INDYCAR: 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Driver Rankings

Crash INDYCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the 48th edition of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport at Long Beach
Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport at Long Beach

Kyle Kirkwood: 10

Nearly a perfect weekend with pole position, wi💯nning the race, and leading the most l⛎aps. This young, talented driver is the real deal.

Romain Grosjean: 9

Grosjean earned his fourth runner-up finish, as he continues to knock onꦺ the door for his first IndyCar win.

Marcus Ericsson: 9

After qualifying on the front row, Ericsson was the only driver that could keep up with the Andretti cars, and takes over the champi🍸onship lead.

Colton Herta: 8

He was right there along with ꦜhis teammat🍸es, but just didn’t have enough to challenge for the lead.

Alex Palou: 7

Another strong result for Palou, who𝕴 is quietly off to a fantastic start this season.

Driver Ratings for 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Will Power: 8

A muc🙈h-needed result for the reigning series champion, after a no-show in Te🎀xas and a shaky qualifying performance this weekend.

Felix Rosenqvist: 8

His two teammates may have been faster, but Felix was the only💙 Arrow McLaren🍸 driver to earn a solid finish today.

Marcus Armstrong: 8

He wasn’t disc♉ussed much during the race⛄, but this was a fantastic drive by the rookie.

Josef Newgarden: 7

Early on꧙ it looked as though Newgarden would score back-to-back wins, but strategy did not go their way and he got eaten up late in the rac🌄e.

Scott McLaughlin: 6

It was a dece♋🌌nt result for McLaughlin, but he was never able to challenge at the front of the field.

Santino Ferrucci: 8

Clearly one 🌼of the best results for the AJ Foyt𝓀 Racing team in quite some time.

Graham Rahal: 8

After starting in the back of the pack, Graham d𓄧id what Graham always does, and drove his way through a chunk of the field.

Jack Harvey: 7

He was right there with his teammates, which is something he wasn’t able to say at all las𓃲t year.

Christian Lundgaard: 7

His race started out well but he and the RLL team were just lacking something aꦿll weeke💫nd.

Driver Ratings for 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Simon Pagenaud: 5

Another poor performance by Page🌳naud and the Meyer Shank Racing team, who ar🎀e really struggling right now.

Pato O'Ward: 4

He made two questionable decisions in this race, in the same turn. Neither 🌃of them worked out well and his day was ruined even without being penalized.

Callum Ilott: 4

A forgettable weekend for Iloꩵtt and the ꦕJuncos Hollinger Racing team.

Helio Castroneves: 3

Crashing on the opening lap of the race is never good, espe𝔉cially whꦐen there is no one else to blame.

Alexander Rossi: 7

Rossi had a top-ten ru🦄n nearly in the bank, but it all went away on the final lap when he crashed into the tier barriers.

Conor Daly: 4

His 100th start did notꦐ go as well as he or the E🃏d Carpenter Racing team had hoped.

Rinus VeeKay: 4

See above, the ECR organization desperat✨ely needs to get to Indy.

Scott Dixon: 2

His day was ruined when O’Ward put him into the tires. Outside of the Indianapolis 500 in 2014 and 2017, his 27th place finish today was the wor🐓st of his career, which spans 371 races.

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