Biggest Driver Rating Snubs and Overratings in iRacing’s NASCAR 25 Console Game

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We finally have the full list of driver ratings for the release day of iRacing’s first-ever NASCAR console game, NASCAR 25. Among the more than 170 real-world NASCAR and ARCA drivers, only three were awarded 100-overall driver ratings. William Byron received the 100 rating in the NASCAR Cup Series, while Connor Zilisch in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Corey Heim in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series also received the 100 overall honor.

With Byron earning the regular-season championship this season and being a Championship 4 contender in each of the last two seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s hard to argue that he didn’t deserve consideration for being the top-rated Cup Series driver.

And nobody will fight the developers on the ratings handed out to Zilisch and Heim, who have each scored 10 victories this year in their respective series, either. That being said, there were some glaring snubs within the overall driver ratings and ratings on specific styles of tracks throughout.

Specific Style of Track Rating Snubs:

Among the biggest glaring issues with the driver ratings in NASCAR 25 has to be Denny Hamlin’s superspeedway rating. While Hamlin is the second-highest rated NASCAR Cup Series driver at 99 overall, he was only given an 83 rating on drafting tracks like Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta.

Sure, I’ll admit that the three-time Daytona 500 champion hasn’t been nearly as potent on drafting tracks since the NASCAR Cup Series moved to the Next Gen car in 2022, but let’s not forget had it not been for an errant move by Cole Custer on the final lap of the Daytona 500 in February, Hamlin would likely be polishing his fourth Harley J. Earl trophy in his home right now.

Another stunning ratings snub, in my humble opinion, is AJ Allmendinger’s 82 rating on Road Courses. This rating places Allmendinger in a tie for the 9th-best NASCAR Cup Series driver in the game on road courses, which doesn’t just feel wrong — it is wrong.

Allmendinger doesn’t deserve a 100 overall rating on road courses, a distinction that was deservedly credited to Shane van Gisbergen, but for the rankings to suggest that Allmendinger is tied for the ninth-best driver on road courses is head-scratching.

The Kaulig Racing driver has three career wins on road course tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he scored the wins with Kaulig Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing, not among the sport’s biggest juggernauts.

For that matter, the ratings also have Michael McDowell at an 82 on road courses, which also feels highly suspect.

While this one won’t likely get as much buzz, Josh Bilicki’s 49 rating on Road Courses in the Cup Series and 67 rating on road courses in the Xfinity Series is far too low. Bilicki recorded a 21st-place result in this year’s Chicago Street Race, driving the No. 66 Ford for Garage 66. And while you have to respect the hard-working Garage 66 group, they field a car that is not expected to have that level of finish on a road course.

Bilicki certainly elevated things for Garage 66 in Chicago, and he’s done the same for DGM Racing on road courses in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, as he came home 14th at Sonoma Raceway. Again, I’m not expecting Bilicki to be rated 100 overall, but 49 overall on Road Courses in Cup, and 67 overall on Road Courses in Xfinity feels a tad low for the part-time racer.

Speaking of Road Course driver ratings in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, how is Carson Kvapil only rated at an 80?

None of us expected the young short track racer to deliver incredible results on squiggly tracks in his rookie season, but he has gone toe-to-toe with Connor Zilisch at points this season and has been among the series’ best road racers, even if the finishing position doesn’t necessarily always reflect it. 80 is too low.

I say this one half-jokingly, but it feels wrong that Sheldon Creed, who has 15 career runner-up finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, is not the second-highest rated driver on every style of track in the series, as he has runner-up finishes at literally every style of track despite not breaking through for career win No. 1, yet.

Overall Rating Snubs:

When it comes to overall ratings for drivers in NASCAR 25, I don’t think any driver got more disrespect than Brennan Poole, a full-time competitor for Alpha Prime Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Poole was given a 68 overall driver rating in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, yet he ranks 18th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings, which places him between William Sawalich (85 rating) and Daniel Dye (75 rating), and Poole has done it with inferior equipment.

This year, Poole has two top-five finishes and five top-10s, and he was even eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol Motor Speedway due to his solid performances prior to that event. Put some respect on Poole’s name.

Rajah Caruth’s Overall rating of 79 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (19th overall) and Jake Garcia’s Overall rating of 76 also feel extremely low. Both young drivers made the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs this year, and Caruth has a pair of wins over the last couple of seasons

Timmy Hill’s 61 Overall rating in the ARCA Menards Series also feels quite low. I know Hill has had a limited selection of races this season, but in two starts, which came at Dover Motor Speedway and at Bristol, he finished sixth and 19th. Both of those finishes would give him a better season finish than some of the drivers rated around him in the rankings.

What Was Overrated:

Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, is without a doubt one of the most talented drivers in the world. But the one thing he has struggled mightily with throughout his career is Superspeedway racing. However, his 93 rating on Superspeedways in NASCAR 25 would have you believe this discipline is one of his best.

It’s not. And I certainly wouldn’t rank him as the ninth-best Superspeedway racer in the sport today, tied with Brad Keselowski and ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, and others.

William Sawalich at 83 overall in the NASCAR Truck Series also feels like a severe miss.

Sawalich is a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but in 21 career NASCAR Truck Series starts, he has just four top-10 finishes. Yet, he’s ranked higher than Kaden Honeycutt, Rajah Caruth, Stewart Friesen, and Jake Garcia, who have all either won races and/or landed in the Playoffs this year in the NASCAR Truck Series, and ahead of Gio Ruggiero, who in his Rookie season has 6 top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in one more start than Sawalich has, and in the same equipment.

Sammy Smith’s 90 rating on Road Courses also feels a bit high. While he secured advancement to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 8 with a solid finish at the Charlotte Roval, Smith has a career average finish of 15.5 at road courses in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career despite driving for two of the best teams in the history of the series — JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.

He’s had a good season by his career standards on road courses this year, but breaking the 90 barrier while his teammate, Carson Kvapil, who has looked really good on road courses as well, sits at an 80 seems strange.

Another oddity in the ratings within the game comes in the form of Rita Goulet’s overall driver rating of 61 in the ARCA Menards Series. I don’t know if you’ve watched Goulet in a race in the ARCA Menards series, but to suggest she should be tied with drivers like Timmy Hill, or ahead of drivers like Todd Souza, Cleetus McFarland, Jake Bollman, Dale Quarterley, and Willie Mullins is just flat-out unserious.

NASCAR 25 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Ratings:

Rank	Driver	OVR	SSW	SW	INT	S.INT	C	RC
1	William Byron	100	98	94	100	97	90	88
2	Denny Hamlin	99	83	100	94	94	100	70
3	Kyle Larson	99	93	94	96	92	97	83
4	Ryan Blaney	98	97	88	93	99	92	81
5	Christopher Bell	97	91	87	92	100	92	91
6	Chase Elliott	96	99	93	90	93	89	85
7	Tyler Reddick	92	94	90	93	85	84	85
8	Chase Briscoe	92	84	87	86	86	87	87
9	Joey Logano	90	100	82	86	91	82	77
10	Bubba Wallace	90	94	91	84	87	84	75
11	Chris Buescher	89	90	90	88	83	78	84
12	Brad Keselowski	88	93	90	82	89	78	71
13	Alex Bowman	87	94	81	87	83	85	81
14	Ross Chastain	87	83	77	87	83	83	82
15	Ty Gibbs	86	82	85	80	78	86	82
16	Ryan Preece	84	84	80	86	80	77	76
17	Kyle Busch	84	89	81	81	77	80	81
18	Carson Hocevar	84	82	86	77	80	82	72
19	Austin Cindric	83	99	81	79	82	76	72
20	AJ Allmendinger	80	81	72	83	73	76	82
21	Josh Berry	78	86	74	77	83	70	60
22	Erik Jones	77	83	80	77	71	73	64
23	Michael McDowell	77	82	68	73	72	74	82
24	Daniel Suarez	76	78	76	77	75	66	70
25	Austin Dillon	76	75	72	74	78	71	65
26	John Hunter Nemechek	76	81	78	77	71	67	65
27	Zane Smith	75	80	76	75	65	73	65
28	Justin Haley	74	81	73	74	70	71	65
29	Shane van Gisbergen	72	77	69	66	64	63	100
30	Todd Gilliland	71	86	71	68	66	62	67
31	Noah Gragson	71	76	69	75	64	66	59
32	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	69	88	66	69	62	66	63
33	Cole Custer	68	70	71	64	62	63	65
34	Ty Dillon	66	75	65	67	60	62	61
35	Connor Zilisch	63	71	56	63	57	58	80
36	Riley Herbst	63	74	59	62	58	61	63
37	Martin Truex Jr.	63	51	55	65	64	62	60
38	Corey LaJoie	60	77	58	62	53	57	56
39	Cody Ware	55	62	56	53	53	52	51
40	Jimmie Johnson	54	72	51	45	51	64	46
41	Justin Allgaier	52	69	54	41	52	57	50
42	JJ Yeley	50	49	53	51	49	49	43
43	BJ McLeod	50	59	52	48	49	48	42
44	Josh Bilicki	49	41	52	48	45	48	49
45	Chad Finchum	46	41	45	47	47	47	42
46	Helio Castroneves	44	53	46	43	43	42	44
47	Burt Byers	40	40	40	40	41	40	40

NASCAR 25 NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver Ratings:

Rank	Driver	OVR
1	Connor Zilisch	100
2	Justin Allgaier	99
3	Aric Almirola	97
4	Jesse Love	94
5	Sam Mayer	93
6	Ross Chastain	93
7	Sheldon Creed	92
8	Austin Hill	92
9	Sammy Smith	89
10	Carson Kvapil	88
11	Taylor Gray	88
12	Brandon Jones	87
13	Ryan Sieg	86
14	William Sawalich	85
15	Nick Sanchez	85
16	Christian Eckes	83
17	Daniel Suarez	83
18	Harrison Burton	79
19	Shane van Gisbergen	79
20	Jeb Burton	77
21	Dean Thompson	75
22	Daniel Dye	75
23	Corey Day	71
24	Anthony Alfredo	69
25	Jeremy Clements	68
26	Parker Retzlaff	68
27	Ryan Truex	68
28	Brennan Poole	68
29	Matt DiBenedetto	68
30	Josh Williams	67
31	Kyle Sieg	62
32	Josh Bilicki	59
33	Leland Honeyman	59
34	Ryan Ellis	58
35	Austin Green	57
36	Blaine Perkins	55
37	Mason Massey	53
38	Thomas Annunziata	52
39	Garrett Smithley	51
40	Patrick Emerling	50
41	Joey Gase	50
42	Dawson Cram	46
43	Nick Leitz	45
44	Greg Van Alst	44
45	Brad Perez	43
46	Jordan Anderson	42
47	Caesar Bacarella	41
48	Preston Pardus	41
49	Chad Finchum	41
50	Jesse Iwuji	40

NASCAR 25 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Driver Ratings:

Rank	Driver	OVR
1	Corey Heim	100
2	Kyle Busch	98
3	Ross Chastain	95
4	Layne Riggs	93
5	Kyle Larson	90
6	Ty Majeski	90
7	Chandler Smith	89
8	Daniel Hemric	86
9	Grant Enfinger	86
10	Tyler Ankrum	85
11	Ben Rhodes	83
12	William Sawalich	83
13	Gio Ruggiero	82
14	Kaden Honeycutt	81
15	Parker Kligerman	80
16	Connor Mosack	79
17	Brandon Jones	79
18	Stewart Friesen	79
19	Rajah Caruth	79
20	Corey LaJoie	78
21	Jake Garcia	76
22	Tanner Gray	76
23	Matt Crafton	75
24	Andres Perez de Lara	75
25	Brent Crews	73
26	Bayley Currey	70
27	Dawson Sutton	62
28	Jack Wood	62
29	Matt Mills	62
30	Luke Fenhaus	60
31	Timmy Hill	59
32	Lawless Alan	59
33	Josh Bilicki	58
34	Luke Baldwin	54
35	Spencer Boyd	52
36	Conner Jones	52
37	Johnny Sauter	51
38	Frankie Muniz	49
39	Toni Breidinger	48
40	Matt Gould	47
41	Cody Dennison	46
42	Josh Reaume	45
43	Cory Roper	44
44	Clay Greenfield	44
45	Jayson Alexander	43
46	Norm Benning	43
47	Bryan Dauzat	42
48	Stephen Mallozzi	41
49	Caleb Costner	40

NASCAR 25 ARCA Menards Series Driver Ratings:

Rank	Driver	OVR
1	Brenden Queen	99
2	William Sawalich	97
3	Lavar Scott	90
4	Lawless Alan	90
5	Isabella Robusto	86
6	Jake Finch	84
7	Tyler Reif	83
8	Andy Jankowiak	83
9	Jason Kitzmiller	81
10	Greg Van Alst	80
11	Thad Moffitt	78
12	Corey Day	76
13	Alex Clubb	74
14	Amber Balcaen	73
15	Michael Maples	72
16	Isaac Kitzmiller	72
17	Cody Dennison	72
18	Trevor Huddleston	72
19	Kole Raz	71
20	Takuma Koga	71
21	Patrick Staropoli	71
22	Brad Smith	71
23	Lanie Buice	69
24	Tanner Reif	69
25	AJ Moyer	69
26	Brayton Laster	68
27	Ryan Roulette	67
28	Zachary Tinkle	67
29	Tim Richmond	65
30	Kyle Keller	63
31	Eloy Falcon	63
32	Caleb Costner	62
33	Ed Pompa	62
34	Timmy Hill	61
35	Rita Goulet	61
36	Robbie Kennealy	60
37	Todd Souza	60
38	DL Wilson	59
39	Nate Moeller	59
40	Eric Johnson Jr.	59
41	Will Kimmel	58
42	Cleetus McFarland	56
43	David Smith	56
44	Jake Bollman	55
45	Blake Lothian	55
46	Jonathan Reaume	52
47	Brian Clubb	52
48	Presley Sorah	51
49	Hunter Wright	51
50	Sean Corr	51
51	Dale Quarterley	50
52	Willie Mullins	48
53	Jackson McLerran	46
54	Becca Monopoli	44
55	EJ Tamayo	44
56	Kyle Steckly	43
57	Steve Lewis	43
58	Alex Quarterley	42

Toby Christie

Toby is the Founder of TobyChristie.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. Toby is also the co-host of The Final Lap Weekly Podcast. Additionally, he is an award-winning writer, and has followed the sport as a fan since 1993.