The voting panel that decides the inductees into the 2027 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class will likely have an easy job come May. 

NASCAR announced the 15 nominees — 10 on the Modern Era ballot and five on the Pioneer Era ballot — for the 2027 class on Sunday. Two individuals from the Modern Era ballot and one from the Pioneer Era ballot will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in January 2027. 

Two nominees from the Modern Era ballot should have a relatively easy time being chosen for induction: Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle. 

Why Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick stand out

Biffle’s name is one that has unfortunately been associated with tragedy in recent months—Biffle, along with his wife, two children, Craig Wadsworth and Dennis and Jack Dutton. 

Biffle, who was only five days away from his 56th birthday at the time of his death, won 19 Cup Series races and a championship each in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. 

As good a driver as he was, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better human being in the NASCAR industry than Biffle, who played a major role in Hurricane Helene relief efforts in North Carolina in the fall of 2024. 

Jeff Burton, a 21-time Cup Series winner, and Neil Bonnett, an 18-time Cup Series winner, are close statistically to Biffle, but Biffle’s impact off the racetrack, his success on it and the incredible outpouring of support shown to the late driver after his untimely passing could result in his posthumous enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. 

Harvick, on the other hand, is easily the most decorated nominee of the potential 2027 class. The current NASCAR on FOX analyst won 60 Cup Series races, good for 11th all-time, as well as the 2014 Cup Series title and two O’Reilly Series championships. 

Harvick was thrust into Cup Series competition with Richard Childress Racing in 2001 following the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. Harvick then became a superstar in his own right, retiring from full-time NASCAR competition at the conclusion of the 2023 season. 

There are, as there are every year, plenty of worthy NASCAR Hall of Fame candidates, but two of the three inductees in the 2027 class could already be set in stone.