NASCAR: Driver Ratings for Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

Crash NASCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis.
Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports at Indianapolis
Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports at Indianapolis

Michael McDowell: 10

A dominant win to lo🎀ck his team into the Playoffs.

Chase Elliott: 9

The win Chase needs to get into the Playoffs was right there, but h🐷e just🦹 came up one spot short.

Daniel Suarez: 6

A great weekend for the pol✅e sitter was ruined with one small mistake on a pit stop, but he salvaged a 3rd place finish.

Tyler Reddick: 8

The strongest Toyota driver scored an൲other top-five finish as they head into another road course race.

Alex Bowman: 9

This was a surprising, but much needed, top-five result for Bowman, who still needs to wi🔜n to get into the Playoffs.

Chase Briscoe: 7

Briscoe had a great run to 6th, while the rest of the Stewart Haas Racing 🎃cars finished 2🌠3rd, 31st, and 39th.

Martin Truex Jr: 7

Truex👍 had a typical quiet, but solid afternoon yet aga꧒in.

Kyle Larson: 7

This has been an extremely busy week for Larson, so scoring a top-😼ten after an issue early in the race was quite impressive.

Christopher Bell: 7

Bell didn't really go forward but he did spend some time up front an🍬d had a decent aftern𝔍oon.

Shane Van Gisbergen: 8

The Supercars ace followed up his Chicago street course win with a solid top-teཧn result today in a different environment.

Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing

Chris Buescher: 7

Buescher foll⭕owed up his two straight victories with an 11th place result and kept it clean.

Ty Gibbs: 6

Gibbs won the Xfinity race yesterday but had a much tougher time today, getting roughed up a couple of times by ot🐓her drivers.

Ryan Blaney: 6

It was an ev🐲entful day for Blaney, who was ramm🌞ed by his teammate, then dumped AJ Allmendinger for some reason.

William Byron: 9

No one will talk about it, but this was a sensational driv🍃e by Byron, 🅷coming from the very back of the field to finish inside the top 15.

Austin Cindric: 7

Cindric has always been good on road courses but he didn'൩t have the speed to shꦕowcase it today.

Ross Chastain: 6

Two of the𓄧 Trackhouse cars were ﷽very quick, and yet again, Chastain was not one of them.

Bubba Wallace: 5

From a race perspective, Wallace did okay by keeping it clean, but others around him fared m🍌uch bet🅠ter and made up a bunch of ground.

Denny Hamlin: 4

Hamlin led laps today but it was off sequence, and he was never a🎐 fact♋or for much of the weekend.

Brad Keselowski: 4

A top 20 finish for Brad on a road course wasn't terrible, but 💯he won't be happy about it.

Brodie Kostecki: 8

Brodi▨e had an impressive weekend, showing speed and the ability to recover after bad fortune in his first ever NASCAR start.

Kevin Harvick: 5

Not ꦍthe way the three-time Brickyard 400 winner wanted his final race to go but he did improve 15 🅠positions on the day.

Kevin Harvick, Stewart Haas Racing
Kevin Harvick, Stewart Haas Racing

Mike Rockenfeller: 7

Agg꧙ression was not an issue for Rockenfeller,﷽ who was using up his fellow competitors when the opportunity presented itself.

AJ Allmendinger: 3

The inaugural race winner🔯 had a weekend to forget, which is a shame considering how much he looks forward to this stop on the calendar each year.

Jenson Button: 3

Button got into 🐷it with several drivers on Sunday, and often tಌimes he got the short end of the stick.

Kamui Kobayashi: 3

Kobayashi was another 🍷driver that got run into as other drivers made mistakes.

Joey Logano: 2

Logano made a fool of himself 🅠in this race lasᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚt year with his dive bomb maneuver, and today was just as bad, taking out multiple drivers, including ramming the back of his teammate on the way to a 34th place finish.

Kyle Busch: 5

His great day went ꦬsouth late in the race, which will only motivate him even more heading into next weekend at Watkins Glen.

Read More