Kevin Harvick predicts winner for NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma

This Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series heads out west to Sonoma Raceway for the 20th race of the season. That means there’s just seven races remaining before the playoffs begin.

It’s also the second race in a row on a road course. Last Sunday in downtown Chicago, it was Shane van Gisbergen who raced his way to the checkered flag. FOX Sports analyst Kevin Harvick is picking him to do it again at Sonoma.

“I’ll take SVG,” Harvick said on his Happy Hour podcast. “… Somebody has to take him.”

Van Gisbergen throttled the field in the Chicago Street Race, winning from the pole. Van Gisbergen now has three Cup victories in just 33 starts, the fastest driver to reach the milestone since Jimmie Johnson in 2002.

This, however, will be van Gisbergen’s first career Cup start at Sonoma. It’s a road course that’s been a fixture on the schedule since 1989, and most of the series’ drivers have plenty of experience there. Van Gisbergen did win last year’s Xfinity Series race in Wine Country. He is the favorite to win this Sunday.

NASCAR at Sonoma: Who will win in Wine Country?

Mamba Smith, Harvick’s co-host, decided to go in a different direction. He went with William Byron, who is in the middle of another summer slump. The current points leader has finished 27th or worse in four of his last five starts.

“I’m gonna go with William Byron,” Smith said. “I feel like he probably feels some type of way after this weekend [in Chicago]. A bad type of way, like, I’m really mad at myself. There’s something about when you mess up yourself, you just lock in a little bit harder, and I think he’s going to do that.”

Harvick believes Byron and the No. 24 team “have the capability to do it.” Sonoma, though, is a track he has just one career Top 10 finish.

“They have the capability to do it, but there are definitely some stumbles that have happened consistently now,” Harvick said. “We’ve got this summer slump — I just do not like this summer slump. Every year.”