The NASCAR Cup series is heading into the playoffs as the final 16 has been finalized. There are a lot of fresh faces in the mix, including Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe, both winning the last two crown jewel races at Daytona and Darlington. The 10 races are going to be thrilling. Among the 16, we only have six previous Cup Series champions, including Joey Logano (2018, 2022) who’s won it twice, and Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and defending champion Ryan Blaney.

There is a high chance that we might crown a new winner or an unexpected winner. Dale Earnhardt Jr was recently making his top-4 prediction. Surprisingly, his predictions are more often than not correct. In 2023, he predicted Blaney, William Byron, Larson, and Christopher Bell to be the final 4 and it was spot on. His top-4 for the 2024 season is interesting, Jr has also added Denny Hamlin to his list. Will this finally be his year? Apart from his top-four pick, he also gave a shout out to a 5th name!

Dale Earnhardt has his championship four

Jr isn’t the believer in waiting to see how the season goes and then pick his 4. With his strong intuition, he picked his four early this year. According to Jr, the top 4 drivers will be Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin. And even after the regular season has concluded and Tyler Reddick has won the regular season championship, Dale Jr is sticking with his list. In the recent episode of the Dale Jr download, he said, “My championship four is Logano, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney and Blaney wins back to back.”

While the other three are understandable, Joey Logano hasn’t had the best run. In the 2024 season, he’s managed only one win. And has also lacked consistency. So far, he has only four top-5s and eight top-10s. The #22 has an average finish of 18.3 with five DNFs. The only thing going for him is his experience of winning two championships. As for the other, Larson’s had a good run and could start the playoffs with the maximum playoff points. He’s bagged 4 wins and has an average finish of 13.6

Blaney has had a good campaign so far. The #12 managed to get 2 wins and an average finish of 15.8. Lastly, adding Hamlin to the mix doesn’t come as a surprise, as he’s been long searching for his first Cup Series Championship. The veteran in his 19 seasons has reached the championship 4, on four occasions, his best came in 2010 when he finished 2nd. Hamlin this season has bagged 3 wins and has an average finish of 15. Apart from these four, Dale Jr has a fifth name in mind. Jr further in the conversation said, “I do want to say this if I am wrong if this does not happen, Christopher Bell wins the championship. There’s no in-between for Christopher Bell. He doesn’t make the round of eight or he wins the title.” 

The JGR blabbermouth, who unknowingly revealed Chase Briscoe’s move to the JGR team, is also a strong contender. Bell would be entering the playoffs with 32 playoff points. The Oklahoma native bagged three wins this season with an average finish of 15. Most of all, the #20 has a lot of experience when it comes to the final 4. If he makes it to Phoenix this year, it would be his third straight appearance. However, on both occasions, he failed to win the championship. Maybe this year he could!

However, before the finals is the first race of the playoffs. Winning the Atlanta race is crucial in setting the tone for the playoffs. So who’s winning Atlanta?

Kevin Harvick predicts the Atlanta winner

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This year’s playoffs will feature two road courses and two drafting tracks in the final ten races. In road courses, Charlotte ROVAL will be joined by Watkins Glen International. Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the two drafting tracks. According to Kevin Harvick, the race is going to be full of uncertainties. On a recent episode of the ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, he said, “I think we’re going to see a wildcard race like we haven’t seen before. This is not your Talladega or Daytona that we’re going to.”

The veteran also went on to predict the winner of this wildcard race. It is William Byron for him. “I think it needs to go right for William Byron. I’m going to go with him two weeks in a row, and they ran well there before, but they’re like, I think it’s either going to go super good or it’s going to go super bad for them, and it’s going to be right here,” Harvick said.