Driver Of The Race
Sunday, May 7, 2023
The NASCAR Cup Series Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway featured 12 different leaders, 37 lead changes, coming down to the last lap for the win. The first driver who was considered for the driver of the race by the group was the No. 5 Hednrickcars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports Kyle Larson. He led a race-high 85 laps en route to a runner-up finish. Larson had a driver’s rating of 116.4 and 30 fastest lap. Larson also had the highest Pass differentiation at 44 along with Green Flag passes at 125 due to being involved in an early caution. The second candidate for the driver of the race is driving the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports William Byron. He spent half of his day recovering from a speeding penalty on pit road that put him 2 laps down which hurt his stats signify but he was able to recover for a 3rd place finish. His driver rating was 108.1, he led only 10 laps and had only 17 fastest laps. The ending of the race was exciting which included a 30-lap battle between Larson and our driver of the race Denny Hamlin. He had the FedEx No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs. Racing dialed in at the right time and side-drafted pass Larson for the win on the backstretch. Hamlin led for 34 laps total, supporting the best driving rating of 136.1, and gathered a field-high fastest laps at 44. Hamlin may have had contact with the 5 but it was not enough to end both of their days. This is why Denny Hamlin was named the driver of the race.
Driver of the race is chosen by a panel of racing fans using metrics and stats provided by NASCAR after the conclusion of the race. These stats include Green Pass, Green Passed, Quality Passes, % Quality Passes, # Fastest Laps, Laps in Top 15 %, Laps in Top 15, Laps Led, % Laps Led, Total Laps, and other metrics.
Thanks to @CoachACoffey on Twitter for providing this information
