Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - SVG’s Road Course Dominance Continues, Harvick’s Richmond Winning Secrets, Silly Season News & More

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down the NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen, where Shane van Gisbergen scored his fourth Cup win of the season and once again proved why he’s the king of road courses. The crew also highlights standout runs from Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and other top performers. Then, they turn their attention to Richmond Raceway, with Kevin sharing what made him so successful at that track during his driving career. Mamba brings the best fan moments in this week’s Social Sips, and the show wraps up in Last Call with burnout grades for SVG and Richmond race predictions. 0:00 - Intro 4:18 - Watkins Glen Recap 34:25 - Richmond Preview 38:02 - Truck Series News 42:51 - Mamba’s Social Sips 50:21 - 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

I don't understand why we don't celebrate greatness. Jimmy Johnson dominated. Yeah, but people hated it. Because he wins so much on the road course. It opens the door for more people that are good road racers to come over here and say, I should try this because I think I'm better than him. When I look at Richmond, it's if the car's loose in, you're dead. I should still have a pretty substantial lead because you guys have sucked a...

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Bensie, Mama Smith. There you go. Top button buttoned. You see that? Somebody tweeted us. I'm not sure that this is a good look. You know, you know.

You're going to have to get, if you're going to go with the chain, we're going to have to get a bigger chain. Okay, fine. Are you going to help? Well, the collar is hiding the chain. Part of it, yes. Kind of giving priests. What's your inspiration here? Who's your inspiration?

Who's my inspiration? Well, I sent it to you on Instagram. You probably didn't even care to look, but. I did. But I did you to say it. Yeah, Cat Williams. Cat Williams did this catty. He was a PGA golf tournament

and was like doing like, it's kind of like what we did with James Winston at the Super Bowl. Yeah. Here on Fox. And he was just around with the America's caddy. And he had the chain out on his polo. With the collared shirt.

Looking fresh. And I'm like, there we go, Kevin. Somebody did sell you out on Twitter to us that he had the top button buttoned at the track as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, I did. Yeah. Well, now it's a thing.

Right. So now it's a thing. And now he's going to button the top. button. Yeah, this week, I'm excited. This week I'm going to bring the chain out. So now you're tying, now you're tying preppy in with everything else you got going on. What's everything else?

Well, just with the rest of your, do you call it an outfit? This fit. I'm throwing a fit right now, Kevin. You're throwing a fit. This is the fit. Okay. All right. We learn all kinds of things on this show.

Welcome into episode 54. We have plenty to talk about. Leaving Waukins Glen. We're getting very close to the postseason beginning. And you've got some good sips for us, I believe. Big list. A big list. No, no, they're good sips.

Are you sure? Yeah, I even brought gifts. Oh, really? Oh, you brought gifts. Is there a jip or a gif? No, it's a gif. Oh, Gifts. You brought actual gifts.

Yeah, yeah. I thought you were talking about gifs. No, no, no, no, no, no, not gifs. Also, for those of you that are watching on YouTube or on FS1, if you notice, there's a couple added little diecasts here. I like that out of my little collections. That's out of your collection. Yeah, yeah. So over.

Your own personal, you brought those in? Yeah. So over here is a Ron Horner. when he drove for AJ Voight and next to Kevin is Ron Hornaday's truck that I'm so iconic. I broke the wheel off that one when I was a kid so you played with this one.

Well, I played with that one and then my dad was like, that's not what these are for. It's been gently used. Gently used. Just gently, yeah. Just slightly. You said the word average a bit ago, which reminds me of the standings right now

that I know you want to get to at the top of the show. Well, SVG is a winner. That means I'm a winner. So I don't know. We don't even know how our point system is going to work. So we're going to somehow cut into my lead. But I should still have a pretty substantial lead because you guys have sucked ass. You should.

But here's the thing. Here's the thing. You guys were horrible. Your guy fell and broke his leg before he got started. I know. I know. But he won the race in a weekend. But here's the thing.

Kevin scored 40 points just off of SVG. I know. Right? I gave you guys every opportunity last week to pick first. You have. Gifted it. I gifted it to you. You did.

I handed it to you. You know what's more fun? You're too dumb to take it. You know what's more fun? What part of him not going to win did you not? Where did you think he wasn't going to win? No, you know what's more fun though? Is if I get to come in here on Monday or Tuesday or whatever and be like, my guy beat your guy.

And I expected your guy to win. I did too. Well, why didn't you pick him? You picked first. I know. You are last. I guess just like a story and I was hoping that Ty Gibbs could win. Yeah.

He would have advanced. But I don't think there's anybody that's going to beat him on a road courses right now. And here's the difference. You know, I listened to the pre-race and I watched everything this weekend. And the biggest difference in between SVG this year and last year, and we've mentioned this on here. Consistent team, consistent car. He's built around what he likes week after week after week. And what kept it competitive last year is he would show up in somebody else's car.

Trackhouse didn't support it. He wasn't driving it every week. Now you're seeing what happens when these guys drive it every week. every week. And that's, that was always the biggest difference in, in what used to happen when Boris said and Ron Fellows and, uh, you know, all those guys used to come over here and drive the cars. They would show up every once in a while. He's here every week. He's racing ovals. He understands the pit stops. He understands the restarts, which he's really good at on the road courses. And, and, um, as he gets more and more comfortable, he'll get better and better at this on the

ovals because he's a student and he critiques himself and gets in depth about the things that he can do to get better. And he's getting better on the road courses too. On the ovals. No, he's getting better on the road courses too. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that's just the details of working at it on the ovals and understanding the cars. So, but the interesting debate, you know, lawyer texts me, he's like, I don't know if I like this. Oh. It's a debate. It's a debate. It's a debate. Well, I think it's a debate within the whole NASCAR world. It is. You know, with him coming in here and winning all the road course races and having a road course ringer, which is exactly what Justin Mark set out to do, right?

You're locking yourself into having four, five, six, however many races are on a schedule on these road courses, of somebody like SVG. I don't think there's too many people like SVG on a road course, but of putting yourself in a position. And I don't want to say guarantee, but I don't know any other way to put it. It's not a guarantee If the pick crew screws up Or some major issue happens Or the car

There's a failure on the car So like the team is still delivering As a whole That part So if Let's just look back and say Okay I won nine races In a season

Is it unfair that I won nine races in a season? Is it unfair that he's Going to win at least? He's already won four It could win five I mean is that unfair? So here's No.

Does it make it different because he's a road course guy on road course is winning? Does it make it any different from being a great season? No. It's the same as when we said, what if you've only won on Super Speedways that year? This conversation blows my mind. It's fired up about this. I am fired up about it because we have so many people that want what was old, right? Like that domination.

We've been talking to people like, oh, man, full season points and doing all this stuff. Jimmy Johnson dominated. but people hated it. True. They did hate it. They did hate it, but they want what was old. That what was...

Dale Jr. dominated on the super speedways. So I'm confused. Like, that is what is old is new again. What is old is new again, right? Like, SVG, smack in the competition is amazing. Because it's going to make these guys better, too. And the other thing is, Katelyn just said it.

The team, I made a tweet, I'm like, the 88 team doing what they're doing as a, group and not making mistakes. Like, winning is hard. But winning when you're supposed to win, when everyone expects you to win, that's a different type of pressure. Like, because now it's like, okay, he's just this guy. But now he's like, the guy.

Can you step up and win when you're supposed to be the guy? And I think that's different. I think that's what's getting lost a little bit in the conversation is being that good is really hard. And they're that good as a unit. The pit crew is solid. Steve and his group on the pit box are making all the right. it calls. It's not just SVG because we've seen it when at Cota, the car wasn't as good.

It wasn't as good. Now, they got the car where it needs to be. So it's like the whole group, and I think it's taken away. And I think the group's doing a good job, but he didn't have the fastest pit crew. No. They did a, they got the tires tight, but they weren't as fast as the guys, I mean, he lost a couple spots on the pit stops that he had. But, you know, I think that this type of situation is thinking outside of the box. And Justin Marks... Looks like a genius. He looks like a genius. And, you know, the Project 91 car and everything that they did with that car and bringing those guys over. We haven't seen that car in a while. Yeah. But it created this situation. And then it led to them figuring out how good he actually

was. And now it's led to a multi-year contract extension because we know how many road courses we think are going to be on the schedule next year, and it's maybe one less. But either way, if you're putting yourself in a position to win four or five races. If you told me I could win four or five races, whether it's just one. Yeah, right?

One is hard. If you're going to guarantee yourself one win. Brother, if it's just Martinsville, cool. I get two a year, awesome. If it's just super speedways, and now you throw it in Atlanta, I get six opportunities a year.

Like, I don't know why people are, so mad about this because it's really no different. It's just racist. They're all clumped together is why they're mad. And they've had to see it so many times over the last month or two months. When someone's great, like when you, to your point, when you got winning all those races, how, you know, like, people don't understand how hard that is. Yeah. People are like, this is, oh, it's easy for him.

It's crazy that it's hated instead of celebrating. That's what we were saying. Why don't they celebrate greatness? And this has been a, this has been a constant conversation throughout the, you know, the years when somebody dominates is why don't we celebrate it? Why do we knock? Why do we want to make our guys that are great? Why do we want to knock them down? And I'll never forget the conversation that I had sitting in the trailer at Charlotte. It was myself, Martin Truex, and Kyle Bush, and NASCAR says, yeah, going away from these rules, you guys are winning too

many races, so we're going to mix it up. That's where we got the 550 package. And so I'm with them. I'm not with them. I don't understand why we don't celebrate. greatness, why we don't wrap our arms around when somebody's doing something great instead of trying to gripe and complain about it. And that's why we never, you know, we're not developing as many heroes like we used to have. Piss me off, be honest. So what did you say back to Clint then? What did you say back to Clint then? I, I don't have to tell us, but. Yeah. I don't even think I responded to that directly because it's, you know, I think it's, I can see it both ways. Yeah. But.

The rules are what they are. Justin Marks created a great idea, turned it into a great program, and SVG is doing it under pressure and making it happen when now, like you say, he's expected to do it. How is it any different than AJ and Colleg before SVG got here?

AJ and Colleg, like, every time I went to a road course, you're like, man, they're going to have a shot to win. Like, they're the ones to beat. They're the ones to beat. I don't know if that's really any different. And it, I mean, SVG kind of ended the almonding. or thing. Literally, because now everyone has to do, drive it differently. It got to get through his features. It ended it last year, though, when he started beating him

in those cars. And that was the end of that. Do you think that all this goes away when he wins on an oval? That's a good question. I think now, because he wins so much on the road course, now the, now the debate for the fan council that the NASCAR sends out to do all these polls is going to be, do we have too many road course races? I, I think that our schedule is so diverse and makes our guys the best in the world. And people that don't understand our version of racing, Oval Racing is so difficult because every track is literally different. Like, every mile and a half is different, right?

And I think road course racing... You have to have it if you're going to grow it. Right. If you're going to be international, you've got to have a road course. The international fans don't understand Oval Racing. it'll take us to places hopefully like Montreal. It's taken us to Mexico City. It's put us in Cota.

It's put us at all these great venues that are world-class venues and people understand road racing. And maybe it opens the door for more people that are good road racers to come over here and say, well, maybe I should try this because SVGs having success and I think I'm better than him. Well, look at Connor. Connor has a road racing background, full stop. But he is won in every level in stock car racing so far.

And different tracks. On oval. On oval. Yeah. Short tracks at cars tour races. Arka. Like, he hasn't won a truck race, I don't think yet. He hasn't honestly done many truck races at all. He's only done a couple of roller sports.

Didn't have to. He skipped it. So, like, what are we talking about? Like, you talked about guys needing 100 races in Cup to really get good. He doesn't even have 100 NASCAR starts. Period. Yeah. Period.

And people are like, well, he sucks on ovals. He hasn't even ran 100 NASCAR starts. And you look at the guy that they're comparing him to in how fast he's won to these starts. It's Dan Gurney, okay? From the 60s. That's what we're comparing it to. It's not like this is different.

It's not something new. It's just something that most fans don't recognize because they don't know anything about the 1960s in the NASCAR history. But the guy that SVG is getting compared to is Dan. and Gurney. And that happened a long time ago. So it's not new. Yeah. Well, it was a big moment for SVG emotional having his dad there who he hadn't seen since Christmas. That was really neat for him. So once again, Kevin is a winner in the clubhouse. Let's talk about some of the other people that did well. I want to talk about Ryan Priest because I think it's been pretty awesome to see this

team really show up through the summer months. Now, I know he is still technically below the line. But they have had a pretty good stretch here to try and make their way in. And I think a lot of people, I think they're underrated at this point. I think with the consistency that they have had. And this is what everybody, let's go back. This is what I for sure expected out of Ryan Priest. Because that day that he, the year that he took all the chances on himself and put himself in Victory Lane and spent his own money and created his own situation,

to believe in himself is exactly what's happening again. He believes in himself. He believes in his ability. He's a very strong-minded person, but he can drive. And now they have the consistency. They have a team that believes in him. But I don't think anybody thought it would be this good. But I think when you look back, and we've talked about this,

you look at Josh Barry, you look at Ryan Priest, you look at Chase Brisco, all those scenarios. Just how bad Stuart Haas Racing, not Stuart Haas, how bad Haas racing was. at that point when it shut down. And, you know, how bad those cars were actually over those last couple years with everything that was happening because all of those guys have gone on to shine. Yeah, because I was looking at the stats from last year, Ryan Priest, and it is a dramatic difference.

You can't even compare them. And now we realize it's really not even fair to compare those notes. But the chemistry, like you look at driver intros and you see Chris and Brad and Ryan all standing up there talking to each other. It's a good vibe that they have going on at RFK with the chemistry of everything that they have going on. I think Brad's, you know, a little bit behind on the performance side. That's been good here and there. But, you know, I think when you look at what they've built, they have some real chemistry between all the drivers and teams, it seems.

And, you know, Priest and that 60 car have just got it done. I think people probably don't realize, but Ryan Priest is, like, one. Cup went away from being on the short list of winning in all three series. Yeah. He has a truck win. He won, I think he won at Nashville. He won Iowa when he took a chance on himself. He's won at Bristol.

Yeah. If you, if you look at him right now, next year, I expect them to be in the play. Not on the fringe of play. It wouldn't surprise me if they just do it right now. They literally could. They're there to win races. They just need that much speed. Just a little bit of speed.

We're going to Richmond, a place. that should be real good for him. Yeah. You know, and Josh Barry. You know, those are two guys that are really circled in this next race. It's been cool to see that team kind of come together. Chase Briscoe, once again, showing a lot of strength.

I thought it was interesting hearing him speak about. In the past, he's had cars, I guess, you know, referring to Stuart Haas, where he didn't feel like they could make the right changes on pit stops. Whereas this team, he feels like every time they come down, they're making the right changes. And I was thinking about this, too. Most of the guys on that team were the championship team

with Martin Tricks. you know. Like they've been through this before and they know how to win races. Yeah. And, you know, I think when you look at that 19 car, I think the biggest thing that they have is speed. Raw speed. They have raw speed. And they qualify good. And even when they were kind of fumbling around at the beginning of the year, trying to figure out who everybody was and what Chase needed in the car, what they needed to do, trying to get a direction. They've obviously got a direction now of what he likes, what he needs to do, the things that they need in the car. But. they're performing, right? They haven't turned all those polls into wins, but now the polls aren't turning into 15th or a bad day. Now they're turning into top fives. And that's really what you want. You want to have that consistency to be able to put yourself up in the front of the pack and capitalize on those days because it's really hard to win. And being able to put

those days together for wins, I mean, you have to have every piece of it. But they're turning those into top fives and top fives turn into wins. I was just going to say, it seems like James Small is enjoying himself again. Because he was pretty frustrated at the end. And I think when you hear James talk about the work ethic, you know, I think it's pretty well known that they didn't spend a lot of time in the Sim with Martin and the things that they were doing in-house over there. And you heard James talk about that and reference that,

how much time compared to Martin that Chase is putting in with the work ethic and the things that go with it. and they're starting to reap the benefit of that time that they're putting in. And that's what it takes. And this is a really, really frustrating part of the year. It's hot. You're going to a lot of racetracks where it's hard to pass. You've got a lot of diversity in the styles of tracks that you're going to.

So from a driver's standpoint, you're pretty much miserable at this point because there's no routine. There's no real consistency of the tracks and things that you're working on. so it's a lot of time in a simulator. It's a lot of time in the meetings. And, you know, there's a difference in guys that can do that week after week and still stay sane and get the results that they need on a week-to-week basis because it is an insane part of the year to try to navigate with all the travel and things that go into the summer.

It's tough. Chase is a, he's comfortable in this character because he's on a prove-it deal. He's got to prove it that he can be the guy. And I think at S.HR, he was able to show that he could be the top guy at a team because obviously he won Darlington when the pressure was on to get into the playoffs. And now he's with an organization that they have good stuff. And he's always raced with his back against the wall. Yeah, that's my point.

He's always raced against him. Might not have a ride. Might not know what he's doing. There's just always been those questions. And I think that seasoned him and conditioned him for these types of situations. And, you know, he kind of bet on himself too. That's a lot of pressure to say, okay, this might be it. If I don't go make this happen in the 19 car, it might be out.

Yeah. Big time. A lot of pressure on him, certainly this year, to perform. You were talking about just this part of the season being tough to get in a rhythm. Christopher Bell referenced that after the race, saying this team has struggled to get in a rhythm. Now, finally, a second place for Christopher Bell. What did you see out of that team? Well, it doesn't surprise me.

I think they have the speed to be able to go out and do that on any style of racetrack. but it's exactly what I'm talking about with the managing of the season. How do you manage the season? Because if you can't do it every week, you can't win the championship, most likely. And, you know, you look back at Joey Lagano, Ryan Blaney, all the guys who have won the past few championships, especially with this car. It's all about details.

It's all about trying to stack those details up as much as you can. And if you don't do it every week, you wind up a couple stacks short. A couple blocks short of what you need when it really rolls around time and you try to push all those things that you've learned into your first race of the playoffs. That's what you use to build that car and that's what you use to build that setup. And that's what you, all those things that have happened through the first 26 races are built into race 27, 28, 29. And that's what you got. And so if you've been hit or miss and hadn't been digging every week, probably somebody going to beat you.

Yeah, that's on the driver end, but the same thing is on the crew end. It's the same. I was talking to a couple guys from RCR, and they're like, well, the car is, it's easier for us to work on, right? They kind of put them together. Simplified. Yeah, it's more simplified. But every intricate detail matters that much more because everyone's getting the same part.

So if you haven't found your process, if you haven't found the speed and you're still looking for those things, it's about impossible to catch you up now. And the closer everything is. Yeah. You know, the more similar the parts are, the closer everything is, it takes way more work to find an advantage. Way more. So they're working harder because of the increments being so much smaller in trying to find something that is better. And that's tough on the teams. And now you're going to race 28 weeks in a row.

Do you think that we won't see another like win season like yours with the nine that you had? Because everything's so tight and parity is so close, it's very hard to see somebody being able to put it all together like that. Yeah, and I think the inconsistency of being able to get those finishes all the time, the racing's rougher. It's harder to pass. The cars are closer together. So there's a lot of things that work against, you know,

when in nine or ten races in a season. And so, you know, I think that part is definitely going to be tough to achieve. One of those teams we've seen do that in the past is Kyle Larson. This weekend, early exit, not an exit, full exit, by the way. They had a break seal issue. We've seen this team now multiple times doing these exercises and still coming back and getting the fastest lap. He's still got a point for that. It's just, I mean, I don't think anyone has done this more than that group this year.

No, and we heard William Byron. And this is a typical Hendrick Motorsports type of attitude. And you heard it out of William Byron last week after they won that race. They have a great way of managing the downs to be able to keep everybody motivated, everybody engaged, no matter how many times that five cars been in a garage, you see those guys under the hood digging, trying to fix the car to get back out on the racetrack. And now they've gained two or three points by getting the fast.

this lap. They get the car back out on the racetrack. Obviously, you know, you don't want to have the issues going to the racetrack from a mechanical side, but, I mean, this team's not been at the level that they want to be. Now, neither the 24 didn't have the finishes that they want, but they had the speed. I haven't seen the speed out of the five that I've seen out of the 24. I see that as easier to motivate your guys around. But Hendrick Motorsports has a great way of navigating the downs to be able to keep their people engaged and motivated some, you know, just from good business practices more than anything and management, good leadership. So that's the, that's the part, you know, that I think they'll show back up at some point, but it hasn't been great.

They're a sleeping. Yeah, they're a sleeping giant. Yeah. Sleeping giant. I wouldn't, I mean, I think Cliff has figured out something that even when we wrecked or something broke. there's still something to gain on this day and going out there and getting the fastest lap is that thing. That new goal. That new goal. And you talk about keeping people motivated. Well, when you go back out and you sit the fastest lap, I'm motivated because everyone knows that we might have had a mistake or something happened. But we're still fast.

And we can still show up and be fast. And I think when you put it together. When you look back at it, it's still, the issue still started at indie. I mean, you can definitely point back to. where the slump started. And I don't, you know, they obviously haven't got out of it yet. I, I truly think that when the way our teams are, when a intricate piece of your team is no longer a part of your team.

And even though the role of PR and what John Edwards did may not seem crazy on the outside, on the inside, I think it was more intricate for that group than it really, than anyone really new. And I think that just his presence and what he brought for energy to that group was different. Yeah, there's definitely been quite a few things that have changed over at that company in the year. I want to talk to you about Ty Gibbs for a moment. That was my pick for the win, which you eloquently pointed out was not a good thing. Not the impact. It didn't really work out. It's been a little interesting listening to them on the radio because we've talked about the fact that Chris Gabehart is involved, but he sort of questioned a little bit of his strategy,

said the car didn't have speed. What do you think is going on with that group? Well, you definitely don't want to have the banner between crew chief and driver like that. And, you know, once that happened, the whole race fell apart. And, you know, when the race falls apart like that, you know, it's kind of like we talk with the five. You can clearly point to say, okay, here's where this started. And so, you know, I think when you look at this situation, that's, I've been in those scenarios before. and as a frustrated driver, when you feel like the car is all of a sudden just falling off and not doing what you wanted to do,

there was definitely some tension on the radio about the strategy and where the car was at that time. I forget that Ty's 22. I interviewed him in one of the sweets this week, and we were just chatting. I'm like, we were talking about what he does for eating, like his diet. He's like, oh, you know, I'd kind of like to eat, you know, trash. here and there, but I have to racetrack, like, I lock in and, like, rice and chicken and stuff. I'm like, yeah, how old are you? He goes, 22,

and I'm like, oh, my God. Like, I forgot. Like, there's so much more potential in Ty Gibbs, not only behind the wheel, but just as a person. With the performance that they've had this year. So, you know, through this last little bit. He just has to, he just has to channel it, and I think Gabe are

just trying to channel it, and they just haven't quite found the exact button to push yet. But, you know, they're going to find it. I don't want to bring up anything inappropriate, but I do think, you know, he lost his father, who was a huge part of the organization at such a young age. And his uncle and J.D. Having to manage that on a young person, that's a lot to overcome. And I think, you know, a lot of people give tie grief in scenarios that they don't think about the whole picture. Right. He's 22. He's been through something that is unimaginable. You know, they,

changed the whole team this year to start the year. It didn't start off right. Now you put him in another position. So it's kind of like his back spin up against the wall and almost defending who he is as a driver. We got a great snapshot of that over the last few months of the potential that Ty Gibbs has behind the wheel and the things that he can do on the racetrack to go out and perform and go fast and race for the wins. I mean, it wasn't three weeks ago we were talking about. and you're still picking him to, you know, to win races based on what you've seen over the past few months.

And I think that, you know, there's just a, there's a number of things that they don't probably give the kid enough credit for for who he is as a driver. And I think that can be frustrating, you know, to, to, and to have to deal with all the things that he's dealt with over the past couple years. Yeah, I just think that he, I just think that he, I think he deals with a lot. I mean, his last name is on the building. So, like, there's a different expectation of things that he probably holds himself accountable for. He's a NASCAR champion, obviously, in the X-FINITY series. And his family, they're such a tight-knit group

because, you know, his cousins are all throughout that organization as well, pick crew members and being, you know, in the front office and different things. So, like, when you look at it, he lost JD, who was very close to him as well, and then he lost his dad. Like that, I don't really know. I don't know how I would, how I would respond to that. And I think he's responded better than probably 99% of people have. There's some other things that he's had to manage that many do not.

I want to talk about Connor Zillich for a moment before we move on from the weekend because this was a very scary incident that happened at the conclusion of the Xfinney series race, which he won. But getting out of the car, his leg got caught and he fell, has a broken collarbone now. This is just a horrific thing to, to, to, See him slip right there. On the beginning, yeah. They did interview him during the cup race because he was there saying he's not really sure what the next steps are in terms of the recovery and how long that might be.

I'm assuming he'll get a wafer. Yeah. I would hope so. We already has one from the back. Yeah. I don't know how that works on it. I don't either. I mean, I don't know that anybody has ever thought about having to give two waivers.

Just for injury twice? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, this kid is going to be bullet tough when. he is done with all the things that he's had to deal with, whether it's his back, um, falling in victory lane and, and just learning on the fly and having a bunch of success, Red Bull, track house, everything that he's got going on. He does a really good job of dealing with. This kid's a stud. He is. He's a winner and he's going to continue to win. And I just,

in these situations, and I told his dad this, I said, you got him. make sure they take care of him first and not get in a hurry. Make sure he heals correctly because he's going to be a winner when he comes and gets into that cup car. And, you know, I think that the most important thing is to not rush it because you're chasing a regular season points championship or an Xfinity championship. Just make sure that he's 100%. Now, I know it's a collarbone.

I don't know the details of what's broke or how it's broke or what the scenario is. So, you know, I think that my main concern for Connor at this point is to make sure Connor is 100% because there's no reason. He can take his time in making sure it's right is my only thing. He's got that thing that the kids call aura. He's got the it factor. Like, he's a clean, cut looking kid. He can speak really well. I was just going to say that.

Yeah. And, like, he speaks like a mature, like 30-year-old. but also you can see the kid energy in him. And when he gets on the racetrack, he is a dog. And he's the one that's been pushing SVG on the road courses, obviously, especially in the Xfinity series. And I was really looking forward to seeing what it would translate

over into the Cup series. But I'm glad that... You curse him. So we can blame you for this whole day. Obviously, Connor, my boy, I'm sorry. I'm really... I don't even know what to say about that one. Usually it's just like, oh, you get a loose wheel or something. It's not a damn...

win on Saturday and then you don't get to go a race on Sunday. So, but he's, no, you're right, Kev. He's, he's a dog and he's going to be great. And he just needs to heal correctly. Yeah. Make sure all the things are right. And when he comes back, just do what Connor Zilich does. Well, they have a week off.

Yes. I would definitely skip Daytona. Definitely skip Dayton. So, you know, you've got a couple weeks that you can figure out what is right and wrong. But, I mean, the kid is a, he's a great person. I was fortunate to be around him a lot. He helped Keelan a lot. in carding.

I mean, there were times, I mean, he would travel by himself. He'd go to the airport, you know, at 14, 15 years old, and he'd show up at the airport, hey, can I get a ride to the track? I'm like, what do you mean? Can't drop me. Get a ride. Well, I can't get an Uber. I'm not old enough to get an Uber.

Can you take me to the track? Or a rental car. But, I mean, the guts that it takes to have a kid that young and be able to navigate things in life, just going through the airport, flying by yourself, whatever. Those types of situations are what sets him apart from everybody else. he can deal with the world. He can navigate the media.

He knows how to talk. He can, he's just, he's very mature beyond his years. I was just going to say that. Anytime I've interviewed him, he's just so polished. It's almost like he's a veteran, but he's such a, he's a still kid. I mean, he's a very unique talent, and we're lucky we get to witness his talents on display. We're thinking about him and hoping that he can recover quickly.

Okay, up next for everybody is Richmond. The races are winding down, and now we're headed to a short track in Virginia. You won there four times. Yeah. We did pretty good there. Not bad. Tell us about those or just tell us about the track. Well, I'd tell you.

I guess I can tell you now. I guess it's okay. Wait, what is this going to be? I guess I don't have to race against anybody. Well, even... No, it's just a very... It's a really technical racetrack. And I always viewed Richmond as a place where you had to have markers.

You got them on the wall. You've got cracks in the racetrack. You've got patches on the front straightaway. When I look at Richmond, it's you've got to put the car in the right spot. And in order to do that, you have to be able to get into corner hard and use the brakes right. If the car is loose in, you're dead. So you've got to be able to use the brakes correctly to help you place the car and it can't be loose in. And so for me, I always, I went from the first hash mark down.

All my work was done from the first hash mark down. I think those hash marks rubber up gives you an option on entry, but you have to come off low and straight. And you have to be able to continue to do that without spinning the tires. Turn 2 is really unique with the way that the banking kind of rolls around. There's kind of a crown in the racetrack off a turn 2, and you have to go with that down the straightaway. If you are still kind of having a little arc off the exit of turn 2, it snaps the back out from underneath you. And then you get that same crown going into turn 3 that allows you to lock up the tire. But those two unique characteristics of the crown and the racetrack, but driving straight up off the corner, low and straight.

key to the place and not being loose in. Damn. He is a true analyst. Don't you love his descriptions? I would hope so. After 20 years, if he couldn't break down the Richmond. Not all of them can do that. You wouldn't even believe.

Nobody even realizes that there's, half the people don't even realize that there is a crown. That's what I'm saying. I had never heard that. He's, I'm not surprised. He's in the Hall of Fame. I know. So also, Kev, that turn two wall, because where that crown is, If you get, that thing would jump out and bite you.

We see a lot of guys. Well, but it all starts with the middle of the straightaway. And the way that that banking wraps around and the way that the way that that banking dumps off. And it just creates that little. In the beginning portion of turn one, I think it's kind of like in turn three, two. Isn't there like an area that you have to touch to really hook the left front? There's a little, there's a little seam. Yeah.

In the racetrack that's been sealed. there's a seam all the way around the corner, but then there's a little seam in the racetrack that has good grip right there too. So it depends on what your car is doing. A lot of times, if you can use the brakes really hard, getting in the corner, it gives you a lot more options. And, you know, if you're loose in the corner a little bit,

you can drive it in straight and get it right to that yellow line. But I always like to drive in straight and hard and put the left front tire right on that yellow line, get off the brakes, touch the throttle a little bit, get it loaded up, get it around the corner a little bit further, and then let the car rotate. But you can use that apron a little bit to help the car turn if it's really working well for you. But if the car is tight, you know, then you've got to start trying different things with a diamond and getting in higher and cutting the exit of the racetrack down, lower it on the exits.

Can you tell that you liked Richmond? If the drivers are listening, you just got a master class on how to win at that place. I'm not raising anyone, so here you guys go. Yeah, no kidding. So obviously Cup is there. So, too, is the truck series. I want to talk about this series for a moment because there's been some rather unusual storyline, silly season, if you will.

Caden Honeycutt signed with a different team for next year. And manufacturer. And manufacturer. And so Nice effectively departed ways with him, which has spurred a conversation of, you know, was that right for a driver who's trying to line up his next opportunity? You know, I saw Dale Jr. was kind of vocal about this, that he felt like he hadn't done anything wrong, I think, is trying to say? Well, you hear so many people talk about owning up and living up to their deal.

And we've seen a lot of scenarios where, you know, the team knows that the driver's leaving and then they cut off the resources and things. So I think there's a couple different ways you can look at it. You can use it to build towards next year, which obviously Nice has decided that they want to build towards next year and get started off on the right foot. But I don't know that, I mean, they're not going to win the championship, whether he was driving the truck or not. They're going to, they would have been in the playoffs. Yeah.

So probably still will make the playoffs from the owner's championship side of it, I would assume. I think so. I see Caden was 50-some points up after the race. And, you know, I think that with the truck being driven in the last race, they're probably further up on the cut line than that. So it can go either way. I can see it both ways. I can see it from the team standpoint. I can see it from the driver's standpoint.

The hard part is just not knowing the scenario of the ins and outs of the conversations, what the promises were. I think a lot of people felt like, you know, he was in that niece seat for next year. And I think that might have been what niece thought as well. So you never really know what said and how things were. handled. You look back at Tyler Reddick and the way that things were handled with Richard Childress. Oh, yeah. That's right. How the driver handles those situations, how the agent handles those situations with ownership, in my opinion, could have something to do with this scenario and how

the driver handled it with the owner. To me, it looks like it could have been handled, not how the owner wanted it to be handled. So you never really know the details of how those situations are handle. Yeah. So I can see it both ways, not knowing. And Andres Perez is now going to that Nice seat. Yeah. So, so let's, you know, look at it in the whole picture, right? So, uh, Caden gets released from the 45 at Nice after he allegedly or has signed with Toyota, right? So niece is a Chevrolet. Then Stuart Freezing gets hurt. Right. Which he drives a 52 Toyota. So now Caden, yeah, is now stepping into the 52. So, For Toyota, I'm sure they're like, oh, wow, we got our guy.

Head start. Early, head start, right? Great. And now, you know, hate that Stewart got hurt. But now that group has another bona fide driver in there to still go off and win a championship. And then you got Andreas Perez, who it looks like Spire is backing down on their truck program, maybe a truck. Which has been the rumor. Which has been the rumor.

So Andreas Perez gets an opportunity to be like, okay, well, where am I going to go? for next year, right? Am I staying here or not? It looks like if I had to read the tea leaves, that he might have been moving anyway. So he goes over to the 45 that's not open because they let Caden go. It's pretty crazy.

It's like a lot of movement, but the domino effect, honestly, if you look at it, everybody really want, probably when he shakes out, is going to win. As far as where they were going to go next. Like, this is probably best case.

So where's Honeycutt going? Where's Honeycutt going? Yeah. I would think he's going. I don't know, but I would think he's going to try God. Okay. Which one? I think that Heim moves up.

I don't know where. I think he goes into that truck. That is the great question. Where Corey Heim's going? That's really where it's at, right? Yeah. You know, you see all the Haas rumors that... Those fired up out of nowhere, right?

With Legacy? Expanding. Yeah, with Legacy buying Haas, we don't know if that's true or not, but the rumors over the last couple weeks, with Legacy buying Haas is... Who's the third driver there? And that Xfinity program...

If they are buying it, they're going to need another driver for a cup car. And the Xfinity program is good. So if they don't put them there, you got a bona fide deal already. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of movement, which doesn't happen usually going into the playoffs like this. That's right. Yeah, definitely not. This is the final race before the postseason begins for the truck series this weekend.

Okay. Time now for America's favorite. favorite segment. The world. I don't know about it. I just want to let you know. Self-proclaimed. No, no, no.

No, it's not. It's not. There was a... Oh, it is. It is. A gentleman at the racetrack that wanted me to let you know that he loves Mamba Social Sips

and watches the show. Was he sober? It was in the morning, so I think so. But we were in Watkins Glen, so you never know. Anyway. Well, what you got for us there, sir? Welcome to Momba Social Sips, your favorite part of the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour

a podcast. It's debatable. Let's start right here. Let's start with, it kind of has to do with Kevin's house, so I feel like this is perfect. So one of my favorite athletes

is Julian Edelman, and he's one of our Fox family here, and he has a podcast called Games with Names. It's an awesome podcast, super funny, and Kyle Larson was on the podcast, and they asked him about Talladega Nights, and this is his hot take

about how he feels about the movie. Do you guys like Haldiga nights. Is that movie funny or is that dumb for you? I mean, I like the movie. I think it did not do anything good for our sport. I think it turned our sport into like a joke, unfortunately. But it is, I mean, that's got to be like the most, one of the most popular race movies. It's just a funny comedy with those boys. Yeah, but that's just, I feel like it just, the rest of the world, like, that's what they think about our sport now.

Julian's boys, Julian's guys are so funny. Who are the other two guys? The other, like the producers are like, oh, you know what I mean? I'm not sure. I think what Kyle Arson is trying to say is it reinforced every stereotype about our sport, right? Because it played up onto all the cliches, this and that. I thought it was hilarious. It is a funny movie.

I think it's one of the best. I think that it's time for us to have another real, I mean, another serious movie. Yes, it is definitely, well, Days of Thunder. Days of Thunder, too, would be nice. I mean, Kevin. I mean, Talladega nights, too. I know where we could reenact the scene. In case you don't know this.

Kevin is moving into the house that Ricky Bobby lived in, the actual home on Lake Norman. That's actually, that's so, so how's the house coming, by the way? It's coming. Yeah, I've talked to, I've talked to. It's at the miserable point of building a house. Yeah. Miserable. Yeah.

I hate that. Tired of paying for it and taking too long. Not in it yet. No. But the house you're at right now is pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. We race Saturday.

So Sunday at your place? Sunday, Sunday. Oh, the race is Saturday this week. I'm going to Colorado this week. I'm going to race myself. Okay. Well, I'm going to go sit in your pool. Yeah, that's fine.

Just come in the back gate. Okay. Just come in the back gate. During the practice and qualifying session this weekend, we found out that Brad Kislauski has wheels. Yeah, he can sprint. Basketball? Not it.

He's not running against anybody. But look, watch this. But he is kind of, he beats his crew members. So him and Holsavar have a little run-in on track. Kevin. He believed he impeded his qualifying lap. He was not happy about it. But Hosevar is an easy target right now.

Everybody's mad at him. So you figure anytime he does something, you just go yell at him. I've been there. You know what's crazy about that? He's so much of an easy target that when Michael McDowell kind of moved him and kind of dumped him in turn one during the race. Like, no one even really mentioned much of them. They just kind of like...

Moved on. Just kind of moved on. Yep. Moved by your teammate. Not a big story. Not a big story. So, you know, Holes of our doing holes of our things. But this is not typical Brad behavior.

No, he was fired. I think he feels like he had a good car and probably could have put down a good lap. I think people are just getting sick of him. And it's, hey, it's not over yet. Because this 28-week stretch, I'm telling you, right now everybody's miserable. It's hot, frustrating. Everybody's tired of working. Kids are going back to school.

I mean, there's just, you can just line the things up that make it not fun. That make it not fun right now. You've sweats your ass off and there's a lot of, most of the guys are on the wrong side of the fence from the playoffs. A lot of pressure you get towards the end of the year. Teams wanting to make moves and try to figure out how to perform better. There's just a. Stress is boiling over. It's a very stressful time of the year.

Speaking of school, he's. in school, he's going to orientation. Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah, I got to go to parent teacher orientation day. School week. Back to school. Are you going to embarrass your kid? No. No? I mean, I might accidentally. So you're not going to pull you're not going to pull what Conner's dad did, what Jim

did? No. What do you do? Hang on. Let's see this. So Conner's dad tweets this amazing tweet after he knows that Conner's okay and everything. And he goes, Silver lining, pooping himself is no longer his most embarrassing mom. That's pretty good.

That's cute. Connor's dad's pretty funny. He has a very dry sense of humor. Yeah. And if you know him, you see where Connor kind of gets his just his personality from. But I text Jim,

and I didn't want to text Connor because I didn't know. Yeah. And, you know, he's always been very involved in everything that Connor does. So it's fun to see that, that he's well enough. We know from his dad's reaction on X that he's well enough to not be worried about it.

Yes, make a joke. That's good. What do you got there? Well, so, you know, I have some vintage pieces that came from Iowa. Really? Chris, yeah, he wanted to come out to the race.

I got him some VIPs. He brought us awesome gifts. He listens to the show every week, so we appreciate you, Chris. So this one. Nice. Right? I kind of wanted it,

It's a rookie year. It's a good one. Caitlin, this one's for you. Oh, nice. So it says, Ready to strike. Yeah. It's Kevin Harvey.

I think it says white lightning on the front. That's pretty cool. Wait, no. Thank you. No, that one's for me. Sorry. Sorry. No, this one's true.

This is Kevin's, this is Kevin's championship year, A.C. Delco. Oh, yeah. So that one is for you. All right. And you guys, I talked about the,

I talked about the Ron Hornaday stuff. And it's because this was a part of it. There was no way that I was letting anyone else have this one. That's awesome. Yeah. This is one of my favorite things like all time of Ron Hornetay. And he found this, Kevin, for you. He knows you're part of the Mears gang. So that's a Rick Mears hat. Holy cow, look at that. Snap on. Yeah. Make sure you show the camera so they can see that. That's awesome. Rick Mears winner. Yeah. I have a lot of Rick Mears stuff.

Who doesn't like vintage racing stuff? I love hunting for old marble car. That looked good. Yeah. Chris. Thanks, Chris. Thank you. Thank you guys so much, brother. If you guys want to leave a voicemail for next week, 805 3174-1175 or a mailbag question, Harvick Happy Hour 4 at gmail.com. There you go. There's your sips. That's a wrap on the city's sips.

I'm so cold that I didn't get the sip on my drinks. It is so cold in here. Should give you some hot tea. I'm shaking. He was. I was looking for a blanket. Would that look weird? No.

People used to do that. I thought about putting that race suit on. You should have. In the studio and camarader. commercial breaks, they'd bring out blankets for us under the desk. Really? So cold, yeah. Okay. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler.

In New York, call 8778-8-N-Y or text Hope N-Y. 467-367-369. 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 expire 168 hours after issuance.

For additional terms and responsible gambling resources, cdkng. dot CO slash audio. NASCAR is not responsible for this promotion and used under license. All right. Learn something every day. 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, this is the first. SVG was minus 165. What does that even mean?

It means that you have to spend $165 to win one. Oh. Or win 100. Win 100. Yeah. Yeah. So usually it's plus something. Right.

This is the first one that's been negative. Negative 165. And not normal with NASCAR at all. Yeah. Yeah. That basically means they knew he was going to win. That tells you how dumb your picks were this week. You pick first.

You picked second. And you didn't pick the guy. I made it for the money. I mean, draft kings can tell you how much of a favorite that he is. And both of you morons passed on him. I don't like when you call me a moron. You know we love you. But your pick was, your picks were bad.

It was a sentimental pick for tag games. My pick wasn't bad. They were fine. The picks were fine, but not the favorite. If you're going to pick first, pick the favorite. Can we start getting this information before our show then? No. No.

Well, anyway, 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 $200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks. Only on Draft Kings, the crown is yours. That you don't have. Waiting on that crown. Jeff Kings.

Let's go. Yeah. And I guess when you look at the point standings, it reflects your poor picks. Yeah. Listen, you got 40 points off of one guy. I can't help you. No, I'm just saying like. Okay, well, I still got another 65 in the bank.

That's not that much. Yeah. Not that much. No, I don't know. All right, guys. Let's look at the burnout, though, because we know that SPG is listening. and knowing that getting graded. I think that he just outsed himself.

And this was, he did his burnout in turn one before everybody else even took the checker flag. Nobody was in the picture when he was burning out. Well, there comes a couple cars right there, but he was, he was halfway through his burnout already in turn one. So he went right after it, but this was definitely a lot of smoke. There was, the tires did not blow out until he got to the front stretch. So that was a, that was a plus. But he went ahead and blew him off the rims right here.

So it was... The high fives for me. The high fives are pretty cool, just lightly touching the quarter panel on the wall. So we got a... He's ranking them up there pretty high, but he's got so many of them now that I guess we just... Well, he's got the top two.

That's been my favorite all year. That was my favorite because he added all the things together. The tire rubber's flying everywhere. I get to in the Victory Lab. I get to interview him this week. Oh, good. Tuesday. So I'm going to ask him about this.

Yeah. We need to know. Need to know. Yeah. Quiring minds. Are you listening to the show for this? He is because when I interviewed him last time, I told him that he got the highest marks from Kevin. So he knows the deal.

You know what we should do? We should have a little trophy made. Oh, that'd be nice. For whoever wins it at the end. That'd be cool. There you go. I like it. That's a good idea.

That is a good idea. It's rare, but good job. All right, guys. Let's go ahead and make our picks for who we believe will be victorious out in Richmond. Do you want to go first this week? No. No, you're last. Yeah, you go first. You're in last place.

So you get to go first. I was going to go with Denny Hamlin. Okay, good pick. Okay. You're next to last, so go ahead. So I really want to go with, like, Ryan Priest or Josh Berry, because I think that these are their type of racetracks, but Hendrick has been really good here. I'm going with Alex Bowman. Okay. I'm going with Alex Bowman. That's an interesting pick.

Yeah. I don't think you're going to win. I'm going to make a bold prediction right here. Oh, finally. Here we go. I'm going to make a bold prediction. Are you ready? No, now I know it's not bold.

Yeah. I'm going to go with Chase Briscoe. Okay. No, that's pretty... I just think that there... I look back at, you know, this is always a great track for Truex. I know that they've kind of... It seems like they've kind of figured out how to blend things together.

So it just seems like it might be a good track for them with all the momentum that they have in their past history there. I'm honestly, that's the most on Olympic that Kevin's had in two years. So I'm going to give you credit on that. That's not true. Okay. So Thursday episode, you got one of our own Fox talent. Jamie McMurray, yeah. It was a, already did it.

And I think everybody will enjoy it. Jamie's, he's got a great background. We came up at a very similar time together through the ranks, had a go-kart background, light model background. But it had some great stories. I think people will enjoy it. He's funny. A lot of people don't realize how funny he really is.

Crown jewel killer. That guy has every crown jewel that you could want. Yep. Well, we look forward to that on Thursday. And everyone keep subscribing on YouTube, wherever you get your podcast, leave five stars. Send in some questions for the mailbag. And we'll see all of you after Richmond. Go Hornetay.