The driver who doesn’t understand oval racing? With his P6 finish at Atlanta, Shane van Gisbergen has successfully destroyed the stigma against him. However, Kevin Harvick is still not willing to choose him as the Driver of the Week. In his eyes, it is the back-to-back winner, Tyler Reddick, who deserves the most praise. On the latest episode of SPEED, Kevin Harvick and Will Buxton engage in a heated debate about the same.

Kevin Harvick maintains his stance on Tyler Reddick

Tyler Reddick is having the start of his life in the 2026 season. He won the Daytona 500, but people thought it was a fluke. Next week, he goes on and wins at Atlanta, which is one of the most difficult tracks for even veteran drivers and champions. His victories make him a prime candidate for the Driver of the Week title, and Harvick supports the opinion during his discussion with Will Buxton.

“Tyler Reddick. I don’t know how you go against a guy that has just won the Daytona 500, won the next week to back that up, and just has a ton of momentum right now. Can he keep it? We’ll find out. But right now, he’s got the momentum that he needs to be a championship contender and our points leader in NASCAR.”

But that was not enough for Will Buxton. As a veteran F1 analyst, Buxton is new to NASCAR. However, he already has a favorite driver, whom he is going to support until the end of the season.

“I’ll tell you how you go against it, okay? With the opinion of someone who has only really just started paying full attention to NASCAR, I will argue for van Gisbergen. You know I’m a massive SVG fan anyway.

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“And we were talking over the winter about it, like, the second this guy figures out ovals to add to his street racing prowess—he’s going to be the real deal, and he’s going to be a real danger. And I think what we saw at Daytona until he got wrecked or got involved in the wreck and then what we saw in Atlanta was a guy who has got certainly tracks of that nature figured out.”

In Buxton’s eyes, SVG’s recovery from his contact with Larson to come back and finish his best on an oval shows his maturity in oval racing. Buxton further debates that Shane van Gisbergen might have won the race if not for these factors affecting his race. Harvick also agrees with this point, considering the critique SVG faces. He wants the fans to realize that, as a multiple-time champion in other motorsports, SVG has an amazing racing IQ.

In fact, one of the best arguments that Harvick put forward is that van Gisbergen is willing to criticize himself. It is visible in his interviews and public appearances. SVG never shies away from admitting his mistakes and looks forward to improvement nearly every week. These traits make him an amazing driver who is a prime candidate for becoming successful in NASCAR in the future.

While the experts are leaning more towards the regular favorites, the fans have a clear winner amongst themselves.

NASCAR community sides with Carson Hocevar over recent altercations

For the NASCAR fans, there is nothing more entertaining than an unapologetic driver. Carson Hocevar is taking on the role of the villain in the 2026 NASCAR season—and fans love him for that. Hocevar’s recent involvement in crashes makes him a constant subject of criticism. But he is not ready to back down. His words and grit have earned him the green light from Richard Petty.

The seven-time champion compares his attitude to the likes of Dale Earnhardt and supports him wholeheartedly. SPEED hosts reveal in the latest episode that while Reddick gets 70 percent of the votes for being Driver of the Week, NASCAR fans are more than ready to choose Hocevar as an alternative. Even Harvick jumps on the same boat and praises Hocevar for being real in the face of unnecessary hate.

“He’s turned everybody on their ear right now to pay attention to the things that he’s saying and doing on the racetrack, and he is not apologetic for it one bit. And I love the fact that he’s putting all these guys in a box right now because he’s willing to take more risk and do things that are just right on the edge or over the edge. And I can see why people wrote him in.”

The No. 77 driver is involved in a fiery situation with his aggressive tactics and risky maneuvers that end up ruffling the feathers of NASCAR drivers. In his defense, that’s how racing goes. As a legend once said, “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.”