"I had a group called the s**t stirrers" - Dale Earnhardt Jr. outlines list of rowdy NASCAR drivers going into 2024 Daytona 500

Ahead of the 2024 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is keeping an eye on select NASCAR Cup Series drivers who could stir up trouble in the season opener and sarcastically named them 'the s**t stirrers'.

The Daytona 500 is the most prestigious race on the NASCAR season calendar, but the close-packed superspeedway style racing on the 2.5-mile oval tends to promote big pile-ups. The entry list for the season opener consists of many drivers notorious for initiating such wrecks.

In his recent episode of Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. named Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain as the captain of his trouble team. He said:

"I had the little group called 'The s**t stirrers'. I mentioned all these guys, [Ross] Chastain, he's kind of the captain of the s**t stirrers. He's the captain of the team."

Iterating the team members of Chastain's team, Dale Jr. named John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson - who have earned notoriety during their time in the Xfinity Series.

Dale Jr. named Cup Series rookie Carson Hocevar as the all-star member of his trouble team, due to the latter's infamous exploits in the Truck Series.

"On the team with Ross is [John Hunter] Nemechek, [Ty] Gibbs - when he runs really good. [Noah] Gragson - if he can also have some good runs. And then probably the all-star of S**t Stirrers team is maybe [Carson] Hocevar. There's gonna be some big moments."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. compared these drivers to the characters in Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson comedy starrer Semi-Pro. He jokingly added:

"What is the movie... they are kind of like the Bad News Bears. But then the movie with Will Ferrell, the basketball - the Semi-Pro - That's who these guys are man. They're the Flint, Michigan Tropics. Yeah, that's going to be a good group to keep an eye on."

Catch Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s trouble team live in action at the Daytona 500 on February 18, at 2:30 pm ET.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. names his 2024 NASCAR championship picks

After successfully predicting Ryan Blaney to win the 2023 Cup Series championship, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his early season picks for the 2024 final four contenders.

The NASCAR Hall of Famer chose veteran drivers Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and reigning champion Ryan Blaney as the final four contenders. He is also backing the #12 Penske driver to win back-to-back championships, a feat not achieved in the new playoff format.

"So my four is Logano, Larson, Hamlin and Blaney, and I got Blaney repeating. Now, I know the odds of that happening are not very good at all. But this is a short sample – what we are pulling from – to say this has never happened. We're not talking about 75 years of history here," he said on his podcast.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also expects the new bodies for Toyota and Ford's next-gen cars to influence the results, particularly in the superspeedway races.