Kevin Harvick Bets on Chase Briscoe to Win 2026 Darlington Cup Race

Kevin Harvick believes in his ex-teammate and expect Chase Briscoe to secure his first win of the 2026 season at Darlington this week.

Kevin Harvick Bets on Chase Briscoe to Win 2026 Darlington Cup Race

Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe (Via IMAGO and @chasebriscoe/X)

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season so far has been dominated by Toyota, with then winning four of the five races so far. But unlike the past-seasons, it’s 23XI Racing that is leading the TRD garage instead of JGR as Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas is the only victory of the year for Joe Gibbs.

2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick expects that to chase for this weekend’s race at Darlington, as he predicted a continuance of TRD dominance with Chase Briscoe securing his maiden win of the season for JGR. It’s a surprising call, considering barring last weekend, the No:19 Camry has been struggling produce a race win worthy run.

I’ll go first. I’ll pick (Chase) Briscoe. You can agree with me, it’s fine.

Kevin Harvick said on his podcast.

The ex-SHR drivers’ co-host Kaitlyn Vincie also expects the veteran’s former teammate to win this weekend. She be lives the No:19 crew is ready to turn their season around and get back to winning ways. The biggest competition he might face come from inhouse from the likes of Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and Chrsitopher Bell.

Same. Same. Chase Briscoe, I’m ready for them to turn this around, get back to their winning ways. And they have won there in the past, as we’ve talked about.

Kaitlyn Vincie via Happy Hour podcast.

The third host of the podcast, Mamba Smith, has a different choice. He is picked Ryan Blaney, the only non-Toyota driver to win a race in the 2026 season, to secure the trophy at Darlington. He made call because the No:12 team has been pretty strong at the track since the start of the Next-Gen era.

Man, we talked about it, the Toyotas. I want to go that route. But someone who has been on the cusp of winning here a lot and really hasn’t got it done is Ryan Blaney. And I’m going to put my first 12 pick of the year. First 12 pick of the year is going with Ryan Blaney.

Mamba Smith predicted.

Chase Briscoe has the speed to win a race sooner than later

Talking about his performance after last Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, Briscoe highlighted that he has been getting pretty strong car since last year’s Southern 500. Unfortunately, he failed to get the car to victory lane as often as they wanted, but still is confident that they will be getting back on the podium soon.

Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe (Via @chasebriscoe/X)

I definitely feel like, from a speed standpoint, every race from really the Southern 500 last year to all the way to this point, we’ve been a top-three car literally every single week. Yeah, we don’t have a ton to show for it, but if you keep bringing fast enough, eventually you’re going to win more and more races. So, yeah, we’ve got to get a little momentum going and once we do that…

Chase Briscoe said.

The comments from the racer are on point, as if he can race bit cleaner and the No:19 team will be soon in the victory lane, as well as in the chase for the championship. It would be interesting to see how many more races it will take the Briscoe to secure his maiden win of the 2026 season.

Also Read: Kevin Harvick Warns Denny Hamlin Against Retiring Too Late and “Ruining” His NASCAR Legacy