Kevin Harvick reacts to chaos in NASCAR Playoff standings after Shane van Gisbergen win

Kevin Harvick knows that Shane van Gisbergen’s win at Mexico City made a huge impact on the NASCAR playoff standings. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick took a look at the playoff standings with 10 races left in the regular season.

“He’s a world-class racer,” Kevin Harvick said of van Gisbergen. “We thought this was coming, and now we see it with the standings and everything that it mixes up with the points. I still believe we’re going to have a couple more winners.

“Right now, [Chase] Briscoe is 14th. That puts [Alex] Bowman and [Chris] Buescher, if that were the case, out if they’re not one of the winners. But from SVG’s standpoint, he’s a world-class road racer, and I think he continues to get better on the ovals, and I think that will make his road racing even better as he gets more comfortable in the cars.”

Shane van Gisbergen became the 10th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race this year. This means there are only six open spots before the playoffs begin on August 31. The other nine drivers who are playoff-bound are Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, and Ross Chastain.

Shane van Gisbergen reacts to clinching playff spot

Van Gisbergen’s win on Sunday was the second in his Cup Series career and first as a full-time driver. While speaking to reporters after the race, van Gisbergen reacted to reaching the playoffs after a challenging start to the season.

“Yeah, it means everything to us,” he said. “That’s essentially why I’m here, right? But I am getting better and more competitive on ovals. I said earlier, my average oval running position has gone from 85th to 10th to 20th or 10th to 15th on a good day.

“Like we’re really making a lot of progress and sort of not been forcing. I’ve been methodical, got better every got better every week, and it’s been really fun working with my 88 crew all year, but the last couple of months, yeah, it’s been great to show some improvement and be competitive.”