Kevin Harvick Picks Winner for NASCAR Cup Series Race at COTA

This weekend, the NASCARCup Series races at COTA, and Kevin Harvick has made his pick for the winner. He hasn’t had a great start to the season with his picks, but Harvick might have an easier time this week.

Each week on his podcast, Kevin Harvick makes picks against his co-hosts, Mamba Smith and Kaitlyn Vincie. So far, Vincie is leading the season, but that could change if Smith or Harvick end up landing on the right driver for COTA.

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With it being a road course race this week, it felt like the real answer was obvious. So, did Harvick go with the clear answer or try to sneak in a surprise winner?

Well, when it came down to it, he went with the chalk. Everyone knows Shane van Gisbergen is the favorite, and Harvick, picking first on his show, decided to go with the Kiwi.

“Oh, I’ll go first. I’ll take SVG,” Harvick quickly said.

Earlier in the episode, he touched on SVG and the expectations for him this weekend. It is the only road course that he has raced both Cup and O’Reilly races at and failed to win in either series.

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“The curiosity for me, can SVG win at COTA?” Harvick said. “He hasn’t won at COTA. Is that a trend because of the style of racing that the race track is, and his style that goes with the car? Can Connor Zilisch keep up with his teammate? Are we gonna see that first battle? We’ve seen Connor drive there and do the things that he’s done there, or is he still trying to figure out the Cup car? And can anybody else, has anybody else made any ground to keep up with SVG? I mean, that really is the story of the race.”

So, we will see which of these questions from Kevin Harvick are answered. The battle between SVG and Zilisch is one that race fans will want to tune into and watch.

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.