Kevin Harvick predicts first teams to be eliminated from NASCAR playoffs
As the Round of 16 gets underway for the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend, Kevin Harvick and the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour crew made their predictions for which teams will be eliminated after the first three races.
There were a couple of surprise drivers to make the playoffs, and it’s evident Harvick believes their run will be short in the playoffs. While it’s commendable they made the Top 16, Harvick doesn’t see wheelmen like Harrison Burton and Daniel Suarez moving on to the Round of 12.
“I think Harrison Burton’s out. I think that, you know, they did a fabulous job of getting themselves in position, but you still have this Atlanta factor that goes with this, right? We saw a three-wide finish with — Kyle Busch was in that finish, right? That changed Daniel Suarez’ season. So, I think that it’s Suarez out, Harrison Burton’s out,” Harvick stated. “I think you’re going to have a surprise, I think Alex Bowman is out.”
As for Harvick’s co-host Kaitlyn Vincie, she was blunt while choosing her four, unwilling to move Darlington winner Chase Briscoe on to the Round of 12: “I’m going to Austin Cindric, Burton, Briscoe, Suarez. As much as I want Briscoe to continue the momentum, and he may well do that, but those are probably mine.”
Moreover, Mamba Smith put two drivers who don’t have wins on the chopping block in Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs. While he recognizes their immense ability behind the wheel, the duo could be in trouble due to their lack of a cushion moving forward.
“I think I’ve got HB unless he wins at Atlanta, which Fords have been so fast at Atlanta, they’ve almost sat on the pole every time we go there with this configuration. I think Daniel Suarez, the No. 99 just hasn’t really had the speed, but maybe, since they’re the only car in, they’ll get some help. You know, looking at it, I think Cindric, they make a lot of mistakes, the team does. Like, take away the speed part, the execution, they just end up having a lot of mistakes. I think that might bite them,” Smith stated. “And MTJ, man. It’s gonna be him or Ty.
“They have a struggle with finishing the races where they’re running, it seems like. [Truex Jr.] is pretty good at some of these tracks. I wouldn’t put it past him to win one, but like, if I’m just looking at from what the year has been, they’re in position, in position, something happens to the end. Backing your way into the playoffs, that’s not great. Ty did a great job all day, but he got in a wreck too. Those things happen to them a lot.”
While Harvick isn’t moving Truex Jr. or Gibbs out of the Round of 12 yet, this weekend’s race at Atlanta will be huge for them, he relented: “I think that a lot of this is going to come down to what happens at Atlanta. For those two guys, I think a lot of this — for Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr., a lot of this is going to come down to whether they finish Atlanta or not.”
Alas, a clearer picture will certainly be painted after Atlanta this weekend. Time will tell if we receive any surprises throughout the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but Kevin Harvick knows from experience that anything can happen over the next ten weeks.
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