Kevin Harvick picks NASCAR Bristol race winner – Sports News
Two-time Bristol Motor Speedway evening race winner, Kevin Harvick, believes Saturday’s race on the storied Tennessee short-track may see a fellow two-time winner topped as soon as again below the lights.
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race will function the third and last NASCAR Cup Series Round of 16 race, earlier than the Round of 12 commences at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Heading into the race, Cook Out Southern 500 winner Chase Briscoe and Enjoy Illinois 300 winner Denny Hamlin are each ensured spots within the subsequent spherical of the Playoffs, whereas Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry are all closing in on early exits.
Heading into Saturday’s race, 2014 Cup Series champion Harvick gave his prediction for who he believes is almost definitely to succeed in victory lane, and it doesn’t bode nicely for any of the fearful 4.
After mentioning each Hamlin and Christopher Bell on the ‘Harvick’s Happy Hour’ podcast, Harvick in the end landed on Kyle Larson, saying, “The 5 popped up last week with some speed that I hadn’t seen, and Bristol has always been his place. So I’m going to go with Larson.”
The reigning champion of the night race, Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson, also won the race back in 2021, a year after Harvick’s second victory. He enters Saturday third in the Playoff Picture, 60 points above the cutoff line following a 19th-place finish at Darlington and 12th at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Meanwhile, co-host Kaitlyn Vincie singled out Team Penske’s Joey Logano as her favorite to win at Bristol. Currently 10th in the Playoff Picture with a 21-point buffer to the cutoff line, like Larson, Logano has won the night race twice previously.
As for fellow co-host Mamba Smith, he predicted that the race would provide them with their “first winner from outside of the Playoffs. I think he is going to get his first win of his Cup Series career. Give me 54, Ty Gibbs.”
In 114 races between 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, the 22-year-old has but to make it to victory lane. However, he did come agonizingly close at Bristol back in April with a third-place end behind teammate Hamlin and winner Larson.
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Looking forward to the race itself, Harvick mentioned the evening race at all times brings with it “a little more flair” in comparison with Bristol’s Spring race.
“It’s a racetrack where we can see them go 150, 200 laps, whatever the length of the whole stage is, under green, or we can have 15, 20 cautions,” he continued. “So you don’t really ever know. But it seems this race has a lot more potential to have crashes when things go wrong than the other races.
“But it’s an intense place. You’re going to see both grooves open up. They’re going to do everything they can to keep it on the bottom as long as they can with the track treatment and everything that they put into it.”
Besides their predicted winners, Harvick famous how the race can even see drivers reminiscent of these combating for Playoff survival, in addition to these no longer within the Playoff image, all pursuing their own agendas in what might be “a tough race.”
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