The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has delivered one plot twist after another in the opening four races. Drivers such as Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez started off the year strong, while veterans like Kyle Busch seem to be on the back foot this time around. The odds for drivers this year aren’t as straightforward as they seem, with many top teams underperforming, much to Dale Earnhrdt Jr’s surprise.

If you have been following Dale Jr and his podcast, you’d know he made a few bold predictions ahead of the season. However, as we are 4 races into the season, his predictions have not aged well. In a nutshell, the driver that he was rooting for – to win a race right away – has started the year with lackluster form.

Despite Dale Earnhardt Jr’s backing, the NASCAR veteran suffers a dismal start to the 2024 season

As Corey LaJoie headed into another season of his decade-long Cup career, the pressure was on Spire Motorsport’s star driver to bring in solid results. Statistically, LaJoie had his best season to date in 2023, scoring two top-fives, and three top-10s, with an average finishing position of 20.9. If the signs weren’t there for LaJoie’s first Cup win to arrive, Dale Earnhardt Jr added to that notion by backing the #7 driver for a win in 2024. So when LaJoie kicked off the year with a top-five finish at the Daytona 500, Junior’s prediction was gaining momentum. Unfortunately, that form would disappear from LaJoie’s grasp after the opening race.

LaJoie dropped down to a 13th-place finish at Atlanta, following which the trend was similar. The #7 Chevy finished 32nd in Vegas and made things worse with a DNF in Phoenix that placed him 33rd. Naturally, Dale Earnhardt Jr wasn’t too happy with how his prediction had unraveled.

“I said Corey LaJoie would win a race,” said Junior on the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download. He added, “Now, I was disappointed with the lack of performance of the #7 car in Atlanta. I thought Atlanta would be one of those places, right, that you could steal a win. They weren’t as good as they have been in the past there” 

While he wanted to give LaJoie the benefit of the doubt, Junior still couldn’t shake away the fact that the #7’s performance just seemed to drop off after Daytona. Junior stated, “I know it’s a small sample size. We’re only picking from a few weeks here early in the season. But Corey’s run this past weekend, is just kind of no better, in my opinion, than he’s been doing in the past. I was expecting to see a bit of a bump from that team, maybe they’ll get there, but man right now, my prediction that he’s gonna win a race and throw himself into the playoffs with that win, isn’t really looking good.” 

Although Earnhardt Junior’s prediction surrounding Corey LaJoie had gone up in flames, that wasn’t the only prediction that failed to manifest itself.

Christopher Buescher’s Phoenix heroics leave Earnhardt Jr ‘not feeling that great’

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When Junior felt LaJoie would win a race early in the season and secure his place in the playoffs, the JR Motorsports owner also believed this would be the reason for heartbreak for Chris Buescher. Junior shared on the DJD Podcast, “So the guy that I thought would be bumped out because of that Corey LaJoie win, I said would be Christopher Buescher, he goes out there and finishes second.” While Corey LaJoie’s season unfolded for the worst after Daytona, Chris Buescher’s season has been shaping up to be just the opposite.

After scoring 18th at Daytona, Buescher followed it up with a top-ten and a podium at Atlanta and Phoenix respectively, showing his capability of making it into the playoffs. Reflecting on Buescher’s success, Junior shared, “He was good on all the short tracks last year, and you know, if you call Phoenix a short track or anything close to it, you would say that the second-place finish is a good sign of success in the remainder of the year.” 

Only four races into the season, Earnhardt Jr’s predictions had completely backfired. Junior concluded, “ I might have struck out on that prediction of a LaJoie win and of Christopher Buescher missing the playoffs. I knew it was a hot take, but I’m not feeling that great about it.” With that said, it’s safe to say Earnhardt Jr’s predictions failing to materialize speaks volumes of the unpredictability this year.

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As we make our way to Bristol, can LaJoie prove the haters wrong and Junior right?