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- Junior Snubs SVG’s Playoff Hopes, Byron’s NASCAR Full-Circle Moment, and More
Junior Snubs SVG’s Playoff Hopes, Byron’s NASCAR Full-Circle Moment, and More
Jerry Bonkowski
August 30, 2025
Welcome to Hoot in the Oval — your all-access pass to everything NASCAR. From Denny’s clutch finishes to Ross’ wild moves, Chase Elliott fandom to Bubba’s bold takes — we’ve got the stories that fuel the track and the timeline. Fast, loud, unfiltered. Buckle up, y’all. 🏁
The latest edition of our newsletter covers:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes SVG won't go past the Round of 16 in the playoffs
Kenny Wallace predicts the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion
William Byron’s NASCAR career circles back to right where it started
🏁Inside the Oval
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Predicts Early Exit for Shane van Gisbergen in NASCAR Playoffs
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has worn many hats in his career, including those of a two-time Busch Series champion, a NASCAR Hall of Fame driver, a NASCAR team co-owner, a celebrated podcaster, and a TV analyst.
Now he can add another hat, that of prognosticator. On this week’s edition of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, he put on his gambling cap, so to speak. Junior made his predictions on which drivers will not get past the opening round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs and reach the Round of 12 quarterfinals.
Right at the top of Junior’s list of those who won't make it is everybody’s favorite road course driver, Shane van Gisbergen. The New Zealander has won four times this season — all on road courses. But his performance on oval tracks is a whole different story.
SVG’s best finish on an oval so far this season has been 14th, both at Charlotte and Richmond. The Trackhouse Racing driver was 16th in this past week’s final race of the regular season at Daytona.
There is only one road course in the 10-race Cup playoffs (the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway). And it doesn’t come until the second round (the end of the second round at that). While SVG may be the favorite to win there, Junior says it won’t mean much as he expects SVG to fail to advance from the first round.
“I do not believe that SVG [will advance],” Earnhardt said. “But man, it's gonna be tight. He's got 16 [playoff] points to sort of cushion the blow, and he has been running better at the ovals, but man, this will be tough. I like the guy. SVG is awesome. I just have a hard time seeing him escape the round of 16.”
Junior, however, did make a bold prediction for SVG: That he “can make the Round of 12 with a 20th place [or better] finish at Darlington. Of course, it’s going to depend on what he does at Bristol and Gateway. I think he’s actually decent at short tracks. I think he’s going to run okay at [the concluding race of Round 1] at Bristol.”
But then Junior waffled again: “I don’t think SVG is going to make it because I’m looking at the other competition. It’s not a knock on SVG, but when he doesn’t make it, it’ll be by the slimmest of margins. It’s not a knock on SVG, but I think he barely misses it. But it’ll be dramatic to watch.”
So who are the other three drivers whom Junior doesn’t see advancing past the opening round, along with Van Gisbergen? Dale Jr. picked Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain.
🏁Insider Take
Kenny Wallace Snubs Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in Favor of This Driver to Win the Title This Year
Veteran racer Kenny Wallace, brother of NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, has made his prediction for the three drivers he feels have the best chance to win the NASCAR Cup championship.
Kenny told viewers on his daily “Coffee With Kenny” podcast who his top three picks are, who will battle it out for the championship.
First: “I'm going to go with William Byron, and here's why. Because William was so consistent all year long. And he had a lot more races won than he [actually] won but got beaten. I mean, he led that whole Coke 600, William Byron did. And then Ross Chastain got him at like the last handful of laps.”
Second: “I'm going to go with Denny Hamlin just because you’ve got to.”
Third: “I'm going to go Christopher Bell.”
But is Kenny willing to put his money where his mouth is and choose one of his three to be crowned the eventual champ? Nope, he’s not saying just yet. Surprisingly, Wallace is snubbing former champions and Team Hendrick teammates, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.
He ignored Joey Logano (who won two of the last three Cup championships, including last season). Logano’s Team Penske teammate and 2023 Cup champ, Ryan Blaney, who won last Saturday at Daytona, was not picked as well. “I don’t see any of these drivers getting lucky,” Wallace said.
🏁 Trackside Trivia
2025: Michael McDowell is the luckiest ‘lucky dog’ at Atlanta Motor Speedway
During the 2025 Ambetter Health 400, McDowell received an astonishing six “free pass” lucky dog exemptions—tying the all-time NASCAR Cup Series record and setting a new benchmark for the most free passes earned by a driver in a single race.
Not only that, he earned all six consecutively, which is an outright race record. Think about it: six times he dropped a lap due to issues, yet each time he was granted the one-lap-back pass to rejoin the lead lap. If that is not luck then we don’t know what is.
🎙️ Hoot’s Radio Chatter
“A Full Circle Moment for Me”: William Byron Reflects on Latest NASCAR 25 Development
As a kid, William Byron's ritual after getting back home from school was simple. He popped an Elliott Sadler-covered NASCAR 07 disk into his console and got fully immersed in racing, nurturing and satiating the racer's heart in him.
Little could he have known then that he himself would become a superstar big enough to be on the cover of NASCAR’s biggest gaming release yet in 2025. And yet, that’s who he is today.
It was announced at Daytona last Saturday that Byron’s image would be on the cover of the highly anticipated NASCAR 25 racing game. Alongside him will be Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and their respective cars.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted that this is a “life comes full circle” moment for him because he owes his current status to his video gaming past. It was through gaming that he honed the skills he would one day use in a stock car.
He said, "It just feels full circle. Growing up racing on video games primarily, obviously, everyone knows that about my story, so, yeah, just a very full circle moment for me personally and great for our partners and everybody.”
This is the first NASCAR release that iRacing has worked on. As the face of the developer and SIM racing in general, Byron hoped that fans would enjoy the game and that it would prove to be an entry point for many more like him.
"I think with the way tech has gone in the last decade, it's really kind of taken over - virtual reality, iRacing, esports, everything,” he added. “It's become big in the racing world. I think the effects of it will be more long-term, seeing how kids get their start, but I think there's honestly a lot of it going already with people sim racing when they're not racing in their cars.”
From Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Denny Hamlin, every name in the sport races on simulators today. They have become an undeniable part of life, and Byron only sees good in it. NASCAR 25 will be released on October 14 for PS5 and Xbox.
It will also be available for PC through Steam. Pre-orders for the game are expected to open sometime in mid-September. The first true gameplay footage is expected to come out toward the end of August or in early September. It will be an acid test for iRacing after the continuous failures of the previous developers.
🏁 Lap Back in Time: NASCAR Stat of the Year
(One stat. One year. Every edition.)
1953: Herb Thomas lays the pillars of consistency in NASCAR
Thomas became the first driver to compete in all 37 scheduled races that year, a feat which had never been achieved before due to several reasons, conflicting event dates for drivers being one of them.
Thomas also went on an incredible hot streak of winning 16 out of 20 races that season. He also secured an astonishing number of pole positions that year, with 12 to his name, and finished the season with a total of 8460 points.