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Kevin Harvick has teased fans with a "super secret project" involving Hendrick Motorsports ace William Byron. The 2014 Cup Series champion updated them on the project's status during the recent Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour show.
Harvick, a legendary NASCAR driver with the championship and 60 Cup Series wins, retired from the high-octane sport at the end of the 2023 season, running his final race for Stewart-Haas Racing at the Phoenix Raceway.
Despite exiting NASCAR, Harvick has kept himself rooted in the sport, through his weekly podcast, wherein he discusses its recent developments. Ahead of the Daytona 500, he talked about racing against his son Keelan, praised Christopher Bell's sprint car prowess, and more.
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But before wrapping up the episode, the former NASCAR driver teased fans about an upcoming "secret" project, including a one-on-one interview with William Byron, where they discussed the HMS driver's offseason and his plans for the 2025 Cup Series season.
"We did a special project, kind of a little super secret project that we have already filmed. While we were doing that project, we did a one-on-one interview with last year's Daytona 500 champion William Byron. So, got some insight to his off-season and what his expectations are for the year," Harvick said (1:02.03).
Byron's Daytona 500 win marked HMS's second crown jewel race title since 2014 when the driver failed to lock the front row but emerged as the 500-miler winner. Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed the first-place triumph.
Kevin Harvick's co-host predicts William Byron as the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion
Kevin Harvick's co-host and NASCAR analyst Mamba Smith has picked William Byron as this season's champion. Despite not having real car racing experience until age 16, the Charlotte, North Carolina native polished his skills in the virtual world, entering Rick Hendrick's Cup Series team in 2018.
Byron showcased his mettle, claiming Rookie of the Year honors and debuting in the playoffs in his sophomore Cup season. The #24 Chevy driver, thus far, has bagged 13 wins and two consecutive third-place spots in the standings. Even though Byron couldn't clinch the highly-coveted title in 2024, he stood as the best-performing HMS driver, besting his teammates Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman.
Thus, Harvick's co-host might've considered Byron's consistency and solid statistics, as he outlined that HMS is frustrated by missing the championships and would do everything at its disposal to turn its fate around.
"I'm going with William Byron for the championship. I say that the championship runs through Team Penske like they're the bar, so you got to deal with those #12 (Ryan Blaney) and #22 (Joey Logano). But I think William Byron, it's his time, they've been really close," Smith said (47:10).
Kevin Harvick added that drivers who build experience from defeat and improve their communication with the team would be the future NASCAR stars.
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