NASCAR: HighPoint 400 Driver Ratings As Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson Clash at Pocono

Crash NASCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono

Denny Hamlin: 8

A win is a win, but Hamlin is turning i🌸nto Ross Chastain, which doesn't bode well for𝕴 his championship hopes.

Tyler Reddick: 9

A solid rebound after the incident with Austin Dillon, which was not h🦋is fault at all.

Martin Truex Jr: 9

The positive momentum continues for Truex and his team as th♛ey head towards the Playoffs as one of the favorites.

Kevin Harvick: 9

Another top-five finish for Harvick, who is lookin🥃gꦅ really good in terms of pointing his way into the Playoffs.

Ty Gibbs: 9

This was a really good weekend for the r𒆙ookie, who continꦉues to put together excellent finishes.

Christopher Bell: 7

It was not a clean race for Bell, by any mean𒅌s, but he still managed to finish 6th on a day where a lot of drivers were making contact with one another.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr: 8

Stenhouse has quietly been stringing together some good races, whi♕ch is what the single-car team needs heading into the Playoffs.

Harrison Burton: 8

A𒅌 great Sunday drive for Burton, who keeps showing improvement with their single-car team.

Erik Jones: 8

Back-to-back top-ten finishes for Jones, who is slowly turning thingsꦕ around at Legacy Motor Club.

Chase Elliott: 7

He managed to earn a top-ten finish but he was never in contention 🌺and is really facing a must-win situation in the final five races of the regular season.

Bubba Wallace: 7

He was 🌳the lowest-finishing Toyota driver but still goes home with a decent 11th place finish, with an eye on the Playoffs.

Ross Chastain: 6

Chastain was never🎶 a factor in the race, as Trackhouse jus▨t had a weekend they would like to forget.

William Byron: 6

The pole sitter fad꧙ed early an♍d was never able to get back to the front.

Brad Keselowski: 6

It wasn't a🥃 great day for Brad or his team, but they are still🍸 sitting solidly in the points standings after today.

Chris Buescher: 6

See above.

Kyle Larson: 3

It was a brutal race for Larson, who got spun by Bell early, a♓nd put into the wall by Hamlin late, both occurring while he was leading.

Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson

Kyle Busch: 4

Busch found the wall on a couple of occasions today, which has been turning into a con🃏cerning theme these past two weekends.

Alex Bowman: 5

Bowman lost control of his Chevrolet in front of Hamlin towards the end of the race and is now facing a must-win situation if he wantsജ to make the Playoffsꦿ this year.

Chase Briscoe: 4

Anothe𓃲r race and another spin for Briscoe,꧟ although he was seemingly dumped by Ty Dillon.

Ryan Blaney: 5

Blaney was running o🌠kay but a mechanical issue ended his day early.

Austin Dillon: 1

Dillon crashed twice in this race and only wanted to blame others. That is unfortunately ༺how most of his career has go🧜ne, and he didn't do himself any favors with his helmet toss today.

Joey Logano: 3

It was a rotten day for Logano, who had a car capable of winning but was taken out after🎶 winning Stage 1 of the race.

Daniel Suarez: 1

He was collected in Logano's wreck, which dealt a major blow to 𝐆his Playoff hopes.

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