early.

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