NASCAR 26 Driver Ratings Revealed: Full Breakdown by Driver and Track Type

NASCAR 26 driver ratings are live. Denny Hamlin tops the chart with a 99 overall, the highest rating in the game. NASCAR Racing Insights worked with the development team to build the system, and for the first time the ratings run across seven separate track-type categories rather than a single number. Every score in the game is fully editable, so you can tune the competition to your preference. Here is the full breakdown of the notable ratings revealed this week.

Also see:
► NASCAR 26 Will Let You Edit Every Driver’s Ratings
► NASCAR 26 AI Improvements: Pit Logic and Driver Ratings

NASCAR 26 Driver Ratings: The System Explained

The rating system in NASCAR 26 replaces the old single-number approach with seven separate category scores. Each driver holds an individual rating for superspeedways, intermediate ovals, short intermediates, short tracks, road courses, concrete ovals, and dirt. The overall rating displayed on a driver card is a composite drawn from those category scores.

NASCAR Racing Insights developed the ratings alongside the development team. The goal is to reflect how drivers actually perform across different venue types in real NASCAR competition. A driver who dominates on mile-and-a-half intermediates but struggles on road courses should have the ratings to match, and for the most part the system delivers that.

Because every score is editable before you start a career or before any race, you can adjust the field however you want it. You can slot a lower-rated driver up to elite status, drop a dominant driver rating at a track type where he dominates, or run the stock numbers through a full season schedule. The choice is yours from the start.

Top Drivers and Their Scores by Track Type

Denny Hamlin holds the 99 overall, which is the ceiling for the game. He maxes out at 99 on intermediate ovals, superspeedways, and concrete tracks. His short intermediate score sits at 97. The one notable gap in his ratings is road courses, where he comes in at 76, a significant drop from his oval numbers. If your schedule leans on road course rounds, Hamlin is one of the easier elite drivers to beat on those weekends.

Kyle Larson is the cover driver for NASCAR 26 and rates at 90 overall. The game gives him highest marks on intermediate ovals, concrete, and road courses. That range makes him one of the most complete drivers in the field across different surface types. His numbers make sense given his real-world versatility across both NASCAR and other racing disciplines.

Ryan Blaney hits 99 on three separate track types: superspeedways, short intermediates, and concrete. That range is significant because those three categories cover a large portion of the Cup Series schedule. Blaney does not carry the overall number Hamlin does, but at specific venue types he matches the top rating in the game.

Shane van Gisbergen earns the top road course score in the game at 99. Given his real-world record since joining NASCAR full time, that number is hard to argue with. If you are building a career schedule that hits road courses frequently, van Gisbergen starts as the obvious pick for those weekends.

Christopher Bell lands at 98 on concrete tracks. Joey Logano comes in at 98 on short intermediates. Tyler Reddick rates at 97 on intermediate ovals. All three are elite-tier scores at those specific venue types, even if they do not carry the highest overall number in the game.

NASCAR 26 Driver Ratings Table

Here are the specific NASCAR 26 driver ratings confirmed at launch. Category scores marked n/a were not individually released as part of the initial reveal.

Driver	Overall	Superspeedways	Intermediates	Short Inter.	Concrete	Road Courses
Denny Hamlin	99	99	99	97	99	76
Kyle Larson	90	n/a	Highest	n/a	Highest	Highest
Ryan Blaney	n/a	99	n/a	99	99	n/a
Shane van Gisbergen	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	99
Christopher Bell	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	98	n/a
Joey Logano	n/a	n/a	n/a	98	n/a	n/a
Tyler Reddick	n/a	n/a	97	n/a	n/a	n/a

How Ratings Change Your Career Mode Experience

The ratings matter most once you are inside a career save. The AI field uses these category scores to determine race pace at each venue on the schedule. A driver with a 99 superspeedway rating will be noticeably faster than one in the low 80s when the field lines up at Daytona or Talladega. Knowing those numbers before you build your rival list and choose your manufacturer gives you a real competitive edge in how you set up your season expectations.

Gold Edition owners started with 1,000 career rep points and 10,000 dollars in bonus money, which compresses the early career grind significantly. That head start is more valuable when you are racing against a field where the top drivers have ratings in the high 90s. Getting your car into a competitive setup faster means you spend fewer races at the back while the AI field pulls away.

The editable ratings also open up a separate layer of career customization. If you want tighter competition without changing the difficulty slider, dropping a few points off the top-rated drivers at their strongest track types is one way to tighten the field. Hamlin at 95 on concrete instead of 99 still makes him a strong competitor, but it removes the ceiling that separates him from the rest of the grid.

For players running a full schedule, the seven-category breakdown changes how you approach manufacturer and team selection. A team that is strong at short intermediates and concrete gets you through a large portion of the schedule at peak performance. The ratings reveal gives you enough data to start making those calls before the first race week.

The full driver ratings database for every driver in NASCAR 26 has not been released in a single document. What is available now covers the top performers by category. As the community digs into the game, more complete data will come out. In the meantime the highlights above give you what you need to know who is fast where and where they can be beaten.