Kevin Harvick and his Harvick’s Happy Hour crew that includes Kaitlyn Vincie and Mamba Smith are making their predictions for NASCAR’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday.
First, the former NASCAR Cup Series champion locked in his pick, and he’s looking at 2023’s result for some good luck when it comes to picking the winner for this weekend’s race.
“I’m going to go off my rocker this week. I’m going to go Kyle Busch,” Harvick predicted. “I think, I just think something good has to happen for those guys, and I think it’s got to happen this week. So, I’m pulling for him.”
After a tumultuous campaign thus far, that’s included being punched in the face by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as part of his troubles, a win would go a long way for the No. 8 team. As for Vincie, she’s looking at a different Kyle who’s been in the news over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m picking the other Kyle — Kyle Larson,” Vincie responded. “I think he will be on a little bit of a redemption tour, after the disappointment of the weekend.”
After last weekend’s disappointing, rain-afflicted attempt at the double, a win would go a long way towards easing Larson’s pain. On the other hand, Smith is riding with a different Hendrick Motorsports wheelman to get the win.
“You know what, I am going to go with Alex Bowman in the No. 48,” Smith explained. “Yeah. I feel like, No. 1, they need it, but No. 2, I think they’ve been stringing together a lot of speed. … I feel like they have a bit of swagger coming back.”
That’s not as far fetched as you may think, as Harvick compared Bowman’s current situation to that of Chase Elliott before he broke his winless streak at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season.
“He’s sneaky quiet right now,” Harvick added. “Because you kind of, you would think — you haven’t heard, you don’t hear much about Alex Bowman, because they haven’t won, but they have been in contention. Not up in the front two or three spots.
“When you look at his finishes, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good.’ It’s kind of the same scenario Chase Elliott was in, until he won, right? Because we were just on Chase Elliott every week about, ‘They aren’t doing this, they aren’t doing that,’ and then they win and it’s like, Alan Gustafson reminds you of his running position throughout all the races, and his finishes and his average finish. Very much the same situation with the No. 48 right now.”
Alas, it should be a fascinating race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday. The betting favorite at the moment is Denny Hamlin, so we’ll see if the No. 11 finds victory lane, or if one of the predictions from Harvick’s Happy Hour comes true this weekend.
The post Kevin Harvick predicts winner of Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway with surprising pick appeared first on On3.