Dale Earnhardt Jr. Backs Joe Gibbs Racing Prodigy for Major Success Next Year

This year’s championship prediction made by Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned out to be correct after Ryan Blaney claimed the title at the end of the season. Now looking ahead, Junior and his co-host Mike Davis discussed the possibilities for the upcoming 2024 Cup Series season.

During the conversation, Junior asked who Davis would consider to be the next breakout star in the Cup Series.

Davis picked Ty Gibbs, to which Junior said, “I’m gonna say, I’m gonna say that next year is your breakout star, Ty Gibbs. I don’t, I want to go with like Zane Smith or, you know, Josh Berry, John Hunter Nemechek.”

“But I just don’t know that their cars and I don’t know. I think Ty Gibbs is in a Gibbs car there. Their stuff runs in the top five a lot. And I think he’s just trying to get there. So I think you’re right Mike,” concluded the Hall of Famer.

What are your way-too-early 2024 NASCAR predictions? 🔮

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— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) November 21, 2023

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis pick their championship hopes for 2024

During the same interaction, Junior asked Davis to drop his predictions for next year’s championship. Davis laughed off the fact that they were predicting such a thing in November of the previous year before the actual start of the season. But he eventually said, “My champion for 2024 is James Dennis Hamlin (Denny Hamlin).”

Right after, Junior shared his pick and said, “I’m gonna go with Blaney back to back… Why is it funny that I picked the current champion? I mean, now he just proved, he just proved he could do it.”

Blaney did prove himself to be one of the top runners who could seal the deal and ride on home with the Championship. But heading into next season the uncertainty remains high, considering there are a lot of drivers and factors at play that cannot be judged until a few races have taken place.