Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Daytona CHAOS: Blaney Wins a Thriller, Playoffs Locked & Is Connor Zilisch the Next Jeff Gordon?

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

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, [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

That was one of the best races I've watched. Blaney wound up squashing all those dreams. The points conversation is not going away. Connor Zilich could have went to F1 and been the American F1 racer. They're 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 Kyle Busch good. He could drive it over the limit. Not going to happen.

Hate it for him. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR and Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick. She's Caitlin Vincy. Mama Smith. And that guy. Yeah. That guy. So many friends you are.

I am. Especially, like, listen, more people know who I am now after the last two weeks. I know. I know. It's always okay. I mean, yeah. I'm glad that you're sticking by your opinion. I even know I think it's wrong. Ten toes down.

I think it's good. Yeah. It is. And nothing rattles you. I appreciate that. Now, does it rattle you? Are you like a guy that's kind of a closet thinker? No.

That says, I don't like all this. No, I love it. because it makes people talk about the sport and different opinions. Yeah. And I agree with that. I like that. Yeah. And I like that.

Like, for me, I like that I'm not going to let someone bully me out of my opinion. Now, you might bring some good thoughts and good, like, opinions too. And I might change my opinion. But you're not going to 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 to see. People said things towards your parents? I mean, people say things about everything, right? So, like, and they fall. So, like, other than that. The keyboard warriors. Yeah, the keyboard warriors. Yeah, the keyboard worries.

Other than that is cool. And honestly, most people, like, they're really not that bad. Yeah. I like debates. Debates are good. But especially on X, like, you get some, it's just, there's a lot of hate. It really is. There's a lot of hate.

I'm okay with, I'm okay with debating something back and forth, and I might not agree with you, and you might not agree with me. But in, it, just like this instance. We don't agree with each other. Right. But it's good to, like you say, flush out something that could be better. Yeah. Yeah.

How are you going to... Cabie, 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. Definitely 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 stir the pot, are we guys? Nope. Hey, it's back to school week, and I have a very cool addition for Back to School Week for Kevin. The school week, we're three weeks in. Well, my kids started last week, I guess. Okay. So are you going to send him to school with him? No, I'm keeping this for me on the show.

So you're going to keep your notes in there. I'm going to sign it. Yeah, you need to sign out. A fan girl. Yeah. Fan girl out. Didn't you, how was your school thing you went with Keelan, right? Didn't you have to go do your orientation or something?

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. Okay. I think everybody was nervous about how. 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, Danny's care, 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. You go to dinner, you see people in the industry. I mean, everywhere that you go,

I mean, somebody's 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. Ten races to go in season. We'll preview, of course, the first playoff race Darlington, and I know Mamba has some special sippy sips. Oh, boy. I can't wait. Oh, sloppies. We're slapping.

Oh, slapstick over there. Harvick and slapping again. 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. A little bit. You know, with 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. Blaney went in that one with two to go. I think it 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 length of the state. in 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 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 backstretch,

but that's a different story. But Blaney wound up, you know, squashing all those dreams. Squashed dream killer. Squashed them. Oh, man. And even the 43, Eric Jones, he got shucked 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 two. 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. Yeah.

Pretty tame, all things considered. Yeah. And I think just whatever, like you say, the flow of this race and the aggression 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. 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 rep in 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 points, wins the race. I mean, that was nine, ten points for playoff points for Blaney at the end of that race, bumped Larson back, bumped, you know, Chase Elliott back, taking some points away from those guys.

And any points matter at this point. You know, Blaney's plus 20 over the cutoff to start the playoff. So, you know, you think about those nine or ten points. That could be huge as they go forward. And here we go again. Here we go again. Penske. Went in the race before the playoffs.

I look at those playoffs and the way that they line out there, just good for Penske. Yeah, I popped into Victory Lane and, you know, told all the boys, congratulations. And there's a couple of the Penske 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 them. 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. 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, Larson 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 William won 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 playoff standings and I look at Lerner. Larson and Byron concerned because they started the year off so well. More for Larson, 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 come down to mistakes on pit road. It's going to come down to Rex. 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 pick 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. I don't know. It'll be interesting. And, you know, you look at Denny in third right there. It's, 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, And 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? Is it his year? Is it his year? I don't think so.

Y'all are 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 Wall. and Chase Briscoe down to 8 and 9. 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.

They might make some noise. 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 work. Yep. 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. Those things. For Briscoes? Yeah. 20th. You know, Josh Barry'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 that, and it'll be interesting to see if we have any of those teams that move their pick 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 pick 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 these are, 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, you know, is going into these Darlington cars. And that's why you show up at a lot of these races and you'll look at, you know, you'll get to the round of eight and it'll be the first eight guys on a racetrack. Because it's just that, that ultra-high level of focus that's really tough to put together.

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. laser focused in for all these teams. And I will be interested to see, like with the three, right, they're the only team. They're the only car in for that group, for the RCR group. So, you know, they get a lot of focus, which really helps.

Whereas, you know, the Penske group, it's all for their cars, you know, Hendrick, you know, until you get into the next round and even really the round of eight, you don't get all, no, 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 is 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. I mean, one of those, there was 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, I really think it was on the 23, just squeezing down on the 22. And, you know, unfortunately, that got the 8, 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. I could have a guy that's, well, I'll just tell you, Cole Custer was in the mix.

He's 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 then, yeah, and because a guy like Alex Bowie, 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 things. said 20, it 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 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 or you've got an 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.

30 mil. 30 mil. There's nobody getting 30 mil. What are they getting now? I don't know. 18. Okay, 18 mil. Whatever it is.

But I think the incentive to win needs to stay there. Yeah. 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. That's why I don't see why.

They're going to be gone in the first round of the playoffs anyway. So if you have more cars than 16 in the playoffs and you're guaranteeing the points guy, a reward for their body of work, I think that, you know, there's a number of different ways you can do this if we're going to change the point system. I think we can change it too. Sorry to bring it up again. No, no.

We're just going to keep talking about it. Yeah. It's not going to go away. It's definitely not going to go away. And it's going to change. It's going to change in some form or fashion. It's figuring out what makes the most sense for the competition. Like, and let me be honest about how I feel about it.

From the competition side, as a racer, as 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. But I think that, I don't think the best car has won, you know, since we... Quite some time. Well, I don't think the best, I don't think the best car has won the championship. Best car or best driver? I'm just calling it a car. Okay.

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 a 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 Kenzeth won his, would you think that, would you say that he was the best car and the best, was that the best car that year? That was a long time.

I know it was. I think. But I think so. But I think that. Like 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. Right, right.

You know, go back to 2015. And I'm still not sold that, you know, you look at Kyle Bush winning the championship. I'm still not sold that you should be able to miss six weeks, five, 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, you know, there's something to be said about maybe one, week, but... That's where the owner, that's where the owner-driver thing comes into it, because the car

made it through, the driver didn't, like, that's where that whole conversation... The car still wasn't going to win a championship. And so, you know, you go, even go back to Jimmy Johnson's championship, right? 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.

Yeah. The last time with this format where it seemed like the rightful team... and driver one was Kyle Larson. Yeah. Would you agree with that? That was 2021. 2020. And so, you know, it's, there are some, there are some pretty, make the argument.

There are some, there are some flaws. Yeah. If you're looking to reward the best car and the best team for a whole year's worth of work. And 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. It's a lot of people who want a lot of things for different reasons and trying to make everybody happy is impossible.

It's impossible. It's an impossible feat. 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. Yeah, and it's really confusing. Like 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. He says they can't make mistakes. They don't turn it into anything. But to me, it doesn't feel like he's had that top five speed when I watched the races. And, you know, 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, has run. You know, they went through the 23 of Bubba went through a lull there of time, but they got it back and got themselves to Victory Lane, started the year off like gangbusters. And it's just

not, it's not been that type of year like we saw last year out of Tyler Reddick. And so, not hard to do. You don't have to miss by much to not to not be in that category anymore. But they just, you know, 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. Right? They haven't had the, yep, there's a definite championship contender. Yeah.

Which is weird. Just, you know what I mean? Like, 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 going to do it. And you can't really, sometimes it's just that year. Sometimes it's just like that. And you look at the five, right? 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 in this little bit of low for their standards that they've set for themselves. Weird. I don't know why. Well, I think some of that too, I think when you look at at 2311, obviously they have a lot going on off the racetrack. But on the racetrack, they added another car. And any time 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 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 my guess. So some growing pains maybe came to 2311 with that expansion. So we 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 Kislauski 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, right? 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? Have they gotten enough better? 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 that's the time of the year that you have to start making changes. And I think that Ryan, Preist did a great job this year. I don't think anybody expected the improvement that they saw, but they're real contenders and 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 a,

you got to have somebody be the anchor of the team to, 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. Well, that's tough. You know, that's... And switching cars, you're going to go, we're going to go right into this conversation about, from Brad, right to Kyle Bush, right?

Yep. When you look at the next-gen car, it's different than what it used to be several years ago. And, you know, can you adjust to that style to be, can Brad adjust to that style being a consistent winner like he was at Penske in this car? Yeah. And in this organization,

being the team owner and having to do everything outside of the, 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 their 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. Yeah. And honestly, the 60 could develop into that anchor car. Yeah. 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, Busher didn't, I mean, he had some moments, but he didn't run as well as he did last year.

No. 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 with the dual roles of driver, team owner with Denny Hamlin and Brackzowski. 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 own? Not on their own, but I mean, basically. They're not buying their cars from somebody. It's not like they're coming from Penske.

That's right. 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, right? 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 put in it 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, 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 be productive. That's the interesting. 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, that's a, I don't know how you can really split those two things on a day to day.

That's a lot. Yeah. And, you know, I think there's, you know, there's some other moves. I think the McDowell move, I think he's worse off. I think he's not done as well at Spire as he did at front row. Really? I agree that he hasn't done as well, but I think, do you think he's in a better position, like a better place?

Depends, I mean, depends what you consider 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 than I do out of him at Spire. Yeah.

You know what I mean? So you got to the expectation is kind of. And on the flip side of that, I think his crew chief. Travis Peterson? Travis Peterson. I think him leaving front row as hurt front row. Oh, definitely. And I don't think that they've run since McDowland.

Peterson have left. They haven't run as well without them there. I mean, so I don't, but I don't think they've, I don't think they've done any better at Spire, I guess is the best way to put it. And I, and I think it's really hurt the performance of front row. You look at, you look at Noah. He's 34th in the standings, Riley Herpes right behind him and Cody Ware in 36. So that's as bad as you can, almost as you can do. Tough. And I think a lot of that is the, 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. Travis Peterson, he's got a wealth of knowledge, was an engineer at Hendrick Meadorsports

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. And when you have that, it's like, you know, you talk about the coaching trees, right? Of like, Belichick and Andy Reid and like, where do these guys go off to? And then you're like, oh, he was under Chad's wing for a little bit?

Oh, that makes sense. You know, like, you can see that lineage. And, you know, we talked about 34, 35th, and 36th. But when you look at 33rd, you know, with Cole Custer, I mean, the Haas, that, the only time we've seen him show up is the two Daytona races this year. And they've just been non-existent the rest of the years. So, you know, that divorce between Stewart and Haas has basically, taking them out of contention as far as being a competitive team.

I interviewed Cole in the NASCAR 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 Cowell Bush for just a second. When him and Randall Burnett were first paired together, they did have three wins in 2023.

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 do you think is in his mental space? I think that this car has totally disrupted everything that's made Kyle Busch good. Everything that made Kyle Busch good up until this Gen 7 car was the fact that he could drive it over the limit, save the car. and he could tell you every single thing that you needed to put in the 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, and there's just, 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 aerobalance standpoint. You've got what you've got. And every time that this eight cars, 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 was he could go a little too far and save the car. And now, now it's just that he just can't find that feel of putting himself in that position. So everybody wants to see Kyle Wish. And, you know, 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 eight.

I don't think there's anyone that I want to see Wayne. We all do. Yeah, we all want to see. We know how important Kyle Busch is to, is to NASCAR racing. It's true. You know, it's just, it's going to be tough. There was this kid, when we were in Richmond,

there was this kid that I was doing practice and qualifying. He had a eight, Kyle Busch hat. He had an 18 M&M shirt that was like down to his knees. And it looked like maybe his mom and his big brother, maybe his dad or whatever. It's hard to tell. And he stopped and saw Kyle. And I mean, elated.

And you just see that? And then I look at him. I'm like, damn, I want that. I want that guy back. Like, so bad. I want to be able to see that again. Yeah, I think he wins again. I do.

I do, yeah. I just hope, 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, you know, I think it'll be interesting, too, as you go forward. There's going to be some mix-ups and changes. I don't know whose contracts where, who's up, or. But, I mean, there's going to be, there's, there's, got to be a crew chief that's placed at Connor Zillich's car.

I was just getting ready to go 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 as a crew guy, you're like, no, we got, we just got to do our job. Take your pick. We just got to do our job. That's the, that's the, it's a take your pick type scenario.

I mean, there's only a couple guys in situations that there's more than a couple. There's a handful of guys that are going to say no. Yeah. But you got you. In my opinion, if you're doing what you should be doing from the race team standpoint, you should have the pick of the crop for that kid from a crew chief standpoint. What do you put? Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Well, I was just going to say there's some very talented young racers coming through the pipeline, from Corey Hym to Connor Zillage 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, you know, was ahead at me.

And there were times, you know, five years ago where I thought I was just going to go to college and live the life of a normal kid. And Kevin Harvick asked my dad, you know, what's your plan with this kid? And, you know, my dad was like, well, he's going to race for, you know, another year or two. And then he's going to go to college. And, you know, Kevin told my dad, he's like, you can't do that. First of all, thank you to Kevin. You know, there's a lot of people that have been a part of this journey with me.

Your reaction hearing me? Yeah. Well, I mean, Conner's a, I mean, he's a great kid, first off. You're a great person. Person. Like, he is, I mean, he's just, he's, 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 the 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 I've known Connor. I don't know. When we started racing go-cars, 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. And but he's a great person. So, you know, I think that that conversation that he's talking 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. Kevin's just looking at this, he's looking at all this talent and all this or. And he's like, you're going to do what with this? Like he's going to be a finance bro? No, no, no, no, no. And thank God Keelan was racing go-karts at the time because we plucked the, you know, what I felt were the, you know,

the two best kids that were older than Keelan at that time out of go-car racing. I mean, Conor Zillich could have went to F-1 and been the American F-1 racer. He was the most recent miss by Formula One. And just the fact that we were racing go-carts and we kind of steered these kids, these kids had no interests. They didn't even know what NASCAR was. they wanted to go down that F1 road. And so luckily we steered him into NASCAR,

but Connor Zilich, 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 take in a second, but I'm curious, when did you start to recognize his talent? Like 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 just he's been, since I've known him, that's how he carried himself, right? And his parents would, they'd send him to Europe with, you know, 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-carts with him, that was the guy that helped him race carts. 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 rent a car. car, can I get a ride? Yeah, you can come with us. You can come with us to the track. But he would just,

he would just get in there and just do 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, that's what racing is in today's world. Are you coachable? Can you, can you, 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 compare himself, 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 finish product? He's only a 19. I'm like, he's already a world-class driver. He's won at 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 won one in cars tour races. He's won, like he won, what is he, win six or something dumb in the X-Frenny series?

Well, technically seven. Parker got him another one this weekend. So, like, he is, like, yeah, he's going to keep learning and keep getting better. right because you never stop. But like he is a closest thing. 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.

Yeah, and it's going to be, you know, I think that the going cup racing is a whole different animal. Yep. It is a whole different animal.

And you've got, 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 most well-rounded young driver that's come to the Cup series in a long time since Jeff Gordon. Yeah. That's a good word to describe him, polished. Yeah. So 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, it's cinematic. He got the wind taken away from him in the truck race at the beginning of the season.

After he, he won and like, whatever, with a little bit of height and whatever happened. And for him to get the opportunity. The irony in that. And it was just beautiful, a beautiful moment. And, like, that was the group that Parker and Conner's crew chief on the 88, Marty Lindley. I've worked with Marty a few times. And 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 out, everyone's the 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 weather tech, like, it's not like it's just 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, hats off to y'all. Yes. Good job Parker Kluegerman. Yeah, and good job Junior Motorsports too. I don't, 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, Gatley, and Bristol. Wow, three very 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 thing 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 toe link off. You just

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 lead lap and do what you have to do from from there. So it's a, it's a tough place. Five hundred miles at Darlington is a tough, tough ask from a driver's standpoint to be able to put that. And pit crews. And pit crews. You're going to make a lot of pit stops this week. And we know there's just a, 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 will be some of them that are able to pick it up. There's going to be some, there's going to be a surprise. I think that 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 those two guys, but they're also the same two guys that could pound it against a fence and knock the toe link off on lap five. So you never know how it's going to work out.

Yeah. I mean, so right now, everybody can make it in on points, right? Like, there's no this big gap to where, like, you're in a must-win situation. If you're... It is tight. It is very tight at the, like, really from Chase Elliott down to Alex Bowman. That is... So do not...

It's 12 points. 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. Yeah. Because the minute you're in must win, now it's hellmark.

Especially in this round, right? Yeah, I know this one. If you can just average a 15th place finish through the first few races, you're going to probably get yourself free. Probably okay. Yeah. So it's not, in this first round,

you don't want to go into that do-or-die, got to win. Yeah. I 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 in.

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 and now you've 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, you know, St. Louis getting put in there, I think that they do a great job. You know, it's a great market. It's a unique racetrack. So I like the fact that we're mixing the, you know, the styles of racetracks up. So, you know, Darlington is its own beast. And I just like the fact that they're just, they're different styles of tracks. And this first go around here at Darlington, though, it's full day's work for everybody. Listen, man, if you can mess up a little bit and it'll just ruin this whole thing for you.

Yeah. Yep. Okay. 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? Yeah. Everybody's not yours. I think it's just that killer mentality. You always had it. I remember on media days.

There's nothing better than, you know, knowing that it's just it's time to go to war. Kill mode. Yeah, 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, minimizing 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 spend. in and 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 in a championship. When we were at SHR, it was FBA, man. It was them all. Like, we were just, it was, it was FBA.

FBA. Like, that time of the year was so much fun. And it's really when you're locked in with a group and all your, yeah. Yeah, everything that you've learned throughout the year, if there was like a new process that you thought was going to be quicker for the guys, or if you found a brace that was breaking every week and you're like, is this something that you got, 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've got to be willing to do things that are outside of your comfort zone, right? whether it's take chances here and there. You just, you got to be, 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,

and push through those hard moments. So it's, it's fun. The shop air is different. It is different. Like the minute, the minute they got back on Monday, the air in the everyone's shop is different. Like, you're either locking in or you're like, well, we're going to be the spoiler. You know what I mean?

Like everyone has something to raise. And the ones that are willing to make the most sacrifices over the next 10 weeks are going to achieve the most results. And, you know, that's telling your family that I might not be home as much. It's putting in the extra time. It's, you know, it's a big commitment

to go out and win this championship. This is the point in 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, It's Christopher Bell.

I went with Larson. I still stick good by that. William Byron was yours. Oh, was he? Uh-huh. That's what it says here on this sheet. Thanks to Tyler. Are you still confident?

I am and mine, actually. Well, you can't change them. You can't change them, yeah. Yeah, so. Yeah, so you're confident in yours, KV? I am. I think if anybody can do it, it's that team, that crew chief, that driver. Like, you just can't count them out.

How about your guy? I mean, my guy is a regular season champ. Yeah, true. So, I mean. AI says. Yeah, I'm good with it. Like, I mean, like I said at the beginning of the year, though, we go back to episode one in February.

Episode one. You're going to have to go through 12. Well, you're not the regular season champ out of these chairs. Huh? At least you pick somebody who's the regular season champ. I had to get that in there. 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. Your 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 have the speed.

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, right? You can't spin out running second. So I just, 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? Chase Briscoe. Is that a dark horse?

I mean, I mean. Oh, that's a dark horse. Yeah. That's who I would say. I would, I think it's Reddick. Okay. I just think that they could wake up. Yeah, probably.

They've been slumbering. 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 Brisco, I think those two are the most dangerous when it comes to what could happen. Well, and here's the, here's the other scenario. In order to be the champ, you got to beat the champ. And he's still in the playoffs. He's still in it. And last year, he's still in. He's still in. He yelled at me and said, don't you ever count Joey Lagano out?

And I said, yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. We know Joey knows how to do this and has done it at a time, two or three. Okay. Time now for the Sips. We got a pretty decent list this week.

What you say there, Melissa Smith? That's good because I'm thirsty. Slappy. That's the only good part about this. My water's out, so I'm over here dry. Kevin, some fans from Phoenix wanted me to let you know that this is their favorite part of the show. So, uh, every week. Shout out to my Kiwis out in New Zealand.

I know you guys have been checking in the show. Kiwis? Yeah, they're Kiwi. Yeah. Thanks, SvG. Yeah. 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 going to start... We're going to start from this weekend. You guys know I do driver intros. Correct. You know I do handshakes with some of the guys.

Chief Hype officer. That's right. In case you didn't know. CHO. He's officially cheap hype officer for NASCAR. Yeah, which means for, you know, 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. Oh. Oh. That's all you posted was that little smiley face?

Well, I was, so Jeff Gluck tweeted it. Oh, okay. And then Bleacher Report posted the video. I just quote tweeted it with a 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 spoke. But then he said this You're so cool, Roe. 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? Racial is like, ratio is like, you said this and more people hated it than liked it. He's saying more people disagreed with him. Yeah, he said more people

disagree 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 means. You didn't know what that meant. Yeah. Yeah.

So here's the thing. This all started because last week, I said that the... Don't you dare in this. What? You're not about to... No, no, hang on. Okay. Okay, good.

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. Have a good podcast. He brought it up and kind of drug me a little bit. I heard you.

Does that mean like, he kind of like, please explain to the first older folks. 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 and we can debate or I can come to you. I don't know if I like this few. I've seen some people in Twitter. They want to see it. No, we want to see it.

I'm down. Like if you want to talk about whether it's a one-on-one thing. I'll let's, I mean, we'll loan you the set. We'll put it as two chair. No, I kind of think you should be in the middle of it. I don't need to be on it. No, I want to just watch.

I want to watch. I'm down. I'm so, I'm so down. If it's here or there. It can be either one. I want to see the debate. Wherever he wants to be, we can talk about it. Yeah.

Because I'm down. Okay. I'm not going to back down. D.H., where you up, 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.

I'm not apologize. for being right. You're not right. It's a team sport. Well, that's not how you put it. We about to check the tape. All right. Anyway.

Next. Moving 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 year's, which is William Byron.

Yeah. The other ones that I think stood out to me. Heelan Harvick, 2042 champion. Yeah. That definitely stood out. They look like, he and Ty Gibbs look like brothers. They look about, they. Yeah, we got Jesse Love gets a championship.

Corey Heim gets one. Interesting. I would love to know where the AI thinks they're going to be driving. Hosevar is on there? You know what I mean? Like, I know they're picking drivers, but you don't know, like, the context exactly. Yeah. So this is very intriguing.

Where is Hosevar? He's 2032, I think. Is that him? Yeah, 237, 37. Yeah. SVG, 2028. How old will Josh Barry be in 2038? Yeah, good point.

What is that? 13 years from now? Oh, my. He's got to be 46, 46, right? 47, 47 year old champion. Okay. I mean, he's running into his Mark Martin era trying to get that one done.

That is interesting, though. Yeah, no. Some of them make sense and some don't. Well, it just depends on where the AI thinks that they'll be racing at, I think, really matters. Because, you know, you've got to be with the right team. This AI so scares me. Yeah, who are the teams in? Yeah, like, we don't even...

At that point. That's a long, long time. That's a long time. Especially with that 2042, you know, KHI might have a cup team by that point. Good luck with that. Sorry, Delana. 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 pick crews have a lot of D1 athletes and,

former pros on it. Well, Joey Lugano showed up on campus at Clemson last week. And these guys on the football team were hyped. Jacked. They were jacked up. They were jacked up. Joey must have felt like the man.

Watch him get out of the car. Reaction. I like 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. That's good.

What do you say, what say you, Cove? I love the fact that we're in this space because we use so many of their athletes on pit road. This is true. Yeah. 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. I mean, 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, you know, 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.

Pretty freaking awesome. There's 70, probably 70 kids on that team. Yeah. How many of them are going to go pro? It's a very small selection. Right. If you can expose them kids now. That's right.

So this might be, when you're done here, that's cool. Enjoy it. Yeah. This is also an avenue. Yeah. But when you're done, like, if you don't make it here, like, come on over. Yeah, you ever jumped in front of a 3,500 pound car? It's pretty awesome.

Pretty sick. You want to play Frogger for real? Let's do it. Yeah. So I love that. Kudos to whoever put that together. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Guys, we got a mailbag this week.

Oh. We got a mailbag from our friend in New York. This is, man, I always mess up his name. No, go ahead and say. AirFond. Oh, gosh, darn it. Don't help him. Thank you, everybody that helped me with that.

Air Fawn from New York. He still said it wrong. He said, the exact same. See, 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 was 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. Oh, wow. All the way in the Xfinity race. And Brad Kislauski 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.

After that race, I was so mad. I think I slapped him in the face in the media center. As I was walking off, I slapped him into cheap. He said, I hope you sleep good tonight. Would you slap him with your hand? Yeah. Okay. A little love tap.

I always think about the Phoenix car. I think it was, I can't remember it was 14 or 15. I think it was 15 when everyone was talking about the window brace. Oh. Remember they were talking about the window brace? Yeah. And you get out and one, you slap that, you slap the back window. It's all good, everybody.

I mean, those were fast, I mean, we're talking about laping the whole freaking field. I know, that was. That's pretty wild. You're not supposed to do that. No. It's quite a feat. The only guy in front of me was going to be second. I could see them.

That's bad. Thanks to a water bottle. You guys. Trying to put on, trying to put on the show. Trying to put on the show. Bombas, social sips. That's a wrap. We'll be eagerly waiting for Denny's response to the challenge.

We are you. Oh, I know that you're excited. I'm excited. I'm excited to watch it. I would love to see it happen. Yeah. I don't like arguments. I don't want this to happen.

Yeah. Listen, if you want to leave a voicemail, 805, 3174175. If you want a mailbag question, Harvick Happy Hour 4 at gmail.com. Well done, Mamba Smith. Thanks. All right, guys. Time now for our last call here on Happy Hour. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778. Hope N. Or text, hope, N. 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-7-7-7 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 expires, 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gambling resources, cdKNG. 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, for as, for as good as he's been at that track, knowing that he's in a Ford, I'd say there were some people that made some money off around playing. The draft kings definitely knew I wasn't picking him. Really? Well, yeah, because you know my picks usually end up like Kyle Bush did this week, which is... Up in flames. Yeah, not great.

So you're a curse. Sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes. It didn't hurt the championship run so far, so, you know. Yeah. There you go. Okay.

Well, I think it was a good pick. It was. I think it could have made some money off for Ryan Blaney. But take the checker flag with Draft King's 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, the 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 a little bit above average. Not going to put it into our best category. But it was very unique because when he gets this going right here, you're going to see him slide down the banking. But the fact that we've got Ryan Blaney doing burnouts,

I think he's finally outgrown, that Woodbrother's 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 banking. I'm glad that he didn't get stuck right here with the car high-centered, but still kind of cool.

And Blaney's always going to give the flag to a young fan. He's kind of settled into his thing, being comfortable doing the burnouts, but a little above average. Yeah, and also when he gets out, it reminds me it's not as much as AJ Elmendinger, but when he gets out, he's, like, hyping the crowd up. He's pointing at him, like, the showmanship.

Like, that's what... The showmanship, yes. When you win, it's too hard to win. So when you win, show me you love that you just did this. And that's one thing. We've talked about this with SVG on this show and just being able to feed into that showmanship that goes with it. Nobody wants you to be boring.

And 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 not good. At 124.

That's not good. That's great. Caitlin's 70. That's an ass kicking of what that is. And I just enjoy it so much. But now we get to reset. We didn't get fully lapped. Yeah, it was pretty close.

Yeah. It was pretty bad. And now you're going to throw your water bottle out. We're going to reset the points. I had to do something to get the advantage. Yep. So now you're going to throw the water bottle out. We're going to reset the points.

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. 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.

Oh, Kevin's pick up. Every now and then. There you see it. There's the QR code. So 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 follow. for a little game here.

Love it. Yeah. The closers show up whenever they call upon. Well, we got our asses kicked by the fans this week, picking Ryan Blaney. Yep. So let's not do that again. I'm going to 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 going to know, but I'm going to go Chase Briscoe. Okay. Chase Briscoe? Yep. Well, he did good there last year. You won here last year?

Yep. I'm going to Chase Brisco. I'm going with the driver that won there in 2023, Kyle Larson, the person I think is going to win the championship. How many times do you think she's going to pick Kyle Larson in the next 10 weeks? I've only picked him, I think, like, oh, the next two years. I don't know. She wants to win it all.

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 figured 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.

Ask him about his new girlfriend, because everyone's fucking talking about this. His new girlfriend. He had a woman on pit road with him. Oh, good. You'd have a girl on pit road. Everybody was speculating. Who was the woman?

I'm kidding. You don't have to ask you. 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 from last 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, just growing up. And it's not just maturity as a race car driver. It's just, life. These kids are young. You've been in the Cup series for a very long time. But they're young. And he's only, what, 26? What is, my wife always says, well, your frontal lobe doesn't really develop until you're 25 in your brain. Yeah, I hear that a lot. And I see how dumb boys can be, young boys. So I think it just takes a while.

William Bryron, all growns 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.