The NASCAR season is already a quarter of the way through 2023 and there are plenty of drivers who have met, surpassed, or failed to meet expectations. Today we look back at how all of these drivers have performed in the opening 9 races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. This is how we will be grading the first quarter of the 2023 NASCAR season.
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Outro Song:
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49 comments
What grades would you give NASCAR drivers so far in 2023?
I would have to give Noah gragson an F, the way Corey LaJoie has been running in spire motorsports I also would’ve gave Corey LaJoie an A+, I would’ve gave Kyle Busch an A, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr an A+
Cody Ware : Started a D+, currently high school drop out mega F double minus.
JJ Yeley : C-, Got Rick Wares highest start of 3rd, still an underpowered car. He can do better and he’s not Cody.
Matt Crafton : B+, Not bad for a one off race in Cody’s shitbox was doing well in the first half for that car. I’d love to see what he could do with a mid pack cup car on the regular.
Gotta give Willie B an A for sure. 2 wins, 1 pole and is 2nd in laps led to KL. And the 5 and 24 have led about 200 more than any other driver. You got Ryan Blaney graded right with WB? Dude has not competed for a single win yet. Led all of 22 Laps, 15th average finish, 1 top 5. Blaney seems to get a pass and continues to get hyped up without cause. I don’t get it.
Alex Bowman’s got an A- from me. He’s so far gotten 4 poles and all of his finishes have been either top 10’s or 5’s. Consistency is really working in his favor.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets an A+ from me. He’s been phenomenal.
Buescher deserves a little bit higher. He and Keslowski are very close on pace but are held back on results. Also with Gragson and Jones, I’d be inclined to think that it may be a Legacy problem. Similar to RFK last year, there’s growing pains with Johnson (Albeit, he is a great mentor for younger talents. Look at what he did with the HMS guys from 2018-20) as co-owner except unlike Keslowski he doesn’t have as much if not any experience with owning a team.
Still early days though, a lot can change.
RFK has had a car lead laps every race this year except Bristol dirt and I can’t even count that cause they outright said they didn’t want to sink more resources into a one off race.
10:22
Corey LaJoie getting an A+ in a Spire car goes to show how underrated he is.
@Slowturtle 11 fan SHR #4?
Hmmmmmm maybe
I think in 2024 we will have:
Zane smith in the 4
Multible drivers in the 10 or maybe just shut it down since no sponsorship
Chase briscoe in the 14
Ryan preece in the 41
@ChaseBriscoefan#14 That would be pretty wild seeing him in the #4
Harvick deserves an A -. He should have 2 wins right now. Phoenix definitely and I would argue this past weekend as well. The 4 team is bringing speed every week.
Is that an A-? I think an A is just fine. None of those cases were on him.
@Asare Isaac I never said that and I’m probably the biggest Kevin Harvick fan in the world. I can’t give him an A + since he doesn’t have a win
@Hunter NixonFishing I didn’t say you said anything. I’m just asking if it is an A- or something because there seems to be a minus by the A.
I wouldn’t give him an A+ either. Just saying that I can’t give him a minus for actually getting in position to win races before being screwed over by strategy
I know it doesn’t really count but i think Josh Berry gets an A/A+
If we got rid of all the races accept his 2nd and 18th finish then sure.
B. He was pretty meh
Totally. He had zero seat time ever in this car so yeah I think he did awesome!
@Timechanger ! He finished 10th at Phoenix as well. Also remember Richmond he was spun by Blaney and still was about to keep his calm and play the strategy right for 2nd. He was running top 15 at Bristol as well until something happened to him late. I’d say he didn’t a decent job. He has more top 10s than some of the Cup regulars in way less starts or experience.
Jones doesn’t deserve an F. His start to the season has been really mid, but I think it’s an LMC problem and not a Jones/Gragson problem. They’re both really good drivers and I think the reset with Johnson as owner is what’s slowed them down.
It really hurts being a Jones fan rn
Jimmie Petty racing is a dumpster fire lmao. They are basically RCR B stock arent they?
I think you need to give more credit for wins. Byron at a B+ with 2 wins while Harvick and Bowman with 0 wins both have an A. Sure consistency matters, but winning races and leading laps matters more.
Drivers should be rated on a uniform scale as well. Giving Ty Gibbs a higher grade than most of the field just because he has “adopted well” isn’t going to lead to consistent grading.
Top 3 so far:
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr: Daytona 500 winner and still running really good for JTG standards
2) Corey LaJoie: Outperforming his equipment regularly by a lot
3) Kevin Harvick: Championship contender in mid equipment
Top 3 Worst
1) Erik Jones: I expected him to be better than last season but he’s been AWFUL
2) Ty Dillon: His teammate has been way better every week.
3) Aric Almerola: Bad luck has been most of his issues so hopefully he can build momentum with his 6th at Martinsville
In offense of Eric Jones, he has lost a big sponsor in FocusFactor. And has a lot of unsponsored races. That doesn’t help your confidence
I think Reddick deserves an A he has been showing how good 23XI can be just like Kurt did if both cars have good drivers in them
Too early
Like usual, I pretty much agree with you, with the exception of BK. His season was EMBARRASSING last year! Baaad! Lol! I think he deserves a bit more credit! MAJOR improvement from RFK this year!!!
I agree but he did get that penalty early in the year I think he gave up after that
@Slowturtle 11 fan agreed, I still think they got screwed on that one! And I don’t really blame RFK for that! That was pretty harsh!!! Right out the gate! SLAMMED with that one!… I think RFK will have a car go deep into the playoffs this year though!
Justin Haley just got his 100 points back. Back to 24 in the standings. Good stuff
Yeah that’s good news
Gilliland is a damn good superspeedway driver nearly winning his duel and will be a threat to win this week A in my opinion
I would love to see Todd win a race this year. Just to rub it into front row knowing he’s on a risky hot seat. He’s doing far better than I ever expected. He clearly works better under pressure.
@Existing in a space He would do great in the 10
I was worried about Briscoe, but he is on a pretty good stretch of races
I honestly think that Todd Gilliland should be considered as a driver for the 4 car next year.
Maybe but even Zane Smith and Harrison Burton might be ahead of him for consideration.
For Gragson and Jones I think that Legacy is going through a complete resurgence just like RFK did last season. Just my thoughts.
I pretty much agreed with most of what you said. The only one I had vast different opinion on was Preece. I could see a C- or D+ but not an F. He’s been alot better then the 10 car and has shown pretty good speed at times, just clearly not the finishes
Ya his pace is a lot better than his results
Not necessarily grade related, but I think Christopher Bell is becoming one of the most complete drivers in the cup series. 3 at both Daytona and Atlanta, hes won at a road course in the past and has competed at others, is great at flat tracks like Loundon, Pheonix and won at Martinsville and is good at the short tracks. He is a star.
I agree with almost all of these, the only exceptions are Haley and Burton
Haley, I would give a C+ because I think he is out performing his equipment by a solid margin, I imagine AJ gets more of the attention for his equipment and Haley is still doing better
Burton, F, he is honestly kind of an afterthought, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is replaced after this season
I was hoping Preece and Allmendinger would have had better starts to the season. Hopefully they will pick it up.
Corey L is so hype. Hope to see him compete this Sunday in a more even field
Yeah