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Kevin Harvick, the 48-year-old retired NASCAR driver, stays involved with the sport by regularly discussing NASCAR events on his show, Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour. In his latest episode, he shared his views on the upcoming race at Watkins Glen.
Harvick, who has raced at Watkins Glen many times, believes drivers will face significant challenges this year due to recent changes at the track. He pointed out that there won’t be much time for deep analysis or second-guessing during the race. Instead, success will depend on staying focused, thinking quickly, and having a strong drive to achieve a good result.
Harvick expects the race to be tough but also thinks that some of the familiar names in NASCAR will likely do well at Watkins Glen.
“I think that the teams will have their arms wrapped around the changes with the curbs and everything that goes with The Glen, before they get there,” Harvick said, via Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, as quoted by On3.
"They won’t have a lot of time to figure it out. But I think that, you know, you’re going to have your same guys that are good at the road courses, and it’s going to be interesting, because of all the scenarios that we had at Atlanta, as to who is that guy that steps up and is the outlier of speed at Watkins Glen. So, you know, I think it’ll be interesting."
Harvick predicts that Kyle Larson and William Byron will be strong contenders, as they have shown impressive speed. He also notes that the Gibbs cars have performed well on road courses in the past, and Tyler Reddick has been exceptional on these types of tracks. General, Harvick expects the upcoming race to bring some intriguing developments and challenges as the playoffs continue.
Kevin Harvick mentioned that it's difficult to predict exactly who will be great in the upcoming race, but he has high expectations for William Byron. Harvick reflected on his past predictions, expressing dissatisfaction with how they turned out, but he is confident that Byron has the potential to shine on this track. His confidence is based on Byron's previous strong performances on similar tracks. It remains to be seen if Byron will live up to these expectations.
“I went with William Byron this week,” Harvick said.
“I should have waited a week. If I could go back and make all my changes after watching Atlanta, I would make different picks. But I’m gonna Willy B again this week because of his success on the road courses. I think he’s due to have a great run. They’ve had some OK runs but nothing great lately.”
The last race in Atlanta wasn't very impressive for William Byron, as he faced several issues throughout the event. Byron was unhappy with how things turned out, particularly with the second and final stages of the race. His team had a strategy they believed could be successful, which involved saving fuel, but it didn't work out as planned.
William Byron felt that overall, his performance was decent, but he had a challenging moment during the second-to-last restart. He was unsure about who to support when the cars in front of him were racing three-wide, which led to him getting stuck in a three-wide situation at the bottom and losing several positions.
Kevin Harvick reacts to the crash
Kevin Harvick also talked about the crash from the last race, noting how lucky Kyle Larson was to escape serious injury despite a high-speed impact. Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet slammed into the wall, but thankfully he wasn’t hurt.
Harvick, drawing from his own racing experiences, pointed out how tricky the track can be. He mentioned that the cars can feel really unstable there, and it’s easy to end up in a tough spot. Harvick himself had a similar issue in the past, where he lost control and spun out. In Larson's case, the car got loose, and despite his efforts to correct it, he ended up crashing into the wall. Chase Briscoe then hit the back of Larson’s car. Harvick said he was relieved that Larson was okay after such a big crash.
Harvick, who has had his share of crashes over the years, knows how unpredictable NASCAR can be. He points out that Larson’s crash is a perfect example of how things can go wrong unexpectedly in the sport. For Harvick, it’s a reminder of just how quickly situations can change in NASCAR and a valuable lesson for Larson about staying alert and ready for anything.
The most important thing for him is that things turned out ideally, considering that he could have had serious consequences.
English (US)