YellaWood 500 Driver Grades: How Every Driver Scored at Talladega Superspeedway

October 25, 2026

Oct 25, 2026 · 2 min read·

Every driver from the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, graded on what the scoring loops actually recorded: where they started, where they finished, how many laps they led, and whether they were still running at the end. Kyle Larson grades out best with a A+.

How the grades are calculated

The grade is a formula, not an opinion. Each driver starts from their finishing position, gains credit for passing cars and for leading laps, and loses credit for not finishing:

Finish: the single biggest factor, scaled from the win down through the field.
Positions gained: starting position minus finishing position, capped so a deep starting spot cannot buy a top grade on its own.
Laps led: share of the race led, worth up to a full letter grade.
Did not finish: a fixed penalty if they were not running at the checkered flag.

Driver grades

Grade	Driver	Car	Start	Finish	Laps led	Points
A+	Kyle Larson	5	10	1	23	71
A+	William Byron	24	17	2		47
A+	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	47	24	3	9	34
A+	Ross Chastain	1	15	4		33
A+	Cole Custer	41	20	5		32
A+	Carson Hocevar	77	26	6		31
A+	Todd Gilliland	34	35	7	6	30
A	Michael McDowell	71	23	10		27
A-	Denny Hamlin	11	9	8		29
A-	Josh Berry	21	21	12	8	25
A-	Ty Dillon	10	30	15		22
A-	Alex Bowman	48	7	9		28
B+	Ryan Preece	60	19	13	23	33
B+	Austin Dillon	3	12	11		26
B	Noah Gragson	4	39	20		17
B	Zane Smith	38	31	19		18
B	Joey Gase	44	38	21		0
B	Gray Gaulding	66	40	23	5	0
B-	Cody Ware	51	11	16	9	21
B-	Austin Hill	33	2	14	6	0
B-	Daniel Suárez	7	13	18		19
B-	Daniel Dye	78	36	25	1	0
B-	Ty Gibbs	54	8	17		20
B-	Bubba Wallace	23	25	22		15
D	Brad Keselowski (Accident)	6	22	24	12	21
D	Austin Cindric (Accident)	2	28	27		18
D	Erik Jones (Accident)	43	29	28	6	11
D	Tyler Reddick	45	33	37		1
D	AJ Allmendinger (Accident)	16	37	31		6
F	Riley Herbst (Accident)	35	14	26	2	16
F	Chase Elliott	9	18	36		2
F	Connor Zilisch (Accident)	88	3	29		12
F	Shane Van Gisbergen (Accident)	97	4	30		10
F	Chris Buescher (Accident)	17	5	32	53	20
F	Chase Briscoe (Accident)	19	1	33		16
F	Joey Logano (Accident)	22	16	34	23	15
F	Christopher Bell (Suspension)	20	6	35	3	2
F	John H. Nemechek (Accident)	42	32	39		1
F	Casey Mears (Mechanical)	62	34	40		1
F	Ryan Blaney (Accident)	12	27	38		4