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Kevin Harvick Bets on William Byron to Win 2025 Playoffs Opener 1 William Byron (Via IMAGO)

Kevin Harvick Bets on William Byron to Win 2025 Playoffs Opener

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Armaan Agarwal | Last updated Aug 28, 2025 2:03 PM ET

NASCAR heads to the Playoffs this weekend. The first of ten races takes place in Darlington, an iconic track that gives drivers no room for error. 16 drivers will go head-to-head in the hopes of winning the title this year. Now, NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick has named William Byron as his pick for the Darlington race.

William Byron has had an impressive campaign in 2025. The Hendricks Motorsports star won the regular season with ease with this year courtesy of his consistent results. So much so, Byron managed to win the regular season despite finishing in P19 at the final regular race of the season in Daytona.

Kevin Harvick had no second thoughts while picking William Byron for Darlington, signaling the amount of trust he seems to have on the HMS star.

I’m going to take William Byron.
Kevin Harvick said on Happy Hour podcast.

Byron doesn’t have a bad record on this track. He once made his way to Victory Lane in Darlington. Though, Harvick’s co-host Kaitlyn Vincie had a different pick in mind.

Vincie reckoned that William Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson had a better chance of winning the first race of the Playoffs. She was confident that Larson would emerge as the championship winner by the end of the season too.

I’m going with the driver that won here in 2023, Kyle Larson. The person that I think is going to win the championship.
Kaitlyn Vincie added.

Kevin Harvick voices concern over William Byron’s ‘hit or miss’ form

William Byron might have won the regular season title. However, the HMS driver did face some issues over the course of the year. Byron managed to have a great start to the campaign, but seemed to have fallen behind in recent races.

Kevin Harvick mentioned that William Byron and Kyle Larson both lost some momentum by the ending stages of the Cup season. He insisted that the former seemed to have a hit or miss form this time around. The NASCAR legend asserted that the two HMS drivers are certainly quick, yet they are prone to mistakes this year, something which drivers cannot afford in 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… Byron’s been hit or miss. 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.
Kevin Harvick explained.

NASCAR gets brutal in the Playoffs. It doesn’t matter how many races a driver has won in the regular season, everyone must perform at their best in the last ten races. There have been plenty of instances in the past when the championship leader has failed to clinch the title during this top 16 shootout. Thus, things might not be so easy for William Byron. The HMS driver must regain momentum with the Darlington race to boost his chances of the Cup title.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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