Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Cup champion and respected former Stewart-Haas Racing driver, has boldly predicted that Tyler Reddick will finally secure his first victory of the 2025 season at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday. As the Cup Series heads into a critical race weekend, Harvick’s confident endorsement comes at a pivotal moment for Reddick, who drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing and is seeking to break a frustrating winless streak.
Despite Reddick’s immense talent and past successes, the 2025 season has been a challenging one for him. While his teammate Bubba Wallace has often captured more attention, Reddick has struggled to capture the same form that made him a winner at Texas back in 2022 with Richard Childress Racing. With every race carrying championship implications, every prediction and opinion from NASCAR legends like Kevin Harvick carries profound weight with drivers and fans alike. Harvick explained his reasoning with confident clarity, saying,
I’m going to pick Tyler Reddick. I think that Reddick has been good at this particular race track, and I think he and Bubba Wallace both run really good at this race track.
Harvick’s statement came during the latest episode of the Happy Hour podcast, where he was joined by co-hosts Kaitlyn Vince and Mamba Smith. Each host weighed in with their own race predictions. Vince opted for a more cautious approach, backing Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who recently delivered an impressive performance at Talladega and was the winner at Texas in 2021. Vince shared,
I’m going with Kyle Larson. He has some momentum on his side, coming off the performance at Talladega, and he was the winner there in 2021.
Mamba Smith, the third voice on the show, provided an added twist to the discussion. Initially inclined to choose Reddick as his pick, Smith decided to support Bubba Wallace instead after learning of Kevin Harvick’s endorsement. Smith explained his choice by saying,
I was going to pick Tyler Reddick. I mentioned him earlier in the show. I’m not going to pick him [now]. That’s not how this works. You know what? Give me my dog, Bubba Wallace. It’s redemption time at Texas. I think they feel like they let one slip last year. So, go get yourself one big dog.
The discussion underscored just how important a potential Texas victory could be for both Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing. The team, owned by Denny Hamlin, is still in search of its first win of the season, and both Reddick and Wallace are eager to deliver for their crew and their fans. The split among the podcast’s hosts—with two out of three backing 23XI Racing drivers—demonstrates the respect that Kevin Harvick and others have for the team’s consistency and grit throughout the 2025 campaign.
Beyond the predictions and analysis, the stakes at Texas remain high for both drivers. For Bubba Wallace, a win would offer redemption after near misses and a personal winless drought. Meanwhile, for Tyler Reddick, a strong showing—and especially a win—would restore confidence, energize his pursuit of the championship, and affirm the faith that respected figures like Kevin Harvick have placed in him. Attention now turns to Texas Motor Speedway, where all eyes will be on Reddick to see if he can make good on Harvick’s prediction and rewrite the narrative of his season.
