Kevin Harvick picks NASCAR Championship 4 with Denny Hamlin leaving him torn

Kevin Harvick is shifting gears on his NASCAR predictions, with the dilemma of choosing between Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick to reach the Championship 4 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs leaving him torn.

The playoffs are heating up with the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday, marking the start of the Round of 8 and a trio of races leading to the grand finale in Phoenix.

Despite kicking off the season confident that Joe Gibbs Racing ace Hamlin would clinch the title, Harvick has been left considering a U-turn after Hamlin's less-than-stellar 14th place finish at the Bank of America Roval 400 in Charlotte, which left him trailing William Byron by eight points for fourth place in the standings.

In a bold call on his "Happy Hour" podcast, Cup Series vet Harvick now ranks Hamlin as the unpredictable "wild card" and snubs him from his lineup for the top four, placing his bets instead on Reddick, who sits comfortably in third, ahead of the cut-off by a solid 10 points.

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According to Harvick, he sees potential for greatness among competitors like William Byron, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and asserts, "I just think that Reddick is going to be able to get it done on one of these two race tracks, and I don't see [Joey] Logano and [Ryan] Blaney having the speed."

"Chase Elliott has been very consistent, and he's had quality, good finishes, but I just haven't seen that dominance out of those three guys. Denny Hamlin, I think he's the wild card. I know he's my championship pick, but I think it's going to be tough for him if they don't win Martinsville. I think they're going to be okay, I think.

"So, my toss-up right now is, do I leave Tyler Reddick in there, and say he's my guy – I've got to go with Denny Hamlin, right? I can't go against my pick, so I'm going to take Reddick out and I'm going to put Denny Hamlin in because he's my pick, but I'm just – I'm not 100% confident in it."

Hamlin, who is the most successful driver in NASCAR history without a Cup Series title, believes the best eight drivers this season have made it to the penultimate phase of the playoffs and he expects plenty of drama as the campaign nears its climax.

"It's hard to believe," Hamlin said of the quality of the field on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast. "And NASCAR will use that as their selling point, 'See, you guys survived. We need to throw more at you. We need to have a jump, and have you running through hoops. We're going to have you running through hoops of fire, and then you're going to have to do something else.'

"NASCAR, they love these little gimmicks here and there. In all seriousness, you've got the best eight. The best eight is in there. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough because all of these teams, they're all threats to win any of these three races, and they're all threats to run P1 through P8 all three races. I think it's just going to be a heavyweight battle."