NASCAR short track racing under the lights at Richmond Raceway. Another chance for 23 drivers to automatically clinch their spot in the Cup Series playoffs.
While that is the goal for a majority of the field, Kevin Harvick is going with a repeat winner on Saturday night. Speaking on Tuesday’s “Happy Hour” podcast, Harvick picked Chase Briscoe to get to Victory Lane at Richmond.
“I’m gonna make a bold prediction right here… I’m gonna go with Chase Briscoe,” Harvick said. “I look back and this was always a great track for [Martin] Truex [Jr.], I know it seems like they’ve figured out how to blend things together, so just seems like it might be a good track for them with all the momentum they have and their past history there.”
Briscoe is already playoff bound after winning earlier this season at Pocono Raceway. As Harvick mentioned, Richmond was always a great track for Truex and the No. 19 team. Truex won three times at Richmond driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Richmond, however, hasn’t been as kind to Briscoe throughout his career. Briscoe hasn’t finished inside the top 10 in eight career starts at the 0.75-mile oval. This time around, he’s in better equipment and with a team that’s firing on all cylinders. Briscoe has a win and four additional top 5s in his last eight starts. He is up to eighth in the points standings and looks to be a strong championship contender.
NASCAR set to go under the lights at Richmond Raceway
Harvick’s co-hosts, Mamba Smith and Kaitlyn Vincie, also submitted their picks. Smith picked Alex Bowman, who is 60 points clear of the playoff cutline without a win.
“I really wanted to go with Ryan Preece or Josh Berry because I think these are their types of racetracks, but Hendrick has been so good here. I’m going with Alex Bowman,” Smith said.
Vincie, meanwhile, picked a different JGR driver — Denny Hamlin. Hamlin loves racing at Richmond, evident by his five career wins at the track. Hamlin won last year’s spring race at Richmond and finished runner-up to Austin Dillon in the fall.
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