Going into the playoffs, Kevin Harvick is raising the alarm about two of the drivers at the top of the standings in the NASCAR Cup Series. Are Kyle Larson and William Byron in trouble?
Possibly, the veteran driver turned analyst said. They just haven’t had it in recent weeks and being hot at the right time is a huge key entering the playoffs.
“I still look at the playoff standings and I look at Larson and Byron concerned because they started the year off so well,” Harvick said on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. “More for Larson. He’s had some decent finishes lately but not that ground-pounding speed that he had at the beginning of the year.”
Kyle Larson has finished in the top 10 in four of his last six races, but the consistency has been missing. Moreover, he just hasn’t quite had the speed he showed earlier in the year.
On the other hand, William Bryon’s issues are a little more nuanced. Harvick explained.
“Byron’s been hit or miss,” Harvick said. “They’ve continued to have speed. Made some mistakes. And this is going to come down to mistakes, right? It’s going to come down to mistakes on pit road, it’s going to come down to wrecks, it’s going to come down to who makes less mistakes.”
Harvick pointed out that consistency is a hugely important part of the playoffs. Not only do you have to get hot. You have to stay hot to win it all.
Kyle Larson has experience as a NASCAR Cup Series champion. He knows what it takes. So do others.
“When I look at a Christopher Bell, for instance, right there, can they just show up and put together 10 weeks?” Harvick said. “I hope so, that was my championship pick. At the beginning of the year I think they can do it but it’s so hard to just show back up and put yourself in a position for 10 weeks and start to try to have a different mindset. I know that they don’t intentionally do that, but you can see the flaws in what they do from the inconsistency of things happening. It’ll be interesting.”
Harvick also offered up another potential pick, should leaders Kyle Larson and William Byron not get the job done. He finished.
“You look at Denny in third right there, is this the year that he can break the playoff curse and put together 10 weeks?” Harvick said. “But it’s always so interesting, you look at everything they have going on, knowing that you still have to answer all those questions. So I don’t know. It’s very intriguing.”
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