2023 Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Driver Ratings

Crash NASCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta.
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing at Atlanta
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing at Atlanta

William Byron: 8

This win was not as impressive as his previous three but he still overcame a penalty and a spin in this one.

Daniel Suarez: 8

Suarez was a legitimate contender in this race, which has not been the case for much of this season.

AJ Allmendinger: 7

A little luck for AJ in a superspeedway race.

Michael McDowell: 8

The Daytona 500 winner reminded everyone that he is a great superspeedway driver.

Kyle Busch: 6

Busch didn't have the speed to fight for the win but he will gladly take another top-five finish.

Brad Keselowski: 8

This was one that Brad could have gotten to end his 80-race winless streak, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Justin Haley: 8

A great night for Kaulig Racing with both cars inside the top-eight.

Ryan Blaney: 9

Penske was clearly hooked up in this race, but the circumstances didn't play into their favor tonight.

Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske

Ricky Stenhouse Jr: 7

Stenhouse was never in the mix for the race win but will gladly collect another top-ten result for JTG Daugherty Racing.

Erik Jones: 5

Jones was involved in a couple of incidents tonight but still ended up with an 11th place result.

Austin Cindric: 8

It has been a rough season for Cindric but he and his Penske teammates certainly had the best cars tonight.

Denny Hamlin: 7

Hamlin was a victim in one accident, but also caused another one when he took out Kevin Harvick near the end of the race.

Chase Elliott: 5

A brutal night for Elliott, who was never a factor in this one.

Chris Buescher: 8

Like his teammate/boss Keselowski, Buescher had the speed to contend at the front but just fell on the wrong side of lady luck.

Joey Logano: 7

After a strong start and solid run, he got shuffled near the end of the race and ended up in 17th position.

Aric Almirola: 5

The pole sitter led the first 45 laps but was non-existant after his move against Logano didn't pay off.

Christopher Bell: 8

Bell had one of the fastest cars in the race, and showcased it twice by coming from the back all the way to the front, but he was collected in one of the late-race incidents.

Bubba Wallace: 7

A rough weekend for Wallace, from nearly crashing in qualifying to actually crashing in the race.

Alex Bowman: 5

Bowman was another driver caught up in a crash but he was partly to blame in this one.

Tyler Reddick: 7

Reddick had a decent car tonight but was collected in the seven-car accident late in the night.

Martin Truex Jr: 8

All of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars were strong tonight, and Truex may have had the best hot rod of them all but he was also involved in the Lap 122 crash.

Kevin Harvick: 7

It was shaping up to be a great final Atlanta race for Harvick before he was chopped by Hamlin and NASCAR decided not to throw a caution flag.

Ty Gibbs: 7

The rookie was impressive after taking multiple chops from Ross Chastain but he too was collected in the Lap 122 crash.

Ross Chastain: 5

Chastain didn't have a car capable of winning, and made a few more curious moves in this race.

Kyle Larson: 7

A strong car went down the drain when he was spun by Jones and the blown tire put an extra early end to his night.

Read More