You don’t have to be a racing fan to know who NASCAR’s most popular driver is in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Anyone with a working knowledge of who the drivers are will tell you that Chase Elliott is far and away the favorite to win the Most Popular Driver award at season’s end. Elliott has been the perennial fan favorite since 2018, including a tumultuous 2023 season that saw him miss six races with an injury, miss one more race due to suspension, miss the playoffs and go winless.
Elliott’s reign is the latest in a long line of drivers who have received the award year after year after year. Elliott’s reign began only after previous fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from full-time competition in 2017. To that point, Earnhardt had won the award for 15 straight seasons between 2003 and 2017.
Before that, Elliott’s father Bill was the golden boy for the award, winning MPD 16 times between 1984 and 2002. Only three times in that span did the elder Elliott not receive the award: 1989 and 1990 (Darrell Waltrip) and 2001. That year, Elliott voluntarily withdrew himself from the ballot to ensure the late Dale Earnhardt would win the award.
The Most Popular Driver has seen little to no change in the last 40 years. When the latest idol arrives in NASCAR, it’s hard for him to fall out of public favor. It’s safe to say that Chase will be the perennial favorite for years to come, likely until he retires.
Or is he?
Last season, fans were left wondering whether or not Elliott would win the award after what can only be described as a season from hell for the No. 9. Missing seven races alone didn’t help his case, but a suspension being the reason for one of those races was the first time there was doubt in Elliott’s Most Popular Driver award. If you add in the fact that Elliott couldn’t win nor point his way into a 16-driver playoff field, it was definitely not a year that one could describe as “most popular.”
Compounding that was the fact that there were several other candidates more than capable of stealing the award from right under Elliott’s nose.
One of those drivers? Kyle Busch. Yes, that Kyle Busch. After leaving Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing in 2022 to join Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet in 2023, Busch rifled off three wins in the first half of the season and suddenly found himself getting more cheers than boos for perhaps the first time in his career.
Not to mention, Ross Chastain continued…
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