Kevin Harvick Makes Prediction for Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway

(Photo by Gary Nastase/LVMS/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Kevin Harvick Makes Prediction for Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated Apr 22, 2026 11:34 AM ET

There's nothing better than Talladega in April. This weekend the biggest party on the NASCAR schedule is going down and there's also this Cup Series race, the Jack Link's 500. Kevin Harvick has made his pick to win on Sunday, and it's a superspeedway favorite.

Kevin Harvick is going with a former Cup Series champion who has five wins at Daytona and Talladega combined, and three at Dega alone. It is none other than Ryan F'n Blaney.

This season, Blaney has carried the torch or Team Penske and Ford. He's already got a win from Phoenix, and he's ready to get back to his winning ways after a disappointing weekend at Kansas.

Kevin Harvick on set after the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500.(Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

"I think you just have to go back and look at the stats," Harvick said at the end of his podcast this week. "So, I'm gonna go, Ryan Blaney."

Kevin Harvick's cohosts went in another direction. Kaitlyn Vincie picked Carson Hocevar to get his first Cup Series win this Sunday at Talladega. That would be a very popular win with that crowd.

Mamba Smith is going with a different Ryan, Ryan Preece. He's proven himself to be a formidable superspeedway racer, and he's itching to get his first career points win in the Cup Series.

Talladega is big, bad, and fast. This weekend, there are also changes to the race format. Instead of two short stages followed by a third, longer stage, NASCAR is flipping the script. The opening stage will be longer. Then, two shorter stages will end the race. This is a ploy to prevent severe fuel saving and get the drivers and teams racing more throughout the 500 mile event.

We will see how the new format affects the results. Will this help some drivers more than others? Or will the script be flipped and a few surprises are in store for fans?

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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