Kevin Harvick circles four drivers to watch at Phoenix, but adds massive hedge

Now in a role outside of the race car, Kevin Harvick can sit back, watch, and enjoy the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix. At least, he can do all of that from the FOX Sports booth as he calls the race.

His new broadcast role gives Harvick time to think about these races in a different way. This week for the Shriners Children’s 500, he has his eyes on a few drivers. Of course, he was just racing these guys at Phoenix a few short months ago last November.

On his Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick talked about the drivers he expects to be in contention this weekend. He also noted the new short track package and how it could be a factor.

“I think with them, this is officially the new diffuser week,” Harvick said. “I’m going to get that right, reiterate that I’m going to get that right. And I think that if you just had to pick what we saw last week and last year and what we’ve seen at the beginning of the season, I think it’s going to be the 5 [Kyle Larson], the 24 [William Byron], I like the 20 [Christopher Bell], I think the 12 [Ryan Blaney] will be the best Ford; I would go with probably those four guys to start with.

“But I think the door is open for us to see anybody if it’s that much different with everything they have going on with the diffuser and everything that’s changed this week. The door’s a little bit open for there to be some more guys to creep into that picture.”

Kevin Harvick did make these comments before the practice session on Friday. So, we won’t hold it against him that he put his faith in the new short track package NASCAR set up.

The Cup Series drivers were far from impressed with what they felt in practice. They will hope to see a change on Sunday during the race.

Kevin Harvick might get rid of his hedge after Phoenix practice

To his credit, Kevin Harvick noted that if the diffuser situation didn’t help much, we would see the usual suspects up front. Larson, Byron, Bell, Blaney, etc. I would throw Ross Chastain in there, the winner of the fall race at Phoenix in 2023.

Had Harvick known that the drivers felt little to no difference in the new package, he would have never hedged that bet, I think. Right now it does feel like we are going to get a repeat of what we have seen in the last few races at this track.

Hendrick Motorsports is going to be fast. Then we will likely see the Team Penske cars in the mix, at least Joey Logano and Blaney. If we see a Toyota in the mix, put your trust in Christopher Bell or Martin Truex Jr.

So, do you feel the same as Kevin Harvick? Are we likely going to see the usual favorites at this track rise to the top and lead most of the afternoon on Sunday? Is it possible that this new package starts making a difference in the long runs? We will have to wait and see.