Kevin Harvick predicts winner of Talladega NASCAR Playoff race

Just six races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and next up on the schedule is a racetrack which promises to be the most unpredictable of them all: Talladega.

For 188 laps and 500 miles, drivers will strategically work their way through a treacherous Talladega and of course, do everything they can to avoid the inevitable “Big One.” At the end, a winner will be crowned. Kevin Harvick believes the driver that will be headed to Victory Lane Sunday afternoon is Ryan Blaney, he said on Tuesday’s “Happy Hour” podcast.

“It’s so wide open,” Harvick said. “I think this week was a great example of what I thought was a dead William Byron to a revived William Byron. So, I’m gonna go with [Ryan] Blaney.”

Kevin Harvick goes with race favorite to win at Talladega

Blaney is about as safe a pick you can have in the field given his recent success at the 2.66-mile tri-oval. The reigning Cup Series champion won the fall race at Talladega last season, finished as the runner-up the year prior and took the checkered flag in 2019. In 20 career starts at Talladega, Blaney has three wins and six top five finishes. Blaney is coming off a P6 finish at Bristol and a fourth-place finish at Kansas, currently sitting 28 points above the playoff cutline.

Harvick’s co-host, Kaitlyn Vincie, initially had Blaney as her pick, but pivoted after Harvick revealed his to be Blaney first. Sticking with the Team Penske theme, Vincie went with Joey Logano, Blaney’s teammate. Like Blaney, Logano has three career victories at Talladega. The two-time Cup Series champion could use a win as much as anybody as he enters Sunday’s race just four points above the cutline.

Mamba Smith went a little outside the box for his pick, going with Todd Gilliland to pick up his first career Cup Series win. Gilliland has been fast at superspeedways this season, finishing eighth at the Talladega spring race.

“I’m going with Todd Gilliland,” Smith said. “They’ve been fast at superspeedways, got nothing to lose and I think he’s gonna be aggressive.”

Green flag for the YellaWood 500 waves at 2 p.m. ET this Sunday.