DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., race car driver whose full-time job is as an NBC talent for everything from the Super Bowl to the Olympics to NASCAR while also remaining as an Xfinity team co-owner and select product endorser, gave his picks for the NASCAR season:
Rookie of the year (William Byron or Darrell Wallace Jr.): "I believe William is probably in the best situation out of the gate to start to really pile up some points to make it challenging for Darrell Wallace going forward. So, I'm going to say that William is in the best position to win, and I think he will as much as [I like both] -- me and Bubba are good friends."
Daytona 500: "Joey Logano has the best opportunity to win the Daytona 500. He's getting my spotter, T.J. Majors. I know how good T.J. is at the plate tracks. Joey is already a pretty damn good plate racer. So, put them two together and they're going to be pretty hard to beat."
NASCAR Cup title: "The championship again comes down to Kyle [Busch] and Martin [Truex Jr.]. Kyle Busch will be there. You will have to beat Kyle Busch to win the championship."
Most Popular Driver: "Most Popular Driver is going to be a tight battle between Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott. And it will be close."
Which is tougher -- NASCAR picks or figuring out a catch in the NFL: "I think the NFL might be tougher. ... [A catch] is easy to predict. It's hard to determine."