With the NASCAR Cup Series returning to the concrete half-mile oval at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick picked Denny Hamlin to win the Food City 500 at 'The Last Great Colosseum.'
Hamlin is one of the pre-race favorites to win the 500-lap race, with Harvick forecasting the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver to continue his winning streak at the half-mile oval. He won the fall playoff race last season in dominant fashion.
Denny Hamlin started in pole position for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway and contributed to Toyota's dominant outing at the one-mile oval. Influenced by his recent form and Hamlin's record at the half-mile oval, Kevin Harvick predicted that the veteran driver would go back-to-back in Bristol.
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In the latest episode of the Happy Hour podcast, Harvick described his pick as old and boring, with his Fox booth humor, as he believes Hamlin has got that "dog in him."
"I’m just going to go with the old boring pick, I think I’m going to go with the guy that won there last time that I think had a shot to win it this week [at Phoenix] in Denny Hamlin...I think he’s got that dog in him still."
In case the #11 Toyota driver doesn't get the job done, the Fox Sports Analyst is high on RFK Racing duo Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski, who are coming off a top-five finish at Phoenix. Buescher also won the 2022 fall race at Bristol.
"So, I think if Denny Hamlin doesn’t win … I think one of the RFK cars will hopefully be up front. I think they both ran really well there last year, I think the 17 and the 6, Brad had some trouble and ended up in the backstretch wall, but I think both of those cars will run good as well."
The Food City 500 is scheduled for this Sunday, March 17, at 3:30 PM ET.
Kevin Harvick opens up about his scuffle with Greg Biffle
The former NASCAR driver has many memories associated with Bristol Motor Speedway. A three-time Cup race winner on the half-mile oval, Harvick was also involved in heated moments off the track.
In 2002, Kevin Harvick was wrecked by Greg Biffle in an Xfinity race. He later climbed on top of a pit box and waited for his rival to complete the race. When Biffle came down pit road and was busy with his interview, Harvick jumped over his car and lunged his throat.
The 2014 NASCAR Cup champion reflected on the incident, disclosing that he had many bad influences early in his career. He said on his podcast:
"At that particular time, I had a lot of bad influences around me at that time, really that would egg me on to do stuff like that. It was definitely one of those moments I planned that out for hundreds of laps... very premeditated."
Kevin Harvick mentioned that the incident also cost the team $50,000 in penalties.
