Kevin Harvick Questions William Byron’s 2025 Regular Season Title Win Despite Inconsistency

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick isn’t fully stratified with William Byron’s 2025 regular season run that earned him the title.

Kevin Harvick Questions William Byron’s 2025 Regular Season Title Win Despite Inconsistency

Kevin Harvick and William Byron (Via IMAGO)

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Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was crowned the 2025 Regular Season champion after last week’s race at Richmond Raceway, where he got the best of teammate Chase Elliott, who was his main rival. This earned him 15 bonus points for the playoff, alongside the points he gets for two race wins. But 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick isn’t fully impressed with the victory.

In the latest episode of the Happy Hour podcast, ex-SHR driver Kevin Harvick shared his thoughts on William Byron winning. The No:24 Chevy driver won the title, winning two races and finishing inside the top 10 in 13 races of the 25 event so far. But at the same time, he finished outside the top 20 eight times, showing it was a smooth sale.

He questioned that fact that William Byron won the titles despite winning just two races, while Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Shane van Gisbergen has more wins than the HMS racer. But just like for him, all the front-runners had an up and down season, forcing the veteran to make an assertion that Next-Gen era has produced more inconsistent seasons for the drivers.

When I look at it, William Byron has won two races. When I think of his season as a whole, it’s been pretty up and down. But I think they performed pretty well. I think Next Gen Racing, in general, is more inconsistent than what we’ve been used to in the past.

Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour podcast.

One of the major reasons for this inconsistency is the fact that the competition is much closer than ever in the top tier, causing races with more DNFs and off weeks for the big names compared to the past. Only Byron and Hamlin were able to balance the points loss in the off week, with the former doing a better job, earning him his maiden title.

I think you’re going to have more DNFs, you’re going to have more off weeks, and how do you minimize those off weeks? …As I look at this list, I can’t pick anybody out that’s had a better regular season. …I think that William Byron and Denny Hamlin have probably been the best two cars.

Kevin Harvick added.

Kevin Harvick explains what makes William Byron stand out

In the same podcast, Kevin Harvick also explained what helped the No:24 team to stand out compared to the rest of the grid and Denny Hamlin. Its’ stage point’s, helping him to gain more points even on bad days on the track.

William Byron
William Byron (Via IMAGO)

He earned 241 points, 24 more than 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney who was second. The points indicates that the Chevy drivers is always running upfront and is consistently producing good races. Unfortunately, some incidents in the final stage of the race, ruined his final finishes.

Here’s the thing that stands out to me with William Byron winning the regular season championship: he’s got 241 stage points. The driver with the second-most stage points is Ryan Blaney with 217, and Harvick said that when a driver has that many stage points, that means the driver is running up front consistently.

Kevin Harvick said.

The comments from the veteran driver shows the eight finishes outside the top-20 doesn’t prove the HMS driver wasn’t consistent enough for the title. The only issue Harvick has that made him question the championship win of the young racer is the fact that the past winner had won more races or secured more front-row finishes compared to the Chevy racer.

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