0:00
/
0:00
Daytona CHAOS: Blaney Wins a Thriller, Playoffs Locked & Is Connor Zilisch the Next Jeff Gordon?
Daytona CHAOS: Blaney Wins a Thriller, Playoffs Locked & Is Connor Zilisch the Next Jeff Gordon?
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
Kevin Harvick and co-hosts dive into the thrilling Daytona race where Ryan Blaney clinched a dramatic win, shaking up the playoff standings. They analyze the intense competition, discuss the impact of the new Gen 7 car on drivers like Kyle Busch, and debate the NASCAR points system's fairness. The episode highlights rising star Connor Zilisch, comparing him to Jeff Gordon, and previews the upcoming playoff opener at Darlington. Insightful commentary on team dynamics, driver performance, and strategic challenges sets the stage for the high-stakes playoff battles ahead.
Topics:
daytona race recap
ryan blaney win
nascar playoffs
points system debate
gen 7 car impact
kyle busch struggles
connor zilisch rising star
darlington playoff preview
team dynamics
driver performance
Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down all the action from an unforgettable Daytona weekend, where Ryan Blaney scored a thrilling win that shook up the NASCAR Playoff picture. The crew discusses how Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick barely made the cut, while Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch fell short of the postseason. They also talk about rising star Connor Zilisch, who will race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series next year, and debate just how good he can be at the sport’s highest level. Then, the focus shifts to the Playoffs, starting with the Round of 16 at Darlington, as Kevin explains what makes the track such a challenge and who could make an early statement. Mamba shares this week’s best fan reactions in Social Sips, and the show wraps up in Last Call with Blaney’s burnout grades and Darlington race predictions.
LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR DARLINGTON: https://forms.gle/ncJsYhSJKuzTAJU38
0:00 - Intro3:49 - Daytona Weekend Recap35:59 - Connor Zilisch43:15 - Playoff Preview/Darlington Preview52:26 - Mamba's Social Sips1:01:38 - Last Call!
GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY).
Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD).
21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. Terms: draftkings.com/sportsbook. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). Sponsored by DK.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Renault Wind
"it's cinematic he got the wind taken away from him in the truck race at the begi..."
- Intro3:49 - Daytona Weekend Recap35:59 - Connor Zilisch43:15 - Playoff Preview/Darlington Preview52:26 - Mamba's Social Sips1:01:38 - Last Call!
Select text to request an explanation
The new LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't undo your last hire, the lone wolf,
who you thought was a good collaborator because you didn't have the right candidate insights.
But once you hired them, it was all hoarding info, declining meetings, and howling at the full moon.
But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can go deeper than just the resume to find you a perfect fit
by using insights from the LinkedIn network to give you a short list of best fit candidates.
Hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro.
Post your first job today and get $100 off at linkedin.com slash quality offer. Terms and conditions apply.
That was one of the best races I've watched.
Plainly wound up squashing all those dreams. The points conversation is not going away.
Connor Zillich could have went to F1 and been the American F1 racer.
The closing to Jeff Gordon that we've had in a very, very long time.
I think that this car has totally disrupted everything that's made Cowbush good.
He could drive it over the limit. Not gonna happen.
Pays it for him.
What a race! California's Kevin Harvick comes in!
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR & FOX.
I'm Kevin Harvick.
I'm Caitlin Vinci.
I'm Mama Smith.
And that guy.
Yeah, that guy.
He's making so many friends, you are.
I am.
Especially like, listen, more people know who I am now after the last two weeks.
I know.
It's always...
Okay. I mean...
Yeah.
I'm glad that you're sticking by your opinion.
No, I think it's wrong.
Ten toes down.
I think it's good.
Yeah.
It is.
And nothing rattles you.
I appreciate that about you.
Now, does it rattle you?
Or are you like a guy that's kind of a closet thinker that says, I don't like all this?
No.
I love it because it makes people talk about the sport and different opinions.
And I agree with that.
I like that.
Yeah.
And I like that.
Like for me, I like that.
I'm not gonna let someone bully me out of my opinion.
Now, you might bring some good thoughts and good opinions too.
And I might change my opinion, but you're not gonna just bully me out of it.
And I think that's important for people to see.
I do get a little worried sometimes because my parents, they didn't sign up for that.
You know what I mean?
Like they didn't sign up.
Like they have to sit there and see their son get drug or people talk a lot of shit.
Is that a thing towards your parents?
I mean, people say things about everything.
Right?
So like...
Other than that...
The keyboard worries.
Yeah, the keyboard worries.
Other than that, it's cool.
Honestly, most people, like they're really not that bad.
Yeah.
It's not that bad.
I like debates.
Debates are good, but especially on X, like you get some...
It's just...
There's a lot of hate.
There's a lot of hate.
There's a lot of hate.
I'm okay with debating something back and forth and I might not agree with you
and you might not agree with me.
But just like this instance, we don't agree with each other.
But it's good to, like you say, flush out something that could be better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You brought up some valid points.
KV, how are you going to figure out what's going to move the needle
if we don't talk about it with the two sides?
Yeah.
If I'm over here and you're over here.
I think Stephanie has started the conversation, that is for sure,
which is the whole point.
That's the whole point.
That's what we do around here.
That's what we're doing here.
We're not afraid to start the pot, are we guys?
Nope.
It's back to school week
and I have a very cool addition for back to school week for Kevin.
Back to school week?
We're three weeks in.
Well, my kid started last week, I guess, technically.
Okay.
So you're going to send him...
Are you going to send him to school with him?
No, I'm keeping this for me on this show.
So you're going to keep your notes in there?
Yeah, you need to.
A fangirl.
Yeah, fangirl.
How was your school thing?
You went with Keelan, right?
Did you have to go do your orientation?
Yeah, we went to orientation day.
But yeah, I mean, they're starting their third week this week.
So everything's kind of in a routine.
I think everybody was nervous about how it was going to go.
My kids have been homeschooled for the last four years
since COVID started.
So they wanted to go back to school.
So they went back to school and off we go.
I'd be scared if I was a teacher
and I saw I had Kevin Harvick's kids.
Well, I mean, the amount of kids...
I'd be like, oh, geez.
The thing about our deal is like, how many kids
that their parents are in the industry,
whether it's Kevin's kids or, you know,
everyone's kids go to school together.
And so your classroom is half full.
Yeah.
I mean, our area, I mean, everything we do is like that, though.
Yeah.
You go to dinner, you see people in the industry.
I mean, everywhere that you go, I mean,
we're all involved in racing, which is why we all live here.
Part of it.
Yeah.
There you go.
Okay.
Well, welcome in everybody to episode 58 here
of Kevin Harvick's happy hour.
Plenty to break down, leaving Daytona.
The regular season is officially in the books.
Hard to believe we're here, guys.
10 races to go in the season.
We'll preview, of course, the first playoff race.
Darlington and I know Mamba has some special sippy zips.
Oh, boy.
Slappy zips.
I can't wait.
Slappy.
Slappy.
Slappy.
Slappy.
Slappy.
Slappy.
I still want that cartoon to come out.
I love you guys.
All right, Kevin, question for you.
Did you get everything you wanted out of the regular season finale?
That was one of the best races I've watched.
And I think that, you know, that finish,
I'm just waiting for him to wreck and they did a great job.
Really all the way through the end of the race.
Started a little, race started a little rough, you know,
with some, some accidents there at the beginning of the race.
But I think for me, I mean, that was just an edge of the seat finish to the race.
Didn't see Ryan Blaine.
Blaine went in that one with two to go.
I think he was 13th with two laps to go and wound up in a position to win the race.
So, you know, as much as we've talked about the super speedway racing,
not being able to form that third lane, team saving gas.
And I don't know if it's the length,
the 400, the length of the stages and the 400 mile race that put us in a position.
They got into one point where they were saving gas right there,
but you can see right here at the end,
we had a just a few guys that needed to win to get into the playoffs.
Cole Custer kind of letting it all hang out right there.
Not sure about the yellow line there on the back stretch,
but that's a different story.
But Blaine, he wound up, you know, squashing all those dreams.
Just dream killer.
Washed him. Oh, man.
And even the 43, Eric Jones, he got shocked out of line when he was leading,
and he made it back up.
I mean, he finished fifth.
Like he, like, so for him to be able to come from the back to the front was big too.
Kev, I think you kind of touched on it.
Look how tight this, like, what more do you want from a finish?
That was fantastic.
Like, that's what you want to see at these places.
I think you kind of just touched on it.
We got to look into why they race so aggressively,
because they raced aggressive from the drop of the green.
There was only a small portion where they were saving.
So is it the shorter race?
Is it where the stages are?
Is it just because they decided,
eight of them decided that we want to control the race?
So if there's eight guys trying to control the race,
it makes everybody else pretty tame all things considered.
Yeah. And I think just whatever, like you say,
the flow of this race and the aggression and the,
and just the moving, the movers and goers up to the front,
back to the front.
I think he had some guys that were trying to save gas,
but even when you look at the six cars situation where they got
themselves in a little bit of a hole there because they had
to put more fuel in their car and got off sequence a little bit,
trying to get that track position at one point.
I never saw him for the rest of the race,
but you look at Blaney.
I mean, he had no problem making up ground.
Cole Custer, same way there at the end.
So the way that the end of that race played out and
really the whole race was pretty intense.
There was one little section there that was,
like you say, a little bit dull,
but you're going to have that in every race with the strategy
and things that goes on,
but can't ask for much more out of a finish.
No doubt.
And you've got the Ryan Blaney repping the t-shirt today
as our eventual winner, of course.
You spoke with him earlier.
I did. I spoke with Ryan earlier,
but think about those last two laps for Blaney.
Huge implications in playoff points.
When Blaney goes from fourth or fifth to second in the
race,
wins the race.
I mean, that was nine, 10-point swing for playoff points
for Blaney at the end of that race,
bumped Larson back,
bumped Chase Elliott back,
taken some points away from those guys.
And any points matter at this point.
Blaney's plus 20 over the cutoff to start the playoff.
So you think about those nine or 10 points.
That could be huge as they go forward.
And here we go again.
Here we go again.
Pinsky.
Pinsky.
Went in the race before the playoffs.
I look at those playoffs
and the way that they line out,
they're just good for Pinsky.
Yeah.
I popped into victory lane
and, you know, told all the boys congratulations.
And there's a couple of the Pinsky execs.
And I was like, how do you guys feel about your,
how do you feel about how this one lays out?
They're like, we have figured it out
the last three years.
I think we'll be just fine figuring out again.
They like the races for that.
But they've run better the last month.
All four cars.
Blaney's been solid all years.
And he brought it up today on the interview.
They had a miserable start to the season.
So the fact that they got back to second in the standings
and were able to win their second race at Daytona
shows you the speed.
And when you look at the way the first four are ranked
right now, we have our little NASCAR Insights
rankings right here.
But the first four that are in the seeds
for the playoffs are the first four in the speed ranking.
That's very interesting.
For the average for the 26 races.
So those first four guys right there
have had a great regular season,
but also had the fastest cars.
Who do you guys think is the, when you look at that,
obviously Lars and Byron, they're both on top.
Denny's three points back and then Ryan's
six points back of them.
Out of those four, who's had the best year?
Like who, like William won the champion,
the regular season championship.
But would you look at him be like, that is the guy
that is the favorite right now?
Like who's your favorite?
I still look at the playoffs standings
and I look at Larsen and Byron concerned
because they started the year off so well.
More for Larsen.
He's been, he's had some decent finishes lately,
but not that ground pounding speed
that he had at the beginning of the year.
Byron's been hit or miss.
They've continued to have speed,
made some mistakes.
And this is going to come down to mistakes.
Right?
It's just going to, it's going to come down to mistakes
on pit road.
It's going to come down to wrecks.
It's going to come down to who makes less mistakes.
And, you know, when I look at a Christopher Bell,
for instance, right there, can they just show up
and put together 10 weeks?
I hope so.
That was my championship at the beginning of the year.
I think they can do it, but it's so hard
to just show back up, you know,
and put yourself in a position for 10 weeks
and start to try to have a different mindset.
And I know that they don't intentionally do that,
but you can see the flaws in what they do
from the inconsistency of things happening.
So I don't know, it'll be interesting.
And, you know, you look at Denny in third right there.
Is this the year that he can break the playoff curse
and put together 10 weeks.
But it's always so interesting.
You look at everything that they have going on,
knowing that you still have to answer all those questions.
And so I don't know, it's very intriguing.
You asked me about those top four.
And I was going to say Denny Hamlin,
when I look at the body of work over the whole season,
I think that he has shown probably the most consistency.
Now last weekend was not a representation of that.
Everything that could go wrong kind of went wrong for the 11.
But yeah, I think this could be the year finally for the 11.
What do you think?
What do I think about one of those top four you were talking about?
Is it his year?
I don't think so.
Tell her besties. Come on.
No, I don't think so.
But I didn't pick him to win the championship either.
So, I mean, I think the most dangerous cars that are,
groups that are left is Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe.
They have had raw speed and they've shown in spurts
that they can put it together for multiple races.
If they can put it together right now when it matters most
and the lights are the brightest.
Yeah.
Those damn bright lights.
The hole that I see, you know, is from a stats standpoint
and the stats, you have to pay attention to them, right?
Because they show the body of work.
You know, when I look at the pit crew column,
I see a 20th ranking for the Briscoe pit crew.
I see a 25th place ranking for the SVG pit crew.
20th for Briscoes?
Yeah.
20th, you know, Josh Berry's 22nd ranking.
So, Austin Dillon, 26th from a pit crew ranking standpoint.
So, I think that those things matter.
You see the body of work and it'll be interesting to see
if we have any of those teams that move their pit crews around
to try to adjust to put their best foot forward.
You look at RCR, do they have the best pit crew on the three?
Can they make something better with eight not being
in the playoffs?
SVG, you know, same way.
So, it's really interesting to look at all these stats
and say, okay, what is actually going to happen
when we get to the playoffs with the pit crew stuff?
The speed part is even somewhat deceiving at this point
because now you take all those crumbs
and all those pieces that you found throughout the year
and you've put them into your first car at Darlington,
right?
Because it's hard to implement everything all at once,
but these playoff cars that show up to Darlington
will have all those pieces put together.
You'll have more focused drivers.
You'll have as much focus out of every team member
that you've had all year.
All that effort is going into these Darlington cars
and that's why you show up at a lot of these races
and you'll get to the round of eight
and it'll be the first eight guys on the racetrack
because it's just that ultra-high level of focus
that's really tough to put together.
When we talk about it on here all the time
with the 24 and the 20,
it's hard to put together those 38 weeks of a season
to be able to focus and put that many details into it
every single week,
but when we get to the playoffs, that's what happens.
Yeah, laser focused in for all these teams
and we'll be interested to see, like with the three, right?
They're the only team,
they're the only car in for that group,
the RCR group, so they get a lot of focus,
which really helps, whereas the Penske group,
it's all four of their cars,
Hendrick, until you get into the next round
and even really the round of eight,
you're not getting all the focus at your organization.
All the resources, yeah, that's right.
And when the teams come together
and it's like, all right, we only have one bullet,
we're making sure it's our best one.
That's when it really starts showing up.
One team with momentum on their side, of course,
Ryan Blaney, the Victory Lap interview with Kevin
is available now.
I want to talk about the guy who's the last man in five below,
Alex Bowman, who I believe deserves to be there.
But this was just a tough situation for them
getting taken out early on in the race
and having to sit for agonizing hours,
wondering if they would advance.
All the way to the end.
All the way to the end.
I mean, one of those,
there were so many of those guys
up in the front of the pack there at the end
as you see the trouble that they had.
And this wreck was, you know,
really think it was on the 23,
just squeezing down on the 22.
And, you know, unfortunately,
that got the eight, that got the 48,
got several of those cars that were in there.
But I agree with you.
I think Alex Bowman deserves to be in there.
That's the part that I don't like about the current point system
is there's nothing that guarantees
rewarding all 26 weeks in there currently.
Could have had a guy that's,
well, I'll just tell you,
Cole Custer was in the mix.
33rd in the points.
And to me, that's tough to knock a guy out
by winning one super speedway race
over a guy like Alex Bowman,
who's put together 26 weeks.
What if you guys think if there was a caveat
to the system where if you get the win,
but you have to be top 20 or something in points?
I think that there's probably something to,
you know, if you want to just leave it like it is,
okay.
That's, you know, that's not the way I would do it,
but I think there needs to be
two or three guaranteed spots for the points.
And if you have too many winners,
then just start the first round with too many cars.
You know, if you could still earn your way in with wins,
but start the first round with too many cars
and, you know, just eliminate more cars
in the first round.
And because a guy like Alex Bowman
has put together a decent 26 weeks,
a guy like Cole Custer hasn't.
They've been almost, I mean, they're almost dead last
in the cars that have run full time.
And having a car,
knock out a car that's put together a season
like Alex Bowman has had,
just because he hasn't won a race,
but put together a great, you know,
decent body of work over 26 weeks
doesn't make sense to me
in what you put together for 26 weeks.
Yeah, I like that idea.
I think when it comes to the points
and like people have said 20,
that should be less.
Points have to matter more.
Yeah, points have to matter more.
But when they only want 20 cars to be eligible,
I'm like, okay,
so you're taking the cars,
the teams that are further back, right?
You're devaluing them
as far as what they can sell
for sponsorship and the business side.
Like the business side takes a massive hit
when you're a 25th place team,
but you're like, all right,
we have six super speedways
like SVG type guy,
and you're telling your sponsors
and you're trying to sell more sponsors
on the fact that we can get in
and be a part of the show,
we're putting all our eggs in these baskets.
Well, now it's like,
how are you going to get a sponsor
to spend $30 million on a program
when they don't think
that they can really win
to get into the playoffs anyway?
You know what I mean?
$30 million, I want you to be my sponsor rep.
18.
Okay, 18 mil, whatever it is.
I think the incentive to win
needs to stay there,
but I think there needs to be
something more for the points.
Yeah, I agree.
The full body of work.
Now, I think that being able to eliminate those,
you'd eliminate those guys
in the first round anyway.
They're going to be gone
in the first round of the playoffs anyway.
So if you have more cars than 16
and you're guaranteeing the points guy
a reward for their body of work,
I think that there's a number
of different ways you can do this
if we're going to change the points system.
Sorry to bring it up again.
It's not going to go away.
The points conversation is not going away.
It's going to change
in some form or fashion.
What makes the most sense
for the competition?
Let me be honest about how I feel about it.
From the competition side,
a team member,
I want to go in,
kick everyone's ass,
and be done with the championship
five races early and I just get to sit back
and I've had it done.
But for the business
and the longevity of the sport
and the fans and everything
that goes into it,
that doesn't really make the most sense
for the money.
From the competition side,
I'm all about it.
I don't think the best
car has won the championship.
Best car or best driver?
I'm just calling it a car
because in order to have a car,
you've got to have the best driver.
To win the championship, you've got to have the best driver
and the best team put together
to win a championship.
But I don't know that the best car
for a full year
has won the championship
in this format all the time.
When Kenseth won his,
would you say that he was the best car
and was that the best car that year?
That was a long time ago.
I think so.
When you go back to
2020, we won nine races.
We had the best car. We just didn't have
the best car at the last race.
Go back to 2015
and I'm still not sold
that you look at Kyle Bush
winning the championship. I'm still not sold
that you should be able to miss
four, five, six races,
whatever it was and be eligible
to win a championship. I think you're hurt
and you shouldn't win the championship.
I think if you can't make all the races
there's something to be said
about maybe one week.
That's where the owner driver
thing comes into it
because the car made it through
the driver.
The car still wasn't going to win the championship
and so you
go back to Jimmy Johnson's championship.
All the other three guys wrecked.
He brought this up the other day.
The other three guys wrecked in the championship
race and he won by default.
I think the last time
it's a really tough conversation.
The last time with this format where it
seemed like the rightful team and driver one
was Kyle Larson.
Would you agree with that? That was
2021.
There are some
make the argument
there are some flaws
if you're looking to reward
the best car
and the best team for a whole years
worth of work.
I just think that that first 26 weeks
needs to have more
there needs to be more emphasis on the first
26 weeks and that reward
and winning and all that.
I don't know how you tie it all together.
I'm glad I don't have to do that because
it's a no-win situation.
A lot of people want a lot of things
for different reasons and trying to make
everybody happy is
impossible.
One of the teams
I think that's a bit of a head
scratcher this year is Tyler Redick
and company. Now they did advance on
but he was saying this is not how we want
to advance to the playoffs
with very minimal momentum on
their side. It just seems like
there's something not quite
coming together. It's really confusing
when you look at the speed chart average
for the first 26 weeks he ranks fifth
so they've had
speed but they don't execute.
They don't turn it into anything
but to me it doesn't feel like
he's had that top five speed
when I watch the races
and I know that he got tore up again
this weekend but
I really thought that they would
progress into, especially the way that
the 23 car has run
they went through the 23 of Bubba
went through a lull there of
time but they got it back
and got themselves the victory lane
off like gangbusters and it's just not
it's not been that type
of year like we saw last year
out of Tyler Redick and so
not hard to do. You don't have to miss
by much to not
be in that category anymore but they just
to me don't feel like
contenders at this point. They just
haven't, yeah they haven't had the spark
they haven't had their moment
this year. They haven't had
the, yep there's a definite
championship contender
which is weird
just you know what I mean
this team at Bubba and the 23 group
they've done a really good job and had
good speed and executed and when it mattered
and they just haven't been
able to do it and you can't really
sometimes it's just that year
and you look at the five, those two guys
Tyler Redick and Kyle Larson
those two groups were the ones fighting
and we were like one of these two guys
is going to win the championship last year
and they're both kind of
just a little bit of low for their
standards that they've set for themselves.
That's weird, I don't know why.
Well I think some of that too
I think when you look at
2311 obviously they have a lot going on
off the racetrack but on the racetrack
they added another car
and anytime that you expand that's going to
take some time to get those resources
spread back out to be able to
understand the flow of your company
and know where the holes are
of where to get those details
and so I always look at expansion
as somewhat of a
disruption to a team
to be able to maintain
at a high level of winning
is tough because of
of the things that change
so if I were going to point
my finger at one thing
I would point towards expanding
to three teams, that would be
that would be my guess.
So some growing pains maybe came
to 2311 with that expansion
I know the teams that have advanced on
what about the groups that did not bake it
and what they need to do in their agendas
for the next couple of weeks
thinking specifically about Kyle Busch
and RFK Racing, we've talked about it guys
Brad Kizlowski is the flagship team
I mean he's the leader of the group
but it's just been lagging for some time
Yeah and Brad is
in my eyes
is supposed to be
the star of the team
that's the team that's supposed to be the leader
now over the last
six weeks they've definitely run better
climbed up the point standings
but haven't won
you know always seems to be
something that happens throughout the day
that keeps them from
being in position to win
so I think it's a
you know it's a tough conversation
I think it's that time of the year
where you have to start deciding
are you going to make changes on your team
to be able to put yourself in a position to win
can they maintain
what they've done the last six weeks
for the end of the year to get themselves back to Victory Lane
to know that they're okay
or do they need to go hunt for
engineers, crew chief, whatever they
think that is, this is the time of year
that you have to do that because
all the good people their contracts are up
if they're up
they're up starting in September
usually and I think
that's the time of the year that you have to start
making changes and
I think that Ryan Priest did a great job
this year I don't think anybody expected
the improvement that they
saw but their real contenders
are going to be better next year
having a year under their belt
determined, hungry
but when you look at that six car
it's supposed to be the anchor on the performance side
and they just they have not been
and you know I think that
you got to have somebody be
the anchor of the team to carry it along
and it just hasn't been that way for the six
yeah I mean he's the
obviously he's supposed to be the guy, his name's on the
freaking building stuff
and switching cars
we're going to go right into this conversation
about from Brad
right to Kyle Busch right
when you look at the next gen car
it's different than what it used to be
several years ago and
can you adjust to that style to be
can Brad adjust to that style
of being a consistent winner
like he was at Penske in this car
and in this organization
being the team owner and having to do everything
outside of the car that's the question
and they haven't they got to answer it
right he's got to answer it and the only way to
answer is to either do it or you don't do it
and they're putting in the work to do it
obviously because the cars are faster
their team is better
but you have to
execute and finish it off and they
when they're in position just like KB
when Kyle Busch and that group is in position
it seems like the wheels fall off
every time this year
and honestly the 60 could
develop into that anchor car
he was the best car this year
Ryan Priest was the best car
consistently for the first 26 weeks
week in and week out
I mean Busch didn't
I mean he had some moments but
he didn't run as well as he did last year
as far as being in contention
to win races they haven't run as well
the 60 car has been the best RFK car
we have several drivers
dual roles of driver team owner
with Denny Hamlin and Brad Kosowski
but what kind of task is that when you're trying to balance
both sides both entities
because you've done it too
well it's tough and I think
Denny's situation to me is easier than Brad's
because Denny's they're getting their cars
from Joe Gibbs racing
and then they put the final details on it
it's a much different process
I mean Brad's team
is developing doing all those things
on their
not on their own but I mean basically
leading the charge
they're not buying their cars from somebody
it's not like they're coming from Penske
their cars aren't coming from Penske
they're doing that all within their walls
so I think it's more difficult
because I always found when I drove for RCR
and KHI at the same time it was almost better
for both companies
because I wanted my RCR stuff to be as good
as it could so I could take it to KHI
and I think Denny's in that same boat
he wants to put as much
as he can and put in at JGR
because he knows that's going directly to his team
so it's
I mean and Denny works his ass off
and puts the time in to be
a leader, a winner
and do everything he can to win races
and I think that
motivation for your own company
when you're driving for somebody else
especially in Denny's case when they have the business
relationship is super
super motivating to be able to
to be productive
and the whole thing is
that situation is very different
and very interesting with Denny
obviously with the lawsuit stuff
with him being at JGR
and knowing exactly what's going on
with his driving career
but the owner part
I don't know how you can really
split those two things
on a day to day that's a lot
and I think when there's some other moves
I think the McDowell move
I think he's worse off
than he did at front row
I agree that he hasn't done as well
but I think he's in a better position
like a better place
I mean depends what you consider a better position
do you think that the
what do you mean?
I think that the organization of Spire
is faster on average
and they've had more opportunities
to win but he did
better over there but also
my perception of it is different because
I expect less out of the front row group
when he was there then I do out of
him at Spire
so you got the expectation is kind of
and on the flip side of that I think his crew chief
Travis Peterson
I think him leaving front row
has hurt front row
and I don't think that they've run
since McDowell and Peterson have left
they haven't run as well without them
there
but I don't think
they've done any better at Spire
I guess is the best way to put it
and I think it's really hurt
the performance of front row
you look at Noah
he's 34th in the standings
Riley Herps right behind him
and Cody Ware in 36
so that's as bad as you can
almost as bad as you can do
and I think a lot of that is
the leadership of McDowell but
I think the Travis Peterson
piece of it not being in
those walls at front row
has really affected that team
he's got a wealth of knowledge
an engineer at Hendrick Metersports for many years
I think he's a super sharp crew chief
super sharp and he comes
from that lineage of really
smart crew chiefs
that he could lean on and learn from
when you have that it's like
you talk about the coaching trees right of like
Belichick and Andy Reed and like where do these guys go
after and then you're like oh he was
under Chad's wing for a little bit oh that makes sense
you can see that lineage
we talked about
34, 35th
and 36th
but when you look at 33rd
you know with Cole Custer
I mean the Haas
the only time we've seen him show up is the
two-day toner races this year
and they've just been non-existent the rest of the year
so you know that
that divorce between
Stewart and Haas
has basically taken them out of contention
as far as being a competitive team
I interviewed Cole
for our experience this past weekend
I asked him about that and he was like
well we really went from
we didn't go from four to one
we really went really from like four to zero
and then back up like
they broke down the whole thing
and then rebuilt with what was left
and it's a whole new
and maybe more changes on the way
on the manufacturer side it sounds like
some rumblings of that
I want to go back to Count Bush
for just a second
this year they only have two top five performances
curious from you
at one point
do you think maybe it becomes a mental
block for Kyle
like he's starting to think like can I not do this anymore
like what is
what do you think is in his mental space?
I think this car has totally disrupted everything
that's made Kyle Bush good
everything that made Kyle Bush good up until this
this gen 7 car
was the fact that he could drive it over the limit
save the car
everything that you needed to put in a car
to make it go fast
he knew the springs, he knew the shocks
he knew everything that was going on
not going to happen in gen 7 racing
you're not going to know
the springs and the shocks
it's a way different dynamic
of what it takes to make this car go fast
you're not building cars
that are specifically built to your driving
style from an aero balance
standpoint you've got what you've got
and every time that this
car is in position
it's a spin out
a wreck or something on pit road
or something happens
that's going on
and just can't finish the deal
and I think that for Kyle
he's in a position to where
he knows he wants to win
and he knows everybody wants to win
he knows he needs to win
he knows in those positions where he can win
and then he pushes it over the edge
and that's always what made Kyle Bush great
he pulled too far and saved the car
and now it's just that he just can't
find that feel of putting himself
in that position so everybody
wants to see Kyle Bush win
we're going on three years
and the best he's
finishing the points is 14th
and not going to finish
that was the worst he ever did
at Joe Gibbs racing so it just
it hasn't been great
for the 8th
I don't think there's anyone that I want to see win
we all want to see
we know how important Kyle Bush is
to NASCAR racing
it's true
it's going to be tough
there was this kid
I was doing practice and qualifying
he had a
8 Kyle Bush hat
he had an 18 M&M shirt
that was down to his knees
and it looked like maybe his mom
and his big brother maybe his dad or whatever
and he stopped and saw Kyle
and I mean
elated
and you just see that and then I look at him
and I'm like damn I want that guy back
I want to be able to see that
do you think he ever wins again?
I do
I'd love for him to win this year
so they can feel like they have
something to look forward to in the next year
and I think that
I think it will be
interesting too as you go forward
there's going to be some mixups
and changes I don't know whose contracts
where, who's up
but
there's got to be a crew chief
that's placed
at Connor Zillich's car
I was just getting ready to get there
and
there isn't a crew chief in the garage
that doesn't want to sit
on the pit box for that kid
no kidding
when you know you have something special
it just
does a crew guy
we just got to do our job
take your pick
it's a take your pick
type scenario
there's only a couple of guys
in situations that
there's more than a couple
there's a handful of guys that are going to say no
but you got to, in my opinion
if you're doing what you should be doing
from the race team standpoint
you should have a pick of the crop for that kid
from a crew chief standpoint
and Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections
for what teens see
and who can contact them
plus time management tools
and Instagram
will continue adding built-in safety features
to help create age-appropriate experiences
learn more about teen accounts
and Instagram's ongoing work
to protect teens online
at instagram.com
slash teen accounts
I was just going to say
there's some very talented young racers coming through the pipeline
from Cory Hyme
to Connor Zillich
to Brent Cruz
and so you mentioned Connor
and I want to hear his take on
the announcement that he will be going full-time cup series racing
he made it over the weekend
it was a very emotional moment for him take a listen
I never knew what was ahead of me
and there were times five years ago
where I thought I was just going to college
and live the life of a normal kid
and then when I asked my dad
what's your plan with this kid
and my dad was like
well he's going to race for another year too
and then he's going to go to college
and Kevin told my dad
he's like you can't do that
so first of all thank you to Kevin
there's a lot of people that
have been a part of this journey
with me
your reaction hearing that
well I mean Connor's a
I mean he's a great kid
like he is
I mean he's just
type of person that everybody wants to root for
and he's personable
he's got a great
he's got a great demeanor in a way
that he carries himself
and people are going to love him
and I think as you go through time
and more people know his name
they're going to love him for who he is
let alone the fact that he can
drive the snot out of that car
but he's
Connor
I don't know he's
when we started racing go-karts he started helping Keelan
and we got to know Connor pretty well
he helped Keelan with some of his
go-kart data and training
and different things when we first started
but always been a part of
he was always a part of that side
and you know he is
really good
at what he does
but he's a great person so
you know I think that conversations
about with his dad I mean it happened outside the airport
and I'm like man
you got to figure out you can't send this kid to college
you at least got to give him a shot
to go do
he's looking at all this talent
and all this aura and he's like
you're going to do what with this
he's going to be a financial
and thank God Keelan was racing go-karts
at the time because we plucked
what I felt were the
two best kids that were older than Keelan
at that time out of go-kart racing
I mean Connor Zillich could have went to F1
and been the American F1 racer
he was the
most recent miss by
Formula 1 and just the fact that
we were racing go-karts and we kind of steered
these kids, these kids had no interest
they didn't even know what NASCAR was
they wanted to go down
that F1 road and so
luckily we steered
them into NASCAR but
Connor Zillich not only could he make it here
but he could have been the F1
American F1 driver
to go over and be
competitive in an F1 car
I want to get your taken a second but I'm curious
when did you start to recognize his talent
when was that turning point you were like huh
there was just
Connor was just one of those kids that stuck out
I mean he could start in the back
he could go to the front
he'd make spectacular moves
and since I've known him
that's how he carried himself
and his parents would send him to Europe
with the driver coach
and they would go by themselves
and you hear him talk about Gary Willis
and the time that he spent
racing go-karts with him that was the guy
that helped him race karts
I mean he'd show up at the airport by himself
14-15 years old
just walking around get on the airplane
get off the plane hey man can't run a car
can I get a ride
you can come with us to the track
but he would just get in there
and just
spectacular things but
he's very intelligent
and you can tell by the way that he speaks
he's very intelligent
he understands the data he can coach himself
he can look at the data
he can compare it to somebody else and say I need to do that
and then he can go execute it
that's what racing is in today's world
are you coachable
you're going to be under criticism
from the time that you get
into racing
if it's done appropriately you're going to be criticized
and you're going to be compared
to other people
he can criticize himself and he can go out and
execute those changes on the racetrack
to make himself faster and better
and know how to do that
I was in the media center and I looked at some people
I'm like he is
the most finished product
that we have had in a
very very long time
and they're like what do you mean finished product
he's only 19 I'm like he's already a
world-class driver
in every stage
that you could possibly win at
and not to mention he's not just jumping over
from sports cars into stock cars
he's also running one in cars tour races
he's won
won what was he and win six
or something dumb in the X-Frinity series
well technically seven
Parker got him another one this weekend
so like he is
he's going to keep learning and keep getting better
because you never stop
but he is
I think Parker said it like the closest thing to Jeff Gordon
that we've had in a very very long time
that someone coming in and being able to
have an impact like that immediately
and it's going to be
I think that the
going cup racing is a whole different animal
it is a whole different animal
and you've got more pressure
more media more money
more distractions
and the competition is
by far the most that you will ever have
so you're going to have a new team
around him
you're going to have a lot of challenges
but he is the most polished
that's the most well-rounded
young driver that's come
to the cup series
in a long time
since Jeff Gordon
that's a good word to describe him polished
a very high praise here for Connor Zillich
we look forward to seeing what the future will hold
for him you mentioned Parker
I know you wanted to give him a shout out for that
hell yeah I want to give Parker a shout out
I mean like
it's cinematic
he got the wind taken away from him in the truck race
at the beginning of the season after he
won in like whatever
with a little bit of height
in whatever happened
and for him to get the opportunity
the irony in that and it was just a beautiful moment
and like that was
the group that
Parker and Connor
is crew chief on the 88, Marty Lindley
I've worked with Marty a few times
with Pat Martin who's like his right hand man
was doing the driver change
like if Pat doesn't if Pat messes up
putting that window net back up
everyone's the whole entire thing
like one little thing like people like
think it's so amazing it is
but every detail is what makes it so amazing
and for them for Chevrolet
to let him do it
for WeatherTech like
it's not like it's just like Dale's like oh we're going to put Parker in
there's a lot of checks and balances
that go into getting him into that car
and for it all to work out
that's after y'all
good job Parker Kligerman
yeah and good job junior motorsports too
I don't think we've probably
given them enough credit for how good those cars
have been this year
I mean they're on fire this year
they are indeed
so now the playoffs begin guys
we're headed to the very first race of that
which would be Darlington
three tracks in this round
Darlington, Gateway and Bristol
three different places I might add
so what are people up against this weekend
you obviously won there three times
don't beat yourself
that's the saying that you don't want to do at Darlington
you don't want to run into the fence
you don't want to knock a tow link off
you don't want to miss Pit Road
and you're going to see it, it'll happen
there's just no way around it
there's going to be guys that get desperate
don't qualify good
and make those mistakes
and so Darlington is
race the racetrack first
put yourself in a position to not make
any mistakes
stay on the lead lap and do what you have to do
from there so it's
it's a tough place
500 miles at Darlington
is a tough, tough ask from a driver
standpoint to be able to put that
and pit crews you're going to make a lot of pit stops this week
and we know there's a lot
of areas to make mistakes
and you've got everybody amped up
and the guys who've been
able to manage this there'll be some of them
that are able to pick it up
there's going to be a surprise
I think that pops up
that is a contender that hasn't been
it could be a Tyler Reddick that
uses that speed that shows up
and goes to a place like Darlington
that just could pop up and win the race
Kyle Larson could put himself
we know that he'll be good here
in this scenario put himself in a position
to run up against the fence and so
when I think of Darlington I know two guys
are the same two guys that could pound it against
a fence and knock the total
link off on lap 5 so you never
know how it's going to work out
so right now
everybody can make it in on points
there's no this big gap
to where you're in a must win situation
it is tight
it is very tight really
from Chase Elliott down
to Alex Bowman
so do not
do not
ruin if you're having a bad day
find a way to
just get the best out of it
do not put yourself in a situation
where you're almost in must win
next week because the minute you're in
must win now it's
especially in this round
if you can just average a 15th place
finish through the first few races
you're going to probably get yourself through
so it's not
in this first round you don't want to
go into that do or die got to win
you got to do this and get yourself
so amped up that you start making mistakes
and hitting stuff and you can take yourself
out of it way faster than you can keep yourself
this is where the crew chief is going to be
super important to locking in
his crew
the pit crew and the driver reminding everyone
what our plan is what our goal is
week one let's handle the goal this
week if it's to finish 15th
it's to finish 15th if it's to get
some stage points it's to do that but do not
get behind and feel like you're behind
now you got to try too hard
and then you're picking your stuff out of the fence
do you like the complexion of tracks in this round
yeah I do
and I think that
St. Louis getting put in there
I think that they do a great job
it's a great market it's a unique race track
so I like the fact that we're mixing
the styles of
race tracks up so
Darlington is its own beast
and I just like the fact that
they're just
the styles of tracks
and this first go around
here at Darlington though it's full day's work
for everybody
listen man you can
mess up a little bit and it'll just ruin
this whole thing for you
so what is the mindset
shift like for the competitors
once this time of the year rolls around
I just want to stand on your throat
you do
everybody's not yours
I think it's just that killer
you always had it
I think it's just
there's nothing better than
knowing that it's just
it's time to go to war kill mode
just get into kill mode and just
know that every
single lap
means something whether it's
the first lap of practice or the last lap of the race
everything in between there
matters and it could affect
what you do and
capitalizing on a day
on a bad day
all those things it's just all these different goals
that just are out there to try to
achieve and they're always changing and moving
because there's just something that's going to happen
and how can you react to those bad moments
to make them into decent days
and so and capitalizing
on the good moments and not spinning
out and trying to be a hero
and whatever that case may be
but there's just nothing better
than locking in with a group
of people for those 10 weeks
to try to accomplish winning a championship
when we were at SHR it was
FEA man
it was f**k them all
it was
FEA
like that
time of the year
was so much fun
and it's really when you're locked in with a group
everything that you've learned throughout the year
if there was a
new process that you thought was going to be quicker
for the guys or if you found
Grace that was breaking every week
and you're like is this something that
all of it goes into right now
and everyone is pulling in one direction
no matter what
whether you have four cars in it or one car in it
you're just trying to go win this championship
and kick everybody in the teeth
and you got to be willing to do things
that are outside of your comfort zone
whether it's take chances
here and there
you got to be willing
and able to push yourself
outside of your comfort zone to achieve things
that you may not have done before
and push through those hard moments
so it's fun
the shop air is different
it is different
the minute they got back on Monday
the air in the everyone
shop is different
you're either locking in or you're like
we're going to be the spoiler
everyone has something to rate
and the ones that are willing to make the most sacrifices
the next ten weeks are going to achieve the most results
and that's
telling your family that I might not be home as much
it's putting in the extra time
it's a big commitment
to go out and win this championship
this is the point of the year
where the big transition takes place
as teams go after a title
so let's revisit our champion picks
that we made quite some time ago
Kevin's was
Christopher Bell
I went with Larson
William Byron was yours
that's what it says here on this sheet
thanks Tyler
are you still confident I am in mine
you can't change them
you're confident in yours Kevin
I am
I think if anybody can do it
it's that team, that crew chief, that driver
you just can't count them out
how about your guy
my guy is a regular season champ
so I mean
I'm good with it
I mean, like I said in the beginning of the year though
we go back to episode one
in February
you're going to have to go through 12
well you're not the regular season champ out of these chairs
so
at least you pick somebody who's the regular season champ
I pick champions, I don't pick winners
you're not a champion you just pick them
no I am a champion, I'm a cup series champion
god dang it
you pick on Bell you still
I mean my biggest worry with Bell is the inconsistency
in the moments right
I think they're going to be able to go out
and do those things it's just
are the misses too big
and when the moments I look back
at a place like Dover
you can't spin out running second
so I worry about
the moments that could happen
with Christopher Bell I think that the performance
will be there
you guys have a dark horse
is that a dark horse?
oh that's a dark horse
that's who I would say
I think it's Reddick
I just
think that they could wake up
yeah probably
they have the potential to do it
so you know it's there it just hasn't been
what we expected but
is that 10 week stretch
and that motivation and that
is it something to do with the preparation
is it something to do with whatever
I don't know
could be anything but they have the ability
to just flip the switch
who's yours I'm writing these down
I don't I mean I think
for me it's more who's the most dangerous
and I said Bubba earlier and
Briscoe I think those two are the most
dangerous when it comes to
what could happen well and here's
the here's the here's the other scenario
in order to be the champ
you gotta beat the champ
and he's still in the playoffs
he's still in it and last year he's still in it
he yelled at me and said don't you ever
count Joey Logano out
and he said yes ma'am
and that's a good point we know
Joey knows how to do this
and has done it a time two or three
okay time now
for the Sips we got a pretty decent
list this week what you say
that's good because I'm thirsty
that's the only good part about this
my water's out so I'm over here
Kevin some
some fans from Phoenix wanted me to
let you know that this is their favorite part of the show
so uh shout out to
my Kiwis out in New Zealand I know you guys
have been checking in on this show
Kiwis? Yeah they're Kiwis yeah
they're homies they watch
the show they've been engaging on social it's been great
welcome to Mamba's social
Sips and we're gonna
start
we're gonna start from this weekend
you guys know I do driver intros
correct you know I do the handshakes
with some of these chief hype
officer in case you didn't know
he's officially chief hype
officer for
NASCAR yeah which means for
the drivers because I'm there to make them look cool
yeah you didn't do that this weekend
I don't know roll the tape we'll see what happens
and that's all you posted was that
little smiley face well I was
so Jeff Gluck tweeted it
and then Bleacher Report
posted the video I just
quote tweeted it the smiley face
so what's going on here are you guys
actual legitimate unhappy with each other
or I don't know we haven't
we haven't spoke but then he said this
you're so cool bro don't let the ratios
get to you this was after the race
so he's flying on his jet home
and he tweeted me this and I said what does that mean
ratio it's like
ratio is like you said
this and more people
hated it then liked it
he's saying more people disagreed
with me I feel like I'm so
uncool well that's why
we're here for you
I don't know
because you didn't know what that meant
yeah so here's the thing
this all started
because last week
I said that
don't you dare in this
you're not about it
it was about the tweet
that I said crowning the champion
it's about crowning the best team
not the best driver
Denny disagreed and then on
actions detrimental
shout out to you guys
he brought it up
and kind of drug me a little bit
what does that mean
please explain to the first older
but the people that don't know he was kind of talking some shit
and acting like he didn't know who I was
I heard you bro
so let's do this
you can come right here
on Kevin Harvick's happy hour podcast
if you have any debate
or I can come to you
what do you want to do
I've seen some people in twitter
they want to see it
I'm down
if you want to talk about whether it's a
is this a one on one thing
we'll loan you the set
we'll put it as two chairs
I kind of think you should be in the middle of it
I don't want to be on it
I want to watch
I'm down
wherever he wants to be we can talk about it
because
I'm down
I'm not going to back down
DH where you at my guy
I thought you were going to end it I'm like oh man
no apologies here please do that
no I'm not apologizing for being right
you're not right
it's a team sport
well that's not how you put it
you might have to check the tape
alright next
next move it on
so AI is this thing
that I really don't love
is this thing I really don't love
I don't love however
Andrew Curlin
asked the AI to predict the next 20
cup series champions
this is pretty cool considering
it agrees with me in this years
which is William Byron
the other ones that I think stood out to me
feeling perfect 2042 champion
that definitely stood out
they look like he and Ty Gibbs look like brothers
they look about
yeah we got Jesse Love
championship Cory Hyme gets one
I would love to know
where the AI thinks they're going to be driving
Hosevar is on there
I know they're picking drivers
but you don't know the context exactly
so this is very intriguing where is Hosevar
he's 2032
2037
SVG 2028
how old will Josh Berry be in 2038
what is that 13 years from now
he's got to be 46
47
47 year old champion
I mean he's
running into his Mark Martinare
trying to get that one done
that is interesting though
some people make sense and some don't
it just depends on where the AI thinks
that they'll be racing at I think really matters
because you gotta be on the right team
this AI scares me
that's a long time
especially with that 2042
KHI might have a cup team by that point
good luck with that
sorry Delayda
one of the coolest things
that has been happening a lot lately
is the crossover between
our sport and other sports
and we all know that the pit crews
have a lot of D1 athletes and former
pros on it
Joey Logano showed up on campus
at Clemson
last week and these guys
on the football team
were hyped
they were jacked up
Joey must have felt like the man
watch him get out of the car
reaction
I liked the cross promotion with college students
I went to my first race as a college student
as a tailgating party experience
that's what it's supposed to be
it was fun
I love the fact that
we're in this space because
we use so many of their athletes
on pit road
this is true
I think that the recruiting
and things that have happened over the last several years
when you talk about
professional athletes, college athletes
people have no idea
we tell them about it all the time
but a lot of people don't put all this together
and it's a great way for
a lot of these kids that don't make it
to go make a living
and still be competitive and do something that's
pretty freaking awesome
there's probably 70 kids on that team
how many of them are going to go pro
it's a very small selection
if you can expose them kids now
to this might be
when you're done here, that's cool, enjoy it
this is also an avenue
but when you're done, if you don't make it here
come on over
you ever jumped in front of a 3500 pound car?
pretty sick, you want to play Frogger for real?
so I love that
kudos to whoever put that together
guys we got a mail bag this week
we got a mail bag
from our friend in New York
this is uh
man I always mess up his name
no, go ahead and say Irfan
don't help him
thank you everybody that helped me with that
Irfan from New York
he said, Kevin
throughout your hall of fame career
you've had a lot of fast cars
but which specific car
would you say was your best
I'm going to take a guess and say it was the 2015
Dover playoff car
what would you say
I would say that one's pretty good
but I would say that's not it
I can't remember the exact year
but I lapped the whole field
at Atlanta all the way
in the Xfinity race
Brad Koslowski
threw a water bottle out with two laps to go
as I was lapping him, I think he was third
and they threw the freaking caution
and we lost the race
and I was so mad
I think I slapped him in the face
in the media center
as I was walking off
I slapped him in the cheek
and said I hope you sleep good tonight
would you slap him with your hand
a little love tap
I always think about
the Phoenix car
I can't remember
it was 14 or 15
I think it was 15
when everyone was talking about the window brace
remember they were talking about the window brace
and you get out in one
and you slap the back window
it's all good everybody
those were fast
we're talking about lapping the whole freaking field
that's pretty wild
you're not supposed to do that
the only guy in front of me was going to be second
and I could see him
thanks to a water bottle
trying to put on the show
trying to put on the show
mambas, social sips, that's a wrap
we'll be eagerly waiting
for any response to the challenge
we are you
I'm excited to watch it
I would love to see it happen
I don't like arguments
I don't want this to happen
if you want to leave a voicemail
805-317-4175
if you want a mail bag
question
harvickhappyhour4 at gmail.com
well done mamba smith
alright guys time now
for our last call here on happy hour
the new york call
877-8 Hope NY
467-369
in connecticut
for problem gambling
please play responsibly
on behalf of boothill casino and resort, canvas
21 plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction
bonus bets expire 168 hours
after issuance
for additional terms and responsible gambling resources
NASCAR is not responsible for this promotion and used under license so before we get into our picks for this week
Let's take a look at the best bet of the weekend courtesy of draft Kings. Yeah. Well, it was Ryan Blaney
Plus 800 not bad. I mean it for his for as good as as he's been at that track. No one that he's in a forward. I
I'd say there were some people that made some money off of that King's definitely knew I wasn't picking him really
Well, yeah, because you know my picks usually end up like how Bush did this week, which is up in flames
Yeah, not great. So you're a curse
sometimes
Well, it didn't know how I didn't heard the championship run so far. So, you know, yeah, yeah, okay
Well, I think it was a good pick
It was I think could have made some money off right Ryan Blaney
But take the checkered flag with draft King sportsbook
Download the draft King sportsbook app and use code Harvick
That's code Harvick for new customers to get
$300 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on draft Kings crown is yours
There you go. And the crown was Ryan Blaney's it's time now to grade the Blaney burnout. What say you Kevin?
I thought it was I thought it was a little bit above average not gonna put it into our best
Category but it was very unique because when he when he gets this going right here
You're gonna see him slide down the banking
But the fact that we've got Ryan Blaney doing burnouts
I think he's finally outgrown that that would brothers phase of not tearing up the cars
But this was pretty interesting right here
He just burned the tires down as he was creeping down the banking right here
Hard to do burnouts at Daytona because of the the banking
I'm glad that he didn't get stuck right here with it with the car high-centered, but
Still still kind of cool and Blaney's always gonna give the flag to a to a young fan
So yeah, he's kind of settled into his thing being comfortable doing the burnouts, but
Little above average. Yeah, and also when he gets out it's reminds me
It's not as much as AJ Elmendanger, but when he gets out he's like hyping the crowd up
He's at him like the showmanship like that's what
When you win it's too hard to win
So when you win show me you love that you just did and that's one thing we've talked about this with
SVG on this show and just being able to to feed into that show and that showmanship that goes with it
Nobody wants you to be boring and Blaney has definitely that Blaney has definitely figured the showmanship part of it out
So that's cool. Good for him. Good for Blaney good for Kevin as well
Because the regular season point standings are reflecting that Kevin won. That's good at 124
Caitlyn 70 that's an ass-kicking
I just enjoy it so much
We get fully lapped. Yeah, it was pretty close. Yeah, it was pretty now. You're gonna throw your water bottle out
We're gonna reset the point. I had to do something to the advantage. Yep. So now you're gonna throw the water bottle out
We're gonna reset the point. Yeah, okay
And we appreciate the 500 plus people who submitted their picks over the weekend because we are encouraging all of the closers to get in on
The action submit your picks by scanning the QR code
You see on the screen or go to the link in the description of the podcast to go ahead and submit your vote on
Who you believe can win out at Darlington this weekend? Oh?
58 58 people actually picked Ryan Blaney
And I think all those people that followed along with my pick you learn that you could lose sometimes
You see it
There's the QR code to go ahead and scan that to join us on making our selection
So Kevin, do you want to go first? Well first off? That's a great first week of followers for a little game here
Yeah, so the closers show up whenever they know what's up on well
We got our asses kicked by the fans this week picking Ryan Blaney
So let's not do that again. I'm gonna take William Byron Byron. There you go coming out of the gate strong. What do you say, Mamba?
I wasn't ready for you to come to me so quick. I'm gonna go chase briscoe. Okay chase briscoe. Yep. Yeah, well
He did good there last year one here last year
I'm going with the driver that won there in 2023 Kyle arson the person
I think he's gonna win the championship. How many times do you think she's gonna pick Kyle arson?
I've only picked him I think like oh
She wants to win it all Kevin's picking William Byron and I understand he will be your Thursday
Conversation he is. Yeah, we've got William Byron on the show this year regular season champ
We figure we needed to at least
Get the regular season champ on here to have a one-on-one
Conversation about his season the way things have been going
A little more in depth new girlfriend because everyone's talking about this his new girlfriend. He had a woman on pit road
You should yeah, he's I think he's in a different space, and I think I don't know how much you've been around him
This year to this year, and I just think that you'll be interested to yeah
Well, I think a lot of that is just maturity. Yeah, it's growing up. It's not just maturity as a race car driver
It's just life and these kids are young
Yeah, in the cup series for a very long time, but they're young and he's only the way
What it what is my wife always says well your frontal lobe doesn't really develop until you're 25 in your brain
So I hear that most of us and I see how I see how dumb boys can be young boys
So I think it just takes a while William Byron all groans up. Yeah, we look forward to it
All right
Everybody make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast leave five star leave a review send a mailbag
We'll see everybody after Darlington
Request an explanation for:
2 cars
2 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars
More from Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX
Denny Hamlin Wins 2nd Cup Race of Season at Nashville & Michigan Preview
Jun 2, 2026
Kevin Harvick Interview
May 28, 2026
Daniel Suárez Interview After Winning at Charlotte | VICTORY LAP
May 26, 2026
Emotions Flow As NASCAR Community Unites To Honor Kyle Busch & Suárez Dedicates Win To 'Rowdy'
May 26, 2026