The Most Underrated Drivers

Anyway, who do you think are the most underrated drivers in Motorsport?

Here's my picks in my own personal opinion:

Josef Newgarden - This guy deserves more credit than he does. He has talent but had little to no luck in IndyCar this year as he got caught up in incidents he had no business being involved in.

Scott McLaughlin - Like Newgarden in my opinion, deserves more credit from more people. McLaughlin has done wonders with the Volvo in V8 Supercars this year and could've won the Bathurst 1000 if he hadn't crashed out.

Daniil Kvyat - He did better than most people predicted in his Rookie Season in F1, had some good qualifying results but reliability was a big issue for his Toro Rosso as well.

A.J. Allmendinger - Some people may not realise this, but since coming back to NASCAR from his suspension in 2012, he's really put his career back on track especially with that amazing win of his at Watkins Glen in August.

This thread needs to be renamed the Danil Kvyat thread. He made JEV look really slow out there. I can't wait to see what he can do with the Red Bull. Especially if Renault actually builds a decent engine.

Alex Bowman- I have a feeling he will just rotate around the back-marker teams for a while. He almost seems like a young Regan Smith, but with even more talent then Smith!

Nick Heidfeld- Yes I know that this guy made Kimi Raikkonen look like Danica Patrick, but he still wasn't half bad with cars. He and Raikkonen led Sauber to 4th in Constructors in 2001. He nearly won with Williams and BMW Sauber, keep in mind that the Williams was probably one of the slowest cars in a straight line in 2005. Finally, Heidfeld was probably going to get a Mercedes ride if Schumacher didn't come out of retirement.

Pedro De La Rosa- With the exception of the end of his career, he made all of his teammates look like shit. Tora Takagi, Jos Verstappen, Eddie Irvine and Narain Karthikeyan come to mind. Then when Juan Pablo Montoya got injured in 2005, he was thrown into a McLaren and was REALLY competitive. Setting the fastest lap of the race, and running really well. Then in 06 when McLaren fired Montoya, he scored a podium with the McLaren, finished 11th in the standings with only 8 races, and beat his team leader 3 times.

Ryan Sieg - For a car that should be in the deep 30's. Sieg has been driving that car up near the top 15 which is about the best you can get it an underfunded car in Nationwide. Has knocked off a couple top 10's in trucks as well

Emanuele Naspetti - Was mega in his later years of F3000, even managed 4 consecutive wins in 1991 with Forti which was a nearly unheard of feat to achieve back in those days. Had a not so successful career but then again it was also only 6 races long too and in a horribly uncompetitive March. Later became one of Italy's top touring car drivers for Castrol BMW in the Italian SuperTurismo championship and won the title in 1997.

Nicola Larini - Often forgotten when considering the all time top touring car drivers. The first ever champion of FIA Class 1 with Alfa Romeo in 1993.

Landon Cassill- One of the best new restrictor plate drivers. Has been driving the JD Motorsports 01 to finishes that it shouldn't be able to get. He started to really step it up in Cup at the end of the year, too. Plus his performances with JRM and heroics for Phoenix Racing...

Paul Menard. Big time. He proved early this season he had one of the strongest RCR cars. I'd honestly thought he would have had a second win this past Cup season what with the rate he was producing Top 10 finishes, more so than any other of the RCR cars. Then his performance kind of faded when Newman emerged as a championship contender, and I suppose RCR just starting giving him the better cars.

I also second Barney's pick of AJ Allmendinger. He would've won a race a lot sooner than he actually did if not for the failed drug test; he was looking dominant at Penske. The way I see it, his main problem right now, aside from the sub-par equipment he's in, is that he's got quite a temper over the radio. That's been holding him back.

And how about Aric Almirola? He's had a lot more good races than most people realize. I wouldn't be so sure to call his Daytona win a fluke.

f1fan12 wrote:Alex Bowman- I have a feeling he will just rotate around the back-marker teams for a while. He almost seems like a young Regan Smith, but with even more talent then Smith!

Really have to disagree with this. I like Alex Bowman as a person. He's a funny guy. As a driver, though, he sucks. I remember when I started watching racing in 2007, how David Ragan's rookie season mostly consisted of him spinning out literally every other race, and Alex Bowman is looking pretty much the same. Poor equipment is no excuse for sappy driving.

kensethfan wrote:

f1fan12 wrote:Alex Bowman- I have a feeling he will just rotate around the back-marker teams for a while. He almost seems like a young Regan Smith, but with even more talent then Smith!

Really have to disagree with this. I like Alex Bowman as a person. He's a funny guy. As a driver, though, he sucks. I remember when I started watching racing in 2007, how David Ragan's rookie season mostly consisted of him spinning out literally every other race, and Alex Bowman is looking pretty much the same. Poor equipment is no excuse for sappy driving.

Nah, Look at the 99 car last year, Bowman won 2 poles and had numerous top 10's and top 15's. AS A ROOKIE, and James Buescher, truck champ, may I add, is having big stuggles to get a top 10 or 15, in the same car. Bowman may be #2 at BK, but driving for BK is NEVER GOING to help your career, look at Cole Whitt. Besides BK has really bad reliability, some wrecks were his fault, but mostly was the tire going bye-bye.

Cole Whitt - He was leading the points in trucks as a rookie in the 60 Truck, which no longer exists iirc. He had a good rookie campaign with JRM, sadly, he only had 1 season due to sponsors not risking their money, (Even though He may have won 1 race, look at 2013, He may of been freaking champion.) He had several good runs with the 44 car, which is a backmarker now. He's the best driver at BK, almost put that trash car in the top 20 at Watkins Glen, till his brakes died. Sadly he may never get another chance like Regan Smith has, but mark my works, he may win a race or two in the next 5 years, (By some miracle, like Regan Smith). (Has 3 top 20's, Fontana, Dega 2 and Martinsville 2 with BK, THAT'S TALENT INSTEAD OF CAR RIGHT THEIR)

BWardboy88 wrote:Daniil Kvyat - He did better than most people predicted in his Rookie Season in F1, had some good qualifying results but reliability was a big issue for his Toro Rosso as well.

Nope. He is not as good as everybody make him out to be in my opinion. He lucked into most of those points finishes and was just like Ricciardo when he was at Torro Rosso; Good qualifying, but sub-standard race pace.
P.S.: I wrote this before finding out he only scored 8 points on the year....I proceeded to laugh hysterically since this dude is joining Red Bull next season. Look like another dose of Ricciardo ass-kicking.

Parker Kligerman - He looked like he was on a good path until joining Swan Racing. After that he was left without a ride. He was pretty good in Trucks and One season of Nationwide before making that career-killing decision.

kensethfan wrote:

f1fan12 wrote:Alex Bowman- I have a feeling he will just rotate around the back-marker teams for a while. He almost seems like a young Regan Smith, but with even more talent then Smith!

Really have to disagree with this. I like Alex Bowman as a person. He's a funny guy. As a driver, though, he sucks. I remember when I started watching racing in 2007, how David Ragan's rookie season mostly consisted of him spinning out literally every other race, and Alex Bowman is looking pretty much the same. Poor equipment is no excuse for sappy driving.

Funny, because the reason why he's doing so bad is BK Racing. Plus, he had an average rookie year. It wasn't like he was a complete letdown for what he was expected to get with that team. Ryan Truex, on the other hand, would fit your description.

As far as my picks for this topic go, I would say Landon Cassill (pretty much explained already), Matt Tifft, Ryan Sieg (also already explained) and Tayler Malsam. Tifft impressed me with his great runs in ARCA both last season and this season, but hasn't ever been able to stick around at the end (which plagued Mason Mitchell and Spedcer Gallagher last season as well). With some of the exposure he'll get with KBM in 2015, I'm hoping he can really shine and prove what he's worth. As for Malsam, he's been around for a while and hasn't made too much noise up until this season with TSM, who I assume will drop him if he doesn't have enough funding with him. I remembered him from 2009 when he ran inside the Top 5 at a few of the 1.5-mile tracks in CWTS. I had to do a double take and make sure I wasn't seeing things as he really surprised me with the speed I didn't think he'd ever show. With KBM in it's earlier days, he didn't poke his nose towards the front very much, but I think that if TSM gives him a few more runs in that car, then he might land in Victory Lane soon.

FlashRod4 wrote:

BWardboy88 wrote:Daniil Kvyat - He did better than most people predicted in his Rookie Season in F1, had some good qualifying results but reliability was a big issue for his Toro Rosso as well.

Nope. He is not as good as everybody make him out to be in my opinion. He lucked into most of those points finishes and was just like Ricciardo when he was at Torro Rosso; Good qualifying, but sub-standard race pace.
P.S.: I wrote this before finding out he only scored 8 points on the year....I proceeded to laugh hysterically since this dude is joining Red Bull next season. Look like another dose of Ricciardo ass-kicking.

Ricciardo only scored 10 points in his first year at Toro Rosso, and then once he went to Red bull scored WAY more than that.

People also said that Ricciardo was going to be Webber 2.0 when he moved up.

My point is, I don't see how basing somebody off their rookie year means they're automatically bad, especially when Toro Rosso is a midfield team that when they do score points, it's single digits.

I'd have to say Josef Newgarden, Tyler Reddick, and AJ Allmendinger.

There are quite a few people who I feel are extremely underrated.

Joey Coulter- This guy has been bounced around for the past couple of years, but Coulter is a solid driver. He can bring the truck home in one piece more often than not, and I feel like Coulter will be one of those guys who doesn't make it to Cup, but does extremely well in the Truck Series.

Cole Whitt- Given the situation that his season was in this year, Cole Whitt took a car that really shouldn't have been higher than 30th, and got in the high to mid 20s on several occasions. Whitt is a solid driver, even if his tenure with JRM doesn't necessarily show it.

Ross Chastain- Another case of a guy punching well above his weight, Chastain is taking teams like Tri-Star and WinTron's truck program, and belting out Top 10 and Top 15 finishes for them. Chastain isn't the best driver in the world, but there is potential with Chastain, if he can find a stable ride.

Ryan Sieg- Sieg, in a team that is pretty much the definition of underfunded, is taking that car above and beyond the Top 20. I never would have guessed that RSS would ever be a threat for Top 10s on a seemingly weekly basis.

AJ Allmendinger- Here's a guy, who two years ago had no certain future after failing a drug test. After feeling around for most of 2013, AJ found a team in JTG Daugherty. And since then, it's been nowhere but up for that team. AJ's been driving that team to Top 10 finishes, as well as getting them their very first win in Cup, and things have never looked better for JTG Daugherty Racing.

In before Cynon says Ward Burton

I personally agree that Alex Bowman is an underrated driver. I also would say that Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, and Chris Beuscher are underrated, too.

However, I would personally say that one of the most underrated drivers (at least in NASCAR) is Ryan Sieg. Similar to the reasons mentioned in the above posts, he consistently scored finishes last year that were much better than what most drivers would have been able to accomplish with the equipment that he used in the Truck Series. However, he and his team moved up to the Nationwide Series this year... and were still competitive. I found it to be surprising. Perhaps he never contended for wins (if you don't count the Daytona race in July), but I think that it's a shame that he hasn't received more attention and recognition. The same goes for his team, too.

Ryan Sieg and Paul Menard, already explained.