With the championship race inching ever so close, experts and pundits have all started pouring in with their pick among the drivers. Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano are looking to add more silverware to their trophy cabinet. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick and William Byron are eyeing to etch their names in the history books with a first championship win.

In general, Ryan Blaney comes out as a clear favorite given that he’s almost scripting his last year’s championship run. He’s notched up his ratings in the crucial phase of the season and has a knack for clutch performances. Now, different experts on the sport do have different opinions on who can be the winner this weekend. But a tiger named Raja from the Phoenix Zoo has made his choice clear.

We’ve seen elephants, octopuses, and even dolphins predict the winner in sports like soccer, and the trend seems to have made its way in NASCAR as well. Raja was made to pick on a driver from the box cutouts of the driver’s cars. The cutouts had their own distinct color scheme and numbers that represented the driver and their team. And hidden under the dummy race cars were pieces of meat.

After briefly inspecting the No. 12 car, Raja turned towards the No. 24 of William Byron and opted to tear down the dummy car to get his prize. And just like that, Raja the Tiger chose Byron as his pick as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion. NBC Sports shared the video of the same on Instagram with a caption, “This is Raja. He is a Sumatran tiger at the Phoenix Zoo. He predicted who will win the NASCAR Cup Series championship this weekend. 👀”

It wasn’t the first time NASCAR had a phenomenon like this one. Back in 2018, a Zoo Miami coatimundi got involved in the NASCAR Cup Series prediction. At the time, he picked Kyle Busch as the winner. However, come race day, it was a completely different picture.  Joey Logano took the win, taking home the championship trophy.

Coming back to Raja, the fans in the comments section didn’t agree with what they saw in the video. They believe the whole process was rigged by Rick Hendrick and Co. to have William Byron as the preferred pick.

NASCAR fans weren’t convinced with Rick Hendrick’s driver chosen as NASCAR champ

We do know that catnip does wonders for cats. However, the same cannot be said for big cats like tigers, as there’s little evidence if they do like it or not. But this race fan believed that Rick Hendrick tempted Raja with catnip and influenced his choice. “I saw Rick Hendrick personally put cat nip in the 24 box.”

Usually, HMS drivers are backed by massive support, but without the likes of Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in the final 4 race, the sentiment seemed to have changed. “The only box with meat in it lol 😂 just like NASCAR going to have the 24 win smh 🚮 rigged. If 24 doesn’t win there will be a lot of happy NASCAR fans.”

Now some of the fans are still not over how Byron secured his spot in the Championship 4 race. The HMS driver benefited from the fellow Chevy driver’s blocking tactics, which helped him make the cut. Although NASCAR levied fines and penalties on the team, the drivers came out of the incident only with fines. “This is how they decided who moved on last week, isn’t it?”

Another user on X even saw the funny side of this non-serious prediction game. The fan suggested that Raja’s initial pick was Ryan Blaney and the #12 car; all he did was wreck the #24, and that was misunderstood as his winner’s pick. “He clearly stopped at the 12 first. He was trying to wreck the 24 and knock him out of the competition. 😂”

Meanwhile, a potential Team Penske or 23XI Racing fan made their interpretation of this whole prediction saga. Stating that the #24 would get tossed and dumped just like the tiger did with his dummy race car. “Tiger was showing what’s gonna happen to the 24 🤞🏻”

Not only Raja the Tiger, but Bob Pockrass also believes that William Byron will be crowned as the Cup Series champion in Phoenix. It will be interesting where these expert opinions stand when the checkered flag drops this Sunday.