The NASCAR playoffs are hot right now, and we have already seen one car dominate them so far. Toyota has set the tone early with back-to-back wins by JGR teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin at Darlington and Gateway. These strong performances by Toyota have already signaled a serious challenge to its rivals, Chevy and Ford, putting them on notice as the postseason heats up. And now, Dale Earnhardt Jr, who has driven Chevy cars all his life, which is also his JR Motorsports’ partner, realizes the Toyota potential ahead in the playoffs, snubbing his own partner.

And the current standings also support this narrative. After two races, three of the top four positions are Toyotas: Hamlin and Briscoe sharing 1-2, and Bubba Wallace in the fourth. Their consistency at the front has definitely made them the manufacturer to beat this postseason. And Dale Jr has his own reasons to pick them as favorites, which he recently laid out in detail.

Toyota is the best right now according to Dale Jr

On his Dale Jr Download, he didn’t mince words about Toyota’s strong playoff start, saying, “So the Toyotas come into the Playoffs, win two races, two poles. I think there is a little bit of truth to the fact that Toyotas are maybe the best right now.”

However, this wasn’t the case since the beginning of the season, as he said, “We saw it early in the season, Penske had a lot of speed. At one point in the season, Hendrick and Chevrolets had speed or were some of the best cars in the garage. It seems at this point in the season, the Toyotas are that. It also matters exactly what tracks we’re talking about that we’ve raced at.” Earlier in the season, this wasn’t the case, as teams like Penske and Hendrick showed flashes of real speed. For instance, Hendrick drivers dominated top-10 finishes and poles in the early season, like Alex Bowman and William Byron winning poles at Miami and Darlington with their Chevys. But now, the tables have turned, according to Junior.

He continued, “Some manufacturers tend to be better at certain race tracks than others. How do you see it TJ, in terms of who’s got the upper hand right now. If Toyota is the dominant team, Joe Gibbs and Toyota are the dominant team, how long can they sustain that, going forward?” Co-host TJ Majors’ answer was no different.

Dale Jr hinted at a track-to-track differentiation for cars, and Majors agreed how track type plays a big role. He noted that Gateway, which was once strong for Ryan Blaney and Team Penske, didn’t look that way this time. Hamlin’s win at Gateway came as a surprise, since the track had favored Ford in the recent races. On the other hand, he felt Kansas should lean heavily toward Toyota. Majors also added that factors like tire wear at Bristol could level the field between manufacturers. Nonetheless, Toyota’s current form couldn’t make him disagree with Dale Jr either.

Is the NASCAR legend getting behind the wheel again?

It is no secret that the racing bug has never truly left Dale Jr. Ever since he retired from full-time racing, he has been focusing on his Xfinity Series team, JR Motorsports. As it turned out, he always competed in one-off races for his own team in the Xfinity Series. His last race was in the 2024 Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he finished 7th. Though the 50-year-old veteran hasn’t race since then, he recently made an interesting comment about the same.

Dale Jr is eyeing a potential one-off Craftsman Truck Series entry in the future. The two-time Xfinity Series champion has insisted that he would love to run more races, but was cagey on details. He said on his podcast, “I should run one or two more [Xfinity Series races]. But, I don’t know if and when I’ll do that. North Wilkesboro, I don’t really want to run Wilkesboro with the new pavement but there’s a chance by the time I’m 55-to-58 years old that maybe that pavement is kind of worn out a little bit, and I can just hop on out there and do it.”

Even after retiring from full-time Cup competition, he’s kept the door open for one-off starts, proving that the competitive fire still burns. But his hesitation about the fresh pavement shows he wants to race it only when it feels more like the rough, old-school short track he grew up admiring.

The driver pencilled in Bristol, North Wilkesboro, and Nashville Fairgrounds as possible venues for a one-off. In short, it certainly feels like we haven’t seen the last of Dale Jr. ‘s driving. However, the question of when this could happen next still lies in his hands only.