Kevin Harvick predicts winner in NASCAR Chicago Street Race

Heading into the weekend at Chicago, Kevin Harvick and his crew from the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast have made their picks for the race. Harvick has an interesting winner in mind.

The former driver and current NASCAR analyst weighed one factor that might disproportionately affect the race. In fact, he made the call while surveying things live on the show.

“I’m going to look at the weather forecast,” Harvick explained. “I’m going to make this super technical. Let’s see. And I’m not going to tell you if it’s raining, because you’re not changing your pick. 10-day, 50% chance of rain on Sunday. Hmm. Yep. I’m going to go with Ty Gibbs.”

Gibbs is a solid enough choice to win the race. He’s had some recent success at Chicago, having finished third there last year.

His last few times out on road courses haven’t been great, though. He finished 11th at Mexico City, but that came after a 34th place finish at COTA, 35th at the Charlotte Roval and 22nd at Watkins Glenn

In any case, Gibbs has finished in the top 10 in both street races at Chicago to date. He’s had six top-10 finishes at road courses and four top-five finishes.

Harvick’s co-hosts on the podcast both went with different drivers. Kaitlyn Vincie went for one of the heavy favorites.

“My pick for the winner in Chicago is (Shane van Gisbergen),” she said. “SVG. Low-hanging f*cking fruit. I need help right now. I need help!”

While Vincie’s pick was a safe one, designed to get her back in the running in Harvick’s weekly picks segment, co-host Mamba Smith had a more adventurous selection. He picked the guy who was closing things down on winner Alex Bowman at Chicago before a late mishap last year.

“I’m really, honestly, I’m really up in the air about who I should pick on this one,” Smith said. “And I think I’m going to go with Tyler Reddick. He’s had speed there before. I think he kind of gave one up there before. And they need to keep these good runs going. So I’m going to go Tyler Reddick.”

Last year, Reddick appeared to have the speed to chase down Bowman and get there for the win. Then he clipped a wall, slowing him down enough in the final lap to ruin a shot at the win.

Could he get things straightened out this time? We’ll see. Sunday’s street race at Chicago begins at 2 p.m. ET on TNT.