Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Charlotte Roval Recap: SVG Wins Again, Playoff Chaos & Round of 8 Predictions

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

The NASCAR Playoffs took another wild turn at the Charlotte Roval, and Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour has it all covered. Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith react to Shane van Gisbergen’s 5th consecutive road course victory, break down which teams advanced to the Round of 8, and who fell short. They also dive into Ross Chastain’s struggles, capped by his unforgettable moment driving in reverse across the finish line. Looking ahead, the crew previews the Round of 8 starting at Las Vegas, with bold predictions for who will make the Championship 4. Mamba shares the week’s best social media moments in Social Sips, and the crew wraps up in Last Call, grading SVG’s burnout and giving their Las Vegas picks. LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR LAS VEGAS: https://forms.gle/St2E5pkMyJENhBum8 0:00 - Intro 2:44 - The ROVAL Recap 26:10 - Las Vegas Preview 38:00 - Mamba’s Social Sips 46:22 - Last Call! 51:52 - Submit Picks For Las Vegas GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, [phone] 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

Five wins in a year puts you in a position of having a fantastic year. Three weeks in a row, we've seen Hamlin in the middle of the story. Do not let the 22 end. The talent comes tolerance. I think he just tries to do too much. Like, do I really need to race that hard to the end of pit road? Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick.

She's Caitlin Vinci. He's very chipper this too much. He's had some super. He had some coffee. Hyper coffee. some high-octane coffee by a point of Mary back here. Oh, okay. Yeah, you are really with it.

I wasn't about 10 minutes ago I was not with it. And all of a sudden, we are locked in. I had a autograph session this weekend over the weekend. And I had one fan come up to me and say, man, I really like how you and Mamba go back and forth with each other. I said, his name is not Mamba. It is slapstick. What does he say to that?

Please refer to him as slapstick. And you know who is what? it was. The guy that made that Denny Hamlin flag. Really? Really? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I said, well, how about we get the, can we get a flag for the studio? Yeah, what do you say? Yeah. He just

laughed. Oh. I think he thought I was going to be because we kind of got on Denny about the flag and that guy got a little bit offended. Yeah. But he showed up at the autograph session with diecast and things. He's like a, he's not just, I mean, he's a Denny Hamlin fan, but he's a race fan. Right. So, I think he was

a little surprised that we were okay with everything that that that he did we never have anything against anybody personally we just have an opinion it had nothing to do with the flag itself yeah nothing to do with the flag was awesome it was the timing and what he did you know what's funny about that is I was

during practice and qualifying Tyler Redick gets to poll so I'm about to do the interview and there's a fan and he's like Mamba I'm like yeah he goes man we had some back and force on Twitter we you know I I didn't really you know we had some Was he apologizing?

And he was. He was like, man, I really appreciate, you know, the conversation. He was from Canada, so they don't stay mad, you know. But I think it's interesting. They don't stay mad. I think it's interesting how many people, they just want the conversation. Yeah. But in person, I've never, ever had anybody at the racetrack come up to be like, you suck.

No. Like, that's never happened. Yeah. Well, it's easier to say you suck behind a keyboard than face-to-face. Yeah. And I think that, I think a lot of times, I mean, I think they realize that, we're not here to, we're just here to debate the things that they say. Yeah.

And, and give the other side or agree or not agree or whatever it is. So keep bringing it. Keep bringing it. We're fans too. At the end of the day, everyone is fans here. Yes. How was your weekend at Charlotte?

I didn't see you out there, but I was only there for the truck day. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't make it for the truck day. I was up there for practice and qualifying Saturday and then Sunday post race. So I watched from the, from production. Oh, nice. So it was a different view. You watch from production at NASCAR? No.

At the studio or in the trailer. In the trailer at the track. I got you. That's cool. So listening to everybody behind the scenes, I never knew how much chatter was going on. I can't even believe it actually makes it to people's television. Insane. And how quick.

Like the producers are like, all right, we're doing this shot. And then literally the net, I didn't realize that that's how that was going. It's pretty impressive. People in production do not get enough credit. No. It's pretty amazing what they do. How was your weekend? Good job on the church.

Truck race. Yeah. With that, man, that truck race was interesting. Lap Zero wreck. Yeah. Lap zero. The winner. Yeah.

InFinger kind of had a brain fart there and drove over the, over the back of the 34 truck and shot him into the 11. And Corey Heim just buckled in. He said, got his truck fixed. And those guys, they just keep trucking along. Literally. Literally. Hold them down.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the new club is not nine anymore. It's 10. He made a new club. And Zillich didn't. backed it up.

Yes. Saturday. Those two. It's just wonderful. Those guys are, they're in the right spots, right, with the right teams. They're locked in.

They're comfortable in their environment. And they're ready for their next level. There's just not enough seats. There's not enough seats. Not enough seats. Not enough seats. There are enough seats.

There are just some that need to go. Well, there are. Some seats need to be vacated. Some seats need to be vacated. There are guys that can, I mean, Coriheim can do it better than. At least 50% of them at the top.

When he went to Dover. We don't have to get specific. No. When he went to Dover, he ran in top 20. Yeah. In his first race, and it was at Dover with Legacy, when they weren't what they are now. I think it's been really neat seeing Connor, Corey, and also Brennan Queen, what they've done this year. Who, by the way, won the championship in the Arkansas race.

And I think Butterbean is, you know, it's going to be interesting to see what he does in the truck. I think the Dodge trucks are going to struggle for a little bit. I mean, if that's actually where he winds up. up. I just, I think he has a little bit more maturity than a lot of people, and he's going to be great for a team to be able to have that maturity to be able to build it into what it needs to be. So he'll do a great job. He's a great, he's a great racer. Awesome story. Yeah, congratulations to him. I'm sure he'd chowed down on some waffles. Some waffles after he got home. The interesting thing about that situation will be who will be the

vet, the cornerstone, that can help. get that program going quickly because obviously they won't be able to use AJ, right? Because he's going to be, that's separate. So who's going to be here? It's going to be super interesting to see what Chevrolet does with the whole colleague thing. Because, you know, I think you've got to remember

that those cup cars are really anything in today's world, but specifically the cup cars, if you don't have the simulation, your car doesn't run. Like you can't just use a tape measure and hope for the best. You've got to have a program to be able to put the springs and shocks and heights and it's so detailed that if you don't have the many, I mean, and the manufacturers control the engines. So, you know, I think that if Chevrolet really wants to shut down everything, I mean, they could put their foot down, I believe.

Things look forward to in 2026. But for now we're still focused on 2025. Charlotte Roval is in the rearview mirror. Welcome to episode 70, guys. We're going to talk about the Roval. 70. 70. Previewed Las Vegas, and I know you got some good sips, sentimental sip on tap as well. Couple sentimental sips, yeah, that's good. Look forward to that. All right, so once again.

Do you really, though? Do you really want to? Everybody does. Do you really look forward to the sips? Yeah. I don't know if you know this, Kevin. Everyone loves it. Oh, slapstick.

Do you not like the sips? I just like giving him group. Yeah, yeah. He likes the sips. I just, I just, you know. You can't admit to the world that it is the best segment. another show. I understand. You've got to fix this string right here. What string? It's right here. You got a folded string? What are you talking about? See it?

I do see it. Yeah. Just rip it. There's a little string on your hoodie. Oh, okay. We'll get that. Oh, I found it. You got it. Yeah. Got it. Good job. Okay. So, SVG, once again, uh, exerts his dominance, fifth road course win. But it was hard fought, I would say. It was. And so what did you see out of SVG this past week? Well, I, I think when you, let's go, back to qualifying in practice and you saw the tires really, it looked like Bristol. The way we clean the groove off and all the marbles outside the groove. And when you go back to practice, I mean, that thing was so much faster than everybody else on the long run. And we all have learned that that's really his strength, being able to control the car sliding and the

wheel spin and get them, you know, when you get in those situations where you have a huge amount of fall off to be able to control the braking and get more out of the car, That's really where he shines. And not only is he fast, but when you have those scenarios where the car falls off and they become difficult to drive, it really separates the gap between what SVG and the field can do in comparison. So really that started in practice. And I think that Redick was a little bit of a surprise with the speed for the pole. Didn't really have anything in the race for him, obviously.

but I think that, you know, SVG, he had to battle for it. He had, you know, the 20 car and the five car banging doors with him, but I think that's where it's at. I think you've got to, you know, put yourself in a position to rough him up a little bit. When you get in the scenarios of trying to race with him, when you have the opportunity, you've got to try to put him in a bad spot in order to beat him. And, you know, he was able to keep his head on and just kind of, you know, of back up when Larson and Bell got by him, just kind of back up, wait for the right opportunity,

let the five car cool down. He was mad that he dive-bombed him and put him in a bad spot. And I think that in the end just proved how dominant he is on these road courses with his ability in the car. And when you look at it, kudos to Justin Marks for recognizing what he could bring to the table because I don't care what tracks they're on. When you win five wins in a year in a cup series, it puts you in a position to have the conversation of having a fantastic year. Not just a good year, but a fantastic year

for any driver in the field to win five cup races. So it's not just road courses. You still got to make the pit stops. You've got to make the pit calls. So they've had a great year. I actually got to talk to Justin Marks last week about this of how we've seen teams do this in the past where they bring a road course.

course ace over, but they haven't had quite the success ever that this team has had. And he was saying he hoped it kind of makes the teams think about things differently in terms of bringing someone like this in. Because yes, it's five road course wins, but it's still five wins. Like what this can bring for your program. Yeah, I mean, you can sell that, right? Yes. You can sell that. That's the business part of this whole thing, which is why Justin has done what he's done. And now he doubled that up with having a Connor Zillich in the stables. So he has the two best road course. course, racers in NASCAR probably right now. Which could be good, could be bad, right?

Like, it's going to push the program forward, but then you've got to manage them running into each other like they did. In the Xfinity part, right? Then there's that new problem. You know, I think the thing that sets SVG aside from all the past scenarios is with a good team. You know, they've got high-level stuff. And AJ was successful at Colleg when they had average stuff. Right. And, you know, I think that SVG is in another level of equipment. He's very good with the car. You guys have heard me talk about this before. He's very good with the car and knowing what he wants in the car and how he wants it to feel. He's also got the Oval experience and he's able to race every single week. So he doesn't make the mistakes. Like a lot of the ringers that come in in the past where they make a mistake on pit road or don't have a top quality pit crew. He understands the cars. He understands what he wants. He has the

pick crew, he has the team. And so that puts him in another level to be able to do what he's doing. Yeah, iron sharpens iron. I think what he's done to this field has made them be better. And you saw it today. Not only

the drivers, but the teams. So, like, to your point, we were talking about he's great on the long run, like saving tire. That's what he's really good with and everyone knows that. That's what's separating him. Well, okay, if I know that, maybe I'm trying to hope that he can't fire off

until like 16 laps into a run. So I'm going to try and be a little faster on the front of which is kind of what we saw with the five and Christopher Bell in the 20. They were firing off better and then they could kind of get him kind of in the shit a little bit. If you can get him backed up into like third or fourth, then maybe

someone else is on his bumper, maybe he gets roughed up and that kind of, you saw it happened a little bit. But he cooler heads prevailed for the 88 and he got back up through. And I and I think when you talk about the speed, you know, obviously they can go fast. Tyler Redick was able to go fast and Ty Gibbs was able to go fast to be in that SVG speed

realm. But it's just the consistency that he has throughout the day of being able to make less mistakes, capitalize on the break zones, knows when to save, knows when to go. And his braking puts him in a position to do things like this, right? Yep. Like just to put himself in a, I'm here for sure. and no matter what Larson wanted to do right there, it was just over at that point.

The moves before were kind of side by side, door to door. That breaking, outbreaking right there was, I'm going to go by you, I'm going to get into the chican and make sure that you don't, you know, put me in a bad spot again. My buddy, Brennan Ernest, would say that's where his Superman came out and he just drove it in about five-car legs deeper.

It's pretty impressive what he does. And I'm impressed with him coming around on the ovals as well. Because it is, the progression is coming. And now he's a leader. And now Ross is both a leader. Like they're both kind of getting each other up there. So it's impressive. Great performance by SVG.

You referenced Ross Chastain. I want to go to him next because there's a lot to talk about as it pertains to Ross. Multiple mistakes in the driver's seat. Trying to leave the corner on pit road. Got a speeding penalty as well. Do you feel like we see a lot of mistakes out of him? Or do you think this was just the pressure? mounting in the situation?

You know, I think that first off, Ross Chastain is very well prepared, week in and week out. His work ethic is over the top. He's very honest. He gives it all that he has. There's no questioning any of that. I think in these types of moments, this is when you find out where people are from a, you know, championship standpoint, right?

Like, is it real or is it not? when you get to that last level. And I think he just tries to do too much, honestly. I think he overthinks some. I was about to say, thinking a little too much. I think he overthinks some of these things to the point where, like, do I really need to race that hard to the end of pit road? And so far that I'm trying to gain a spot on the 77 car that I go so far that I hit

the wall driving off pit road. Like there's just a, you got to draw the line between realistic and unrealistic, right? Like they're just, don't try to overdo the things that you're doing. You know, he's trying to beat the 71 car to the end of the line right there. And just, you got to make the corner. You got to do the little things right. You can't beat yourself. We talk about it all the time.

You can't beat yourself. And not only did he do it once, but he did it three times. Three times. Yeah. Because in the end, he tried to wreck the 11 and spun himself out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I think that, Ross has all the ability in the world.

I don't, I don't, I know the fans love it. And I know we love it. His honesty and just how open that he is with everybody. But I think that sometimes you can show those signs of weakness. And I think mentally he was defeated after the race and trying to, you know, gather himself back. And I know he talked about, you know, going and reboot next week. And he'll do that.

But in the end, he's still going to think about all this stuff. And that's really what you've got to do to fix the mental side of things. So I honestly would have him almost do a little bit less if I was in the position of talking to him about what he needed to do. I think it's sometimes you can overthink it. And I think that these are definitely scenarios where you're overthinking it. And then it causes just all these little mental errors in those pressure cookers. Yeah, because the mistakes are made on basic things. that he does every week pretty much.

Yeah, the exception of the Hamlin thing. Yeah, that's the part that hurts the most. You know how to come off pit road. They were un-forced errors. Like, errors on track are going to happen, and that's just part of the nature of the beast. But keeping the un-forced errors down, and he said he double-click and shifted up to third,

and that's why he got the speeding penalty. And then obviously what coming off pit road there, and he rebounded coming off pit road, got stage points. And so I think for him, he said in his interview that he was brought here to be a leader by Justin. And he's shown that leadership quality, I think, at trackhouse. And that's a big reason why, you know, Bushlight is on the car. That's a big reason why he's the one staying at track house

and it's Suarez is moving on. You know what I mean? So he just needs to probably take a little bit of a breath in those moments. And you see it, right? He's gone to Phoenix, one at Phoenix. He's had a chance at a chance. at a championship and finish second, I think, in that championship. So if he can get there, he's going to be a contender, but you got to make sure you get yourself there.

And I think the tough part, you know, whether you want to admit it or not, I mean, the tough part is you got a teammate who's won five races. Got another teammate that's coming in. Like, there's going to be a lot of pressure. And as a race driver, that's what you want, right? Like, you want the pressure of being able to perform at a high level and be pushed. But when you're pushed, do you make mistakes or do you perform in a higher level? He had plenty of performance yesterday to do what he needed to do on the racetrack. And minus those two mistakes, easy, easy way into the playoffs because he's going to run in the top five.

Yeah. Without all those mistakes because of his capability and the car's capability and everything that he did. But that pressure is getting ready to ramp up higher next year when you have Zillich in the other car. And you know that SVG is going to go. Now, has it made his road racing better? Has to, right? Now you're going to have two guys that are going to battle each other. Yep.

So that dynamic, you know, becomes even more intense from a pressure standpoint. It'll be neat to see that dynamic next year, how that plays out. So two times now we've seen Ross Chastain with Hail Mary moments, whatever you want to call him. Let's go back to the Denny Hamlin incident that happened at the very end of the race. He's obviously just, I don't know if it's desperation mode, but trying to make something happen. drives been reversed to the finish? I mean, what did you think when you saw this? At that point, it was, well, at that point, it was pointless.

Yeah. I mean, he had to get to the finish line. He needed the spot without the 22 getting one. Yeah. Or anybody else passing him. But, you know, I think that the Hell Mellon worked out. The Hale Hamlin didn't work out. There you go.

The Hale Hamlin didn't work out. So he's been on both sides of it. But it's about the, the, the really good guys that can make it happen in those moments don't, they need those spectacular moments, but putting yourself in a position to not have to do it, to not have to do those types of things and is really what you want. And they put themselves, he put them in a position to where he had to try to do something like that. Let me ask you. It also could have pitted. You also could have pitted. Let me ask you to ask something. If he'd have pitted, if he'd have pitted,

they would have never been in that situation. If he could have... The whole field pitted, for the most part. Yeah, he could have just... I mean, they put another set of tires on right there. Plenty of speed to continue beating. So they missed it from the strategy standpoint, too. Let me ask you guys this question.

So at the end of this race, the 11 runs him down. The 48 and the 47 run him down. The 48 and the 47 passed the 11 and the 1. I and Denny get... Denny and his interview. was like, I had no idea what the situation was. He didn't have to. And he also...

Because he already knew. Right. And he also was like, I would have done something different. Mm-hmm. And I think he was... It seemed like he was not trying to push the one that hard and coming through seven to get back on the racetrack. Ross got free on entry and, like, he had no choice but to pass him.

What did he... What do you think? He was not going to pass him. I didn't think so. Denny Hamlin was not going to pass him. If Ross makes that corner, he was not going to pass him. If Ross makes that corner, he was not. I mean, that whole thing gets stacked up.

And I think it's two things. I don't think Danny wanted to pass him because I think he knew that it was going to turn into a shitstorm when he tried to pass him, getting run into, run over the curbs. I don't think that he wanted the controversy. And I don't think that he wanted to race Joey Lagano either. That's what I think. There's no way.

There's no way. Both of those things, it was a damned if you do, damned if you don't moment because he didn't want to pass him for the Ligano piece of it. But he didn't want to pass him because, he knew it was just going to turn into a war. Yeah, because he knew the one was in it. Yeah.

But it was going to turn into a war. Like, Ross knew that he didn't need to pass him. Didn't he didn't need anybody to tell him on the radio what was happening. He knew exactly what was best for him. And he referred to it in his interview. He knew exactly what was best for him in the round of eight. And he did not want to have to race Joey Ligano. Nope.

He did not want to race Joe Ligano. He also didn't want a war with Ross Chastain because it was going to be a war all the way to the end. I said that while I was watching Out Loud. I go, there is no way that Denny isn't aware that this is for Joey or Ross advancing. Denny's way too smart. Way too smart.

He's way too smart. He knew exactly what was happening. That's why there was no radio chatter. Because it didn't matter where he was racing. He knew what the situation was with the one. He's a very cerebral and intentional individual. 100%. He knows what's going on in the sport, in the race car,

all the things at all times. So when you're watching the internet, if I'm the 20, if I'm Team Penske, especially Joy Lugano's group, and I hear that. Well, they said it. I'm like, oh, we got, we're in your head. Like, this is free rent. You're worried about us. Like, your biggest worry. They didn't say that.

No. They said that he was intentionally not passing. Right. But like in my mind as a competitor, I think I got you on the mental game. Yeah. And you talk about how important that is going through the playoffs. And I think when you look at Joey Lugano, they all. You know, Forecar used to live in this category.

It's like, oh, God, right? They're going to make it through again. They made it through again. They're going to get to Phoenix. And that's really where the 22 is. They don't want to have to race Joey Legano and Ryan Blaney when they get to Phoenix. And, you know, I don't think that they, they showed some signs of speed at Loudoun, which is scary. Dangerous?

Yeah. Which typically they've been pretty good at Martinsville. But I still believe that the typically pretty good at Martinsville is going to be Blaney. Yeah. I still believe that if Joey Legano, the problem with the 22 car is exactly what happened this week. And you got Paul Wolf sitting up on the pit box, made an absolutely gutsy call to bring that car to pit road. And then the whole strategy was their strategy, right? You saw the 20, who did it before the 22 car, came to pit road, put tires on it.

And it forced everybody else to come to pit road. And that's why I say the one car could have just came down. they just, they were off strategy and, and didn't, didn't follow suit with, with everybody else. But Paul Wolf guts, he has the guts, he has the knowledge, he has the brains to just do something that, that, yeah, Big Ball Paul. Big Ball, that's a big ball, he's not, I mean, he made, he made the call and it put him in position to, to have all this stuff happen, and it put the one in a bad position, because they didn't make it happen with the pick call. And so, the problem. with the 22 cars, they just race better than most everybody else when they execute. They're a lot

like the 11. I mean, the 11 has trouble and has things happen, but they're pretty good at grinding it out. But the 22 team, they grind it out on restarts. They make the right calls at the right time. You look back at Kansas, you know, that two-tire call to put them in position, and that's just what Paul Wolf does. And Joey Lugano executes it well to maximize what they do. I don't believe they have the speed that they need, you know, at, I mean, Vegas and Martinsville and Talladega are good tracks for them, but I don't think they have the speed of the 12. Yeah, personally. Not raw. But they have the ability to put themselves in front of them with executing on the restart. So they're dangerous from that standpoint. I don't know that, you know, like I say, I don't think they

have the speed that they need, but they have the ability to make calls. and make things happen that are better than everybody else. So I want to go back to one other thing really fast, is the whole Denny, whether he wanted Joey in or not. You were such a fierce competitor the whole time. Wouldn't you want the best people there and to beat them? No, no. I want the weakest people.

They do want the weakest people. I want the weakest people to give my opportunity the best that it can be to win the championship and get through the round of eight. I want the weak guys in there. I want the surprise winner. I want the, I want the Ross Chastain over the Joey Ligano. because of exactly what I just said. They have a better ability to call better races

and execute the chances that they take with their driver. And that's what makes them dangerous, even when you don't think that they have the speed. But what if they find the speed like they did it loud? And, you know. Any given Sunday. Any given Sunday. But you go to Talladega.

You're going to have to beat the Fords. Oh, yes. That's the thing, you know. So, like, the last three, the last four races line up so. good for Team Penske right now. And so you look at it, I think there's three JGR cars in there, two Penske cars, and 300 cars. So two teammates somewhere in this mix

are going to be in the final four. Right? And it's very, if I'm looking at it, when you go to Talladega, all the Fords are going to be lined up behind the team Penske cars. And they work the best together. Now, the other ones, it's a little different.

But you know that the Fords will be lined up trying to make sure one of those... Well, it's just a... It's just another, it's the execution piece when you get to a place like Talladega that Penske does better than the rest of the teams. And those are the things that make up for their, you know, their lack of speed capability. When they have that lack of speed, they won't have that at Talladega. And they've been so hit or miss, we don't know if they're going to have it at Vegas. We don't know if they're going to have it at Martinsville.

I mean, the 12 has been the most consistent from a speed standpoint. I'm speaking from the 22 standpoint. They've been so hit or miss. You don't know what you're going to. get from a speed standpoint. Now, they've gone to Vegas and dominated. Do we think they're going to go to Vegas and dominate? I'm talking 22.

No. But could they just put themselves in the middle of it because they execute well? Like they did last year? Yeah. And they won? Yeah. You know? I mean, and you talk about execution.

They don't win that race, if not for the 12 having issues early. And then him pushing him every time down the backstretch for about 15 laps. We thought he was six or seven laps short on fuel. And Ryan just, they figured it out. executed and figured it out. I think the biggest thing for the 22 is it's an odd year. He doesn't make the final four in odd years. Every evening year he makes the final four.

Yeah, it's a weird step. I mean, he's definitely. I mean, he's the furthest out from a point standpoint. The rest of them are really close. Yep. You know, so you got to execute it at Vegas, but they're going to probably score a bunch of stage points at Talladega if they don't wreck early. Do not let the 22 in.

Don't let them into the final. for. You don't want that. So was there any team that advanced on that you still felt like underperformed in this round? I think the 24 definitely underperformed. I think that they've been, their speed has been off. We went to St. Louis. We were like, oh, you know, maybe they found something. But now it's kind of flip-flop. Now the five seems to be the one that has more speed than the 24. They had the big miss at Kansas. They ground one out and were able to put themselves in a position to get a decent finish, but they had no speed at Kansas.

It was a big flop at Kansas. So they're another one that you don't, I mean, they might show up at Vegas. They might not. I don't know, because they were awful. They were awful at Kansas. So I think Byron,

I think that Briscoe was probably a little more, he was a little more off than what I thought they were going to be. Came back down to Earth a little bit. Yeah, because it was so fast. And now it's kind of, his off, though, is like seventh. Right. Yeah. Not, like, 12th. That ain't going to get it done.

He was getting a lot of top twos and poles there for a while. Yeah. I mean, the game changes when you get to this round of eight. And he was sick, apparently. I think, yeah. I think you need, I think in the last four races, you have to expect to win two. You need a wayne to get in, and then you got to go in their mindset. They have to win the final race.

Well, I mean, you guys thought I was crazy with Bell this weekend. But you go back and you look at the, the stats. I didn't. And you see, but I mean, those guys, if they don't make any mistakes, that's what it's going to come down to for the 20. Don't make mistakes on pit road. Don't have the wheel fall off. They're going to have the speed. The 20 car will have the speed. It's going to come down to just the execution of the details. And the mistakes need to be small. They can't be catastrophic. Yeah. What do you make of this round, the variety of racetracks, a mile and a half, super speedway short track.

Yeah, it's what we got. Yeah, it's a tough round. You know, when you go to Vegas, so you're going to have the tire fall off, you're going to need the track position, you're going to need a fast car, you're going to need it to hang on, a lot of bumps to navigate at Vegas.

So, I mean, it's a technical racetrack, but, I mean, you're going to have to deal with the speed of the 12. You're going to have to deal with, I mean, it's a great, typically it's a good track for Penske, but it's a better track for Gibbs, in my opinion. I think that, you know, three weeks in a row, we've seen Hamlin in the middle of the story. Always. And, you know, he wasn't even, he wasn't even trying to be in the middle of the story.

But now he's in the middle of the story again because was he going to pass the one? Was he not going to pass the one? We all knew he wouldn't run good. But he still wound up in the story. One funny thing, I interviewed Dave Alpern last week. And I kind of asked him about, like, just dealing with the things all the time from him. And he said, with talent coming. tolerance. That was his quote.

He said, the more talented you are, we tolerate different things. Tony Stewart. A number of years. Tony Stewart. For a while. I mean, people tolerate Kevin Harvick. I mean, yeah. He's talented.

That's why. I'm just here tolerating him now. He's got it. He's good. He's a hall of favor. I just hear this guy. This wasn't about you, Kevin. Anyway.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think about this round, though, the tracks that the guys are going to face? I like that it's, um, one. Not one of, it's kind of one of each of our race. I'm glad that we don't have a road course in the last round to get to the...

So what are you saying? You need two rounds of four and then a championship race? Two rounds of four and then a... No, I'm thinking a three, three four would be fine, right? So three races, three races. Three, three four. Yeah, and four in the final. Four race to the finish.

Or one race at the beginning as a wild car because you have those guys towards the end like we talked about. maybe a couple getting on points no matter what. And then you get eliminated and then you're into your three three three. I think one of those two combinations. I love the playoffs, the playoffs, no matter how it is because I think it ramps up. You can see the intensity, the drama. It's not people like, well, it's manufactured.

No, this is sports. Like, yes, it's manufactured, but like that's what you're trying to make. That's what we're trying to do is make it entertaining and racing. at his finest and at its highest level. So playoffs, I think, are going to stay from everything I've heard. I just think it's going to be adjusted. I'm looking forward to the adjustment. We have to see what NASCAR and NBC decide on how it all works.

I'm so interested to see. When it dropped, when it dropped at the 36th. Ultimately, that's who's deciding, in my opinion. NASCAR or NBC? Yeah. Both. Is it? Yeah.

Yeah. Because that's how the conversation started. It's like, hey, let's decide. this and then it's, well, you know. This is true. Well, it's going to be interesting this weekend. The points are super tight, guys. So if we want to show those again of just where everybody's at, doesn't leave a whole

lot of room for air. There are going to be airs. Yeah. And, you know, I think when you look at some of these scenarios that we've seen in the other divisions and the cup cars as well, the airs start on Saturday. Where do you qualify? are you in a position to score stage points? You're going to have to score stage points,

but you're going to have to be spot on and qualifying. You're going to have to qualify good at Vegas. You're going to have to qualify good at Martinsville. Because if you're going to be the guy that points your way in, you better have it. With Talladega in there, you better have a backup plan. Because you're going to be in a position. And if it's not Talladega, you better have a backup plan for your bad scenario, right?

Because most likely, most of them are going to have a situation to deal with. You know going into the playoffs. that you're going to have a situation to deal with. You're going to have something go wrong. You're going to have a bad restart. You're going to have a bad qualifying day. You're going to have a bad pit stop. You're going to have something go wrong.

Sure, somebody might nail them all, but highly unlikely. If Phoenix is the most important race, Vegas is one B. Like, you've got to throw everything, every trick, every little thing that you've been working on throughout the season. You need to throw it into this one so you can get. But you're going to do that for all of them. No, true. But like... When you get to Phoenix, you're almost...

It's almost over at that point. It kind of is what it is at that point. The hard part's done. You can control this one, though, I guess, more. Compared to Talladega and Martinsville. Like, as far as what's in your control because it's more of a traditional former racing. And someone has a chance to know on Sunday they're going to the championship for.

Then you just lock in. Then you're locked in. And you just get it done. Yeah. And that's the... That's one of the difficult parts for, you know, when you look at the guys that, that won early in the round,

that's the thing that could surprise you with the nine car, right? So, you know, they've had a couple weeks to work on their car. Who won the first round? The very first race of the playoffs? No, in the first round. In the last round. Blaney, Elliot, and then SVG. So that's the thing when you go to Vegas.

I mean, those guys on Blaney's car, they've had a few weeks to keep working on it. The rest of them have been grinding away, the Luganos and chastains and all those guys that were grinding away to get in at the last race. Blaney's, they've been focused on, they've been focused on Vegas for two weeks. And now, or three weeks. And now you've got Elliott in that same category to focus for two weeks. And that preparation of all those details to stack up and really analyze what you're doing for Vegas has been. been looked upon for more time than everybody else with those two cars.

I hope someone asked the 12 group if what they learned last year, because they were out of the race very early last year, but they fixed the car and stayed on track. I'd be interested to see if someone asked them, like, did you learn anything that you bringing here for this year? Because, you know, you had a whole test session, basically. So those things matter in the long run. I've been instructed to ask you guys your championship

for preliminary picks. Who you believe will be making it to Phoenix. My underlined names are Hamlin, Blaney, Larson, and Bell. Hamlin, Blaney. Okay, we have the exact same except for one person. Well, there's only four, so. I know, but I have the same four, except I have Lugano in place of Hamlin. Ligano in place of Hamlin.

Yeah, the same group, Bell, Blaney, Larson. I got. What's say you? I got Blaney, Byron, because Byron's my championship pick. Got to stick by that. Stick with it. Yeah, I got to stay locked in. Okay.

I got Briscoe. Oh, I like that. Okay. What else? Man, this last one. You can look at the paper. No, I know, but I'm thinking about who. I really, my gut is telling me go bell.

That's what my gut is saying. Okay, so is that what we're committing to? I mean, my, that's what you go. You're saying Blaney Byron Briscoe Bell. All bees. All bees. And all of our championship picks are. still alive, the original ones we made

week one. So we just had ourselves on the back. I picked Bell. I picked Bell. Okay. Who'd you picked? I had Byron. Byron, yes. You had Byron. Okay. All right. Well, that's what we have to look forward to in the round of eight. It's going to be very exciting. And now it's also exciting because it's Mamba's turn to take the reins as host. Let's keep those rains short.

We don't let those rains get too long for this. Look what's over here. This guy. I know. I had to, you know, I got myself ready. Ladies and gentlemen, especially the Kiwis, and especially the ladies. The ladies. Welcome to your favorite part of the show. Momba's social sips, we are about to get it going. All right.

Love going to the short tracks. Short tracks are really important. We always talk about it. Oh, also shout out to Marcel Gravel for winning the Milk Bowl second year in a row at Thunder Row, my home track. Is that a race or a destruction derby? No, it's a very important. race. Wow, there was a big bad. Oh my God, there was a wreck in turn one, but he got to kiss the cow again. He actually won in a throwback. This is a, sorry, Tyler, this is off of my mama's social social social.

But he won in Pete Fecto's 75 throwback, and Pete Fecto was the first late model owner I drove for it. That's cool. Yeah, so there's a little connection that was cool. Kiss the cow. I mean, I have so many comments for that. Yeah, no, I know. Second time. Congrats. So, Matteo, Matteo Pappas, Max, and Tati Papas is one of their sons. He started racing. Kind of started racing late. He's been doing a really good job, kind of easing his way up. And he's been running dirt at Millbridge.

And he got in a pretty horrific accident. It was pretty scary. A lot of flames and fire going on. You can got to see it. They'll go down into turn three here. It's turned and it immediately erupts. Kevin, you talk about this all the time, all the safety features, you can see Mateo get out and his arm is literally smoking.

All the safety features are so important, not for the daily, but for these moments right here. Yeah, well, this is why you don't get lax, right? You see the suit right there just charred. The good news is for Mateo, he's got a father who is very involved. Max Pappas, you know, makes a lot of the steering wheel, is very involved on the safety side and very adamant about I'm sure what he wears, what he wears underneath, all the things that go with it. You never prepare for the daily activity. You're always

preparing for the moment. And that's why you have to evolve with the safety equipment and always try to keep things progressing. Even though you've worn this for a long time, there's always going to be something better. And luckily for Mateo, looks like all his safety gear work

correctly. Yeah. No, I very scary, very happy that he was okay and he was literally racing I think again this weekend. So safety people. scary stuff right there. Highly important. The fire piece of it just scares the crap out of me.

And you know, you don't, you're at Millbridge right there, so you didn't see a lot of fire trucks born into the scene or anything. You saw a bunch of the guys, you know, from the grandstands and people with competitors in the race going over there to get him out of the car. And he got out of the car on his own, obviously. But that was right. It looked like he got run over. Yeah, he kind of got dive bomb.

You don't practice that. Dive bomb. I don't call that a dive bomb. That looked like he just got driven through. through, but ultimately resulting in a big fire. You can't practice getting out when it's fine. Like, that situation is not practicable. So.

That's why it has to be instinct. Yeah. As to how to get your belts off, how to get your, you might not be able to see in those, in those moments when you're on fire or there's smoke, you've got to be able to know where everything is. Yep. Yep. For sure.

Guys, it is breast cancer awareness month. I'm wearing a very stylish pink belt that you can't see right now. You have no style. Oh, yeah. Okay. Between the two of us, we know who has all the style. And we love highlighting our cancer survivors and the people that beat it. We have an awesome clip that's front of right now.

Well, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And teams do a great job of spotlighting cancer warriors, specifically Team Alpha Prime. Now, last year, rewind last year, they put Jeannie Brable's name on their car. That is wife to NASCAR personality, NASCAR chasm. I know everybody knows him. Well, fast forward. Jeannie is now cancer-free. It's been a year-long battle,

so they celebrated again this year with a sticker. This one saying congratulations, Jeannie. Again, she is cancer-free. She came back 100% clear in her last scan. There she is, so we want to give her a big congratulations on getting to ring that bell and live her life cancer-free now. Ringing the bell.

Yeah, oh, yeah. You know what I mean? When you have family or friends in there and Kazam and Jeannie and their whole family, like congratulations on that. That's amazing. We are so ecstatic. And once again, you know, our sport, when it comes to the military and foundations and awareness, and our sport does it better than everybody else. Agreed. And, you know, when you look at all those pink window nets there, got the infilled pit wall painted pink. Yeah. All the activities around this month are fantastic. The sponsors go in. The tracks go all in. So it's just another example of why our sport is so great.

It's top to bottom. Love they highlighted Jeannie. Her and Dave are great people. They are super nice. Really good people. Dave is a comedic relief for all of us. Dag, chasm, like, he came out of nowhere. Remember when he just be the guy?

He was just like, who was this guy? Totally anonymous. Yeah, no one knew who the heck he was for a while. He always poured his face out for the longest time. I love that. He's fantastic. So congratulations, guys. Hey, we got a mailbag question. Oh, I can't wait for that.

That means I'm sure that I'm answering. All the way from Mexico. Mexico City. That's cool. Segar, Farma. Is that north or south? What do you mean? Is it north or south?

Is it north or south? What? Mexico City. From here? Yeah. It's definitely west. That's why I asked. It's definitely West.

Yeah. You know, I was just testing your geography. Yeah, it's definitely West. I wanted to share this drawing of Kevin's car I just finished while making it. I started wondering, Kevin, do you think that? between 2001 and 2013, if you would have won a championship, you might have stayed at RCR.

Look at this drawing before you answer this. That thing is fire. Yeah. Great drawing. You know, I think that's a great question. I would say if I win a championship, I stay. You know, I think that, you know, after 13 years, you're just asking that question to yourself.

And ultimately, that was really the reason for going to Stuart Hoff's, racing. Love Richard Childress, love everything that he did for my career. I loved the people, loved everything about what I was in. But ultimately, it came down to that question. I think that if I win one, I stay. But the interesting part about that, I would have stayed for another reason, too. I asked to be part owner of the 29 car. And ultimately, you know, they didn't agree to that because I just, I wanted to be more involved in the daily things that happened. But I would have stayed for that, too. Is that, was that after? you guys shut down KHI or did you still have KHI at that time?

We shut down. We decided we were shutting down KHI in 2011. Okay. And then in 2012, the teams got dispersed and RCR took the Xfinity teams and, you know, the truck teams went to... Didn't that? Didn't. No, they went to Bob Newberry. Newberry.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they took the truck teams. And so we got rid of everything. But, you know, and then in 2013, ultimately, I decided to go to Stewart Haas Racing, and that's when the decision was made at the end of 2012. But, yeah, there were a couple.

I'd say a championship and partial team ownership of that 29 car I've just stayed for both those reasons. Interesting. Never heard that story. Learn something new here on episode 70. That's right. Y'all appreciate it. That is your mom-bus social sips. Leave a voicemail at 805-3174-4-1-175.

If you want a mailbag, Harvick Happy Hour4 at gmail.com. Send them our way. All right, guys. Time now for our last call. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-Hop-N-Y or text hope-N-Y-469. 4-7-369.

In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-889-77 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort, Kansas, 21-plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gambling resources,

cdkng.cog.c-o slash audio. NASCAR is not responsible for this promotion and used under license. So Kevin, 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. Well, there was no good bet. Yeah. I mean, they know what they're up against,

and SVG was minus 120. So you're going to have to spend a lot to get a little. And I think that was probably well-deserved. with that minus 120. You'd parlay. That's a parley. That's one of those parley bets. Yeah, I'm not very good at betting.

So I don't know the strategies, but I know that when I see minus 120, I'm going to probably go for somebody else. Or skip a week. But take the checker flag with Draft King's Sportsbook. Download the Draft King's Sportsbook app and use code Harvick. That's code Harvick for new customers

to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks and win your first bet. Only on draft kings. the crown is back. Crown is back. The crown is yours. It is my,

and you know, it just is fitting that I put it on this Patriots hat because they whipped up on the bills last night. Josh, yeah. Kickers win games,

Josh, don't forget. You know, you know, the other part that I've learned now that the Patriots are winning again, Drake May,

obviously, looks, looks pretty good. But the other thing that I've learned is it wasn't about the coach. No. It wasn't about the coach. It was ironically,

Ironically, it was more about the quarterback. Maybe the quarterback was doing more of the coaching because right now at North Carolina, his coaching is awful. It's not good in North Carolina, but let's say, wasn't very good at the Patriots either. I mean, well, well, you can't. When Tom Brady left, the coaching sucks. You're right.

Because Tom Brady wasn't there. Tom Brady was the nucleus and the most important piece of the puzzle. A doubt, the most important piece of the puzzle. But some of those games, He needed some defense. They didn't score 25 points. Yeah. So, you know.

They didn't need much defense. He needed some of it. He needed defense. My point is, the personality of the team takes on the best player. Or the most important player? Most important person? Well, the personality of the team should take on the star player as the personality of the team should take on the star driver. This is what he's always said.

Listen, yeah. The team feeds off the driver there. Yeah. Listen, nobody loves our coworker more than. me, Thomas Brady. Hey, listen, when your driver makes a lot of mistakes in key moments, your team makes a lot of mistakes in key moments.

It all correlates. It's not a, it's not a coincidence. It's a fact. Speaking of facts, Kevin is the leader still. I gave you guys a gimmick. No. He did.

Yeah, you should have done that. You cheated. You cheated. That threw off my whole. What do you mean? You sat here and you changed it on your paper. Well, because I was trying to be nice, you know? You cheated.

Did I? Yeah. How? You picked and then you unpicked. No, I repicked. Unpicked. I didn't unpick. I repicked.

No, no, no. I said, not him. I said him. Erdo repicks. I mean, we went into almost a different segment and then get out of this thing. You're like, you know what? I know this guy is going to win. Yeah.

And I went with it and I was right. We were right. Kevin at 42, Mama 37, me 27. We both picked SVG. 77 out of 231, which is 33% of fans. picked SVG this week. What were the other two-thirds thinking? Yeah, that was not.

I don't know. Not sure. They were thinking you. Come on, people. No, you did that to them. That is your fault because you didn't pick SBG after all year. You've been telling everybody. You manipulated the fans on that one.

The closures got bamboozled on that one. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, he says. Okay, so what do we think for this weekend? What are the selections? I have mine already written down. So technically I picked last, or you're in last. So you get to pick first.

I'm going Ryan Blaney for the weekend. Okay. Blaney. I know you probably would have picked him. Oh, you guys are going to be together. No, we're not. No, no, no. Okay, so do you want him to go?

Well, he's in second, so he gets to go. So, look, you get one pick this week. So whatever comes out of your mouth. Your guns here. Make sure it's right. You can debate, but when you say, final pick, this is your final pick this week, no matter who I pick. Okay, okay.

So, listen, the 19. The 19 really has, really has me on the edge. Like, but common wisdom will tell you go the 20. Okay. So you're picking Bell, am I to understand this to be true? Well, he's thinking, which is scary because it's a small thought. Yeah. I'm going, hopefully that hat isn't.

I'm going Chase Biscoe. Okay. I'm writing it down so now it's done. Put it down. Put it in ink. I'm going to chase Biscoe. That's it. Well, I'm going to take Bell.

There you go. Yeah. I knew it. Two weeks in a row. I only had one name written down. this week. I'm telling you, those guys have the speed and even on the places where you think somebody else is going to win, if they can keep themselves from having a catastrophic situation, they will have the speed. And reminder to the fans to get in on the action. So you can scan the

QR code to be a part of this and submit your picks. We would love for you to play along with us. Yeah, it's fun. Keep playing. Link to submit your picks is also in the podcast description. So make sure you do that. We'll have to see who's doing the burnout at Las Vegas. But for now, we need to grade the burnout from this past weekend at the rope, but which SVG, characteristically, you always give him high marks. So what do we say to this one? Well, kind of a tight shot, though. It's kind of, yeah. It's, um, he's gotten to the point where he does good burnout. So, you know, I think the unfortunate part for SVGs, he's also done some pretty spectacular burnouts with engaging with the crew high fives and tagging the wall and all the,

the thing. So I'm going to probably rate this down there in the bottom two of his burnouts. Elite. No. Yeah, bottom two. Of his. Yeah, of his. Of his burnout. The cool thing was he did blow the tires off of it, but not to the fact where he couldn't drive it back. He could still drive it. So they're like all afraid. The tires were just shredded, but he could actually drive it back. So that was kind of cool. There you go. Yeah. Oh, we love an SVG burnout. And I love the fact that he leans into, you know, that showmanship that goes along with it. He understands that that's part of the thing. He understands that that's of the game. He understands the entertainment value.

He does. That brings. Okay. Well, I am very excited to mention this because your Thursday interview is one of my favorite people I've ever worked with. He's a great human. Who is it? Kenny Wallace.

And, you know, I think that Kenny, we've even got some die cast for Kenny. He's going to be pumped about that. Make sure he signs this one. Yeah. Well, you're going to see him. Oh, yeah. He'll be here in just a moment. Yeah.

So, you know, I think Kenny all, the thing I love about Kenny is he gives two shits less about what people think about him. or what his opinion is, and he will just blurt it out and say it. That's why we love him. Yeah, that's why we all love him. So I can't wait to. Yeah. I have stuff written down, but I don't even know why I write anything down.

Totally different direction. Because this one could go in any direction. That would be good. Kenny used to, Kenny and his wife, Kim, when we were, when I was younger, I'd be out of the bars and it'd be with Brittany and all of our friends. And they would come pick us up. That's sweet. They would come pick us up from Said. Like, Kenny used to live.

The D.D. Yeah, they used to live right around the corner for me. So we'd spend a lot of time at Kenny's house. He'd come home from the race, just high energy. And, oh, man, I love Kenny Wallace. Energy is not something that man lacks. No, not at all. All right, guys, this has been fun.

Episode 70 is officially in the books. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast, leave a review, send some mailbag questions. Thanks for joining us. We'll see all of you after Las Vegas.