Brian Blessing started off his video preview of the FanShield 500 with some breaking news. Kevin Harvick is NOT the favorite. It’s almost like when you watch one of those old episodes of Maury and are stunned to find out that the man in question is not the father. It seems so obvious. It seems like a foregone conclusion. And then the test comes back negative.
Okay, so maybe it’s not exactly like that. But Harvick does have nine career wins at Phoenix Raceway or ISM Raceway or Phoenix International Raceway. Whatever you want to call it, it has been home for Harvick in a lot of ways. Well, he isn’t the favorite this week. That distinction goes to Kyle Busch. Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin even have shorter prices than Harvick.
This is the fourth race in what has been a very balanced NASCAR season to date. Toyota, Ford, and Chevy all have a win already and those drivers have been Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and last week’s surprise winner Alex Bowman. Bowman had the best car in practice and qualifying and stayed out of trouble enough to take down the win.
The expectation at a track like Phoenix is that we don’t get any big surprises, but you never know with what has already been a rather fascinating and entertaining NASCAR season. The 1.022-mile dogleg oval could have something different in store for us.
What does Brian think? Check out the above video to find out who he’ll be picking this week and how he expects the race to go.
For another perspective, you can look at Adam Burke’s full race preview.
