Kevin Harvick ‘goes off his rocker’ and banks on Kyle Busch to win Gateway NASCAR Cup race

The NASCAR Cup Series garage is at Gateway for the Enjoy Illinois 300. It’s the second road course race of the 2024 season, with the last race being at COTA that saw William Byron came out victorious. As it has been the whole season, the race is expected to playout between Toyota and Chevy teams.

All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers alongside 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick are the favorite from the TRD garage. The Hendrick Motorsports drivers under the leadership of Kyle Larson will be the contenders from the Chevy side. But according to 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick, none of these drivers might win and expects a struggling side to score the win.

The ex-SHR driver is pulling for Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch to win the race as he is the defending race winner. It’s a bold choice considering the fact that RCR has been fielding underwhelming cars for the No:8 driver the whole season. He hasn’t been able to produce consistent runs, but Gateway might be the difference maker.

I’m going to go off my rocker this week. I’m going to go Kyle Busch. I think, I just think something good has to happen for those guys, and I think it’s got to happen this week. So, I’m pulling for him.

Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour Podcast.

Kevin Harvick’s co-hosts makes their prediction as well

The Happy Hour Podcast co-hosts Kaitlyn Vincie and Mamba Smith also made their predictions for the race and both of them overlooked Kyle Busch. Vincie is banking on the 2021 Cup champion Kyle Larson to redeem himself from Coke 600 disappointment and win the race.

I’m picking the other Kyle — Kyle Larson. I think he will be on a little bit of a redemption tour, after the disappointment of the weekend.

Kaitlyn Vincie said.

Mamba Smith also had a bold prediction like Harvick. He pointed out that HMS’s Alex Bowman will end his winless streak this week. He reckons the team has the speed to redeem themselves this week after getting the swagger back.

You know what, I am going to go with Alex Bowman in the No. 48. Yeah. I feel like, No. 1, they need it, but No. 2, I think they’ve been stringing together a lot of speed. … I feel like they have a bit of swagger coming back.

Mamba Smith said.

Alongside the Chevy driver, some Ford driver can also be contenders on Sunday. RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski and FRM’s Michael McDowell would be the biggest hopes for the Ford side that has been struggling.

In case you missed it:

• Josef Newgarden claims he ‘terribly badly’ wants to race in Coke 600 and Indy 500 like Kyle Larson

• WATCH: Kevin Harvick claims he and the No:4 team’s success “held together” SHR in the last 10 years

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