Kevin Harvick names team that has been impressive to this point in NASCAR season

Kevin Harvick answered all the tough questions on this week’s edition of Harvick’s Happy Hour, as the massive fallout from the Brickyard 400 was the topic of the show.

Kaitlyn Vincie wanted to know which team has impressed Harvick the most in 2024: “Who do you think has had the most impressive season so far?” Vincie questioned Harvick. “You can only pick one. One team, most impressive.”

While there’s a ton of interesting contenders, one team stood above the rest for Harvick, and it was the winner of last weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Well, I think if you go with straight wins, I mean, it has to be the No. 5 car. They missed a race, they’ve won four races, they’re still leading the points, doing all the things that they’re doing. You know, I still think that they just have this over the top dynamic, from top to bottom, driver, crew chief, team. I was fortunate to be in the middle of that at the All Star race, and witness that. It is an absolutely phenomenal team,” Harvick said, choosing Kyle Larson and the No. 5 group. “But there are other ones out there. You know, I look at the No. 11, the No. 12, the No. 5, they all have this, just this great dynamic, from crew chief, to driver, to team that just, it just works, and they figure out a way to make it happen.

“But, you know, I think when we look outside of those top guys, I saw it again this weekend, Todd Gilliland is in the mix, you know, coming to the green flag. He’s right behind Larson, you know, coming to the green flag for that restart that won Larson the race. So, there’s a lot of guys that have done better than I thought they would do, and there are some that have just not done as well as I thought they would.”

While Larson, along with Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 team and Ryan Blaney’s No. 12, are obvious choices, the shoutout to teams like Todd Gilliland’s No. 38 was well warranted.

Elsewhere, Mamba Smith believes Blaney’s team has shown a nice recovery from a slow start, and they’re poised to defend their championship. Continuing, he also gave a shoutout to an underdog team, believing Justin Haley’s No. 51 squad deserved their flowers, as well.

“I think Blaney and the No. 12 group, coming off of a championship, have no championship hangover,” Smith added. “I mean, they weren’t aggressively fast at the beginning of the year, they were like eighth to twelfth. I think we mentioned that early on in the season, but now they’re consistently in their top five, and they’re showing speed to win races. So, I think they are backing up what they did last year, and maybe turning heads, because they’re a Ford and the Fords struggled early on.

“Also, I have to give a call to Justin Haley. I mean, he didn’t really, I think the last couple weeks have been a little rough for them, but like, up to this point, surprisingly fast and in the mix more times than not.”

When NASCAR returns from their mini-hiatus, we’ll see how these teams bounce back, but it’s tough to argue with any of the picks made on Harvick’s Happy Hour. It seems like Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney are prepared to battle it out for the title in 2024.