Crash NASCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the Go Bowling at the Glen.
William Byron: 10
Byron dominated this race, leading 66 of the 90 laps on his way to his series-high fifth win of the season.
Denny Hamlin: 10
Pole position and finishing runner-up made for a much better weekend than he had last week at Indianapolis.
Christopher Bell: 9
A steady race for Bell, who seems to be getting back into a groove after disappearing for much of the summer.
AJ Allmendinger: 8
Most drivers would be happy with a top-five finish but this was AJ’s best hope at punching a ticket into the Playoffs.
Ty Gibbs: 8
A frustrating end to the Xfinity series race yesterday ended with a top-five result today but the rookie is still below the Playoff cut line heading into the final race of the regular season.
Martin Truex Jr: 7
Although he was the last of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, he still finished 6th after starting at the back of the field.
Chris Buescher: 7
Another top-ten result on a road course for Buescher, who continues to be the most underrated driver in the garage.
Tyler Reddick: 7
Reddick had a decent day but a tire issue early in the race likely prevented a top-five finish.
Ryan Blaney: 8
Considering that he started in the back half of the field and there was only one caution in this race, a top-ten finish was outstanding for Blaney today.
Joey Logano: 8
Finishing right behind his Penske teammate, this road course race went so much better than last weekend when he nearly took out a quarter of the field.
Todd Gilliland: 8
A brilliant drive for Gilliland, who is quietly one of the better road course aces in the garage.
Bubba Wallace: 8
The last two weekends for Bubba were all about staying out of trouble and hitting your marks. He did just that, which is why he holds a 32-point cushion heading into Daytona, where he will be considered one of the drivers to beat.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr: 7
It is fair to say that not many people saw this result in the cards for Stenhouse.
Kyle Busch: 5
The good news is that Kyle managed to finish a race without issues on the track, but this weekend was a poor performance all around for the No. 8 team.
Brad Keselowski: 7
A solid top-15 run for Keselowski, who now has both of his cars locked into the Playoffs.
Ross Chastain: 4
Chastain continues to struggle to find any consistency, or speed.
Kevin Harvick: 6
Harvick acknowledged that they have been horrible on road courses this year but he improved 12 positions in the race and is now locked into the Playoffs with just 11 races remaining in his career.
Daniel Suarez: 2
It couldn’t have gone much worse for Suarez, who spun by himself just five laps into the race, ultimately taking him out of contention. He will have to win at Daytona next weekend, which is a long shot at best.
Alex Bowman: 3
Bowman was another driver in a must-win scenario and he didn’t even come close. After a surprising top-five finish on the IMS road course last weekend, he was out to lunch today at the Glen.
Kyle Larson: 4
It was a rough afternoon for Larson, who was battling for the lead early in the race. A penalty for speeding on pit exit sent him to the back, where he and Austin Dillon came together on the final lap, battling for 21st position.
Chase Elliott: 1
Elliott needed to win and was running inside the top-ten at arguably his strongest track. He didn’t get taken out by another driver or a faulty tire. It wasn’t an issue with speed or track position. He simply ran out of gas because of a mistake made on the pit stand. That is inexcusable for an organization like Hendrick Motorsports.
Michael McDowell: 5
From the highs of winning last week to the lows of a DNF today. McDowell led laps early, won the opening stage, but two penalties on pit road and a blown engine brought an early end to his day.
Keyword: NASCAR: Driver Ratings for William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott at Watkins Glen