Chase Elliott’s record of winning the National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award presented by Hooters is now at four years, as the Hendrick Motorsports driver was honored at the 2021 NASCAR Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday night. The NASCAR Awards will air on NBCSN on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
Elliott came out on top in the voting, which took place from November 9 to December 1 and was entirely based on fan votes. He currently has six Most Popular Driver honors throughout NASCAR national series, including two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2014-15.
With the honor, Elliott was able to add to a long family history. His father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, set a record by winning Most Popular Driver 16 times in a row from 1984 to 2002. That’s one more than Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the honor for 15 consecutive years before retiring from full-time racing in 2017.
“Just super grateful to have a lot of great support across the country,” Elliott said. “It’s been super humbling, honestly. I feel like every year that goes by, we go to a new town or a new place and I’m just … like Road America this year, I think back to that event and that weekend and all the folks that were there supporting us was unbelievable.
“For me, I’m just as guilty as anybody, I don’t often realize just how much of an impact you can have or just how much someone is paying attention to what you do – just how much some young man or some young girl is looking up to you. I think those things are important to recognize and try to set a solid example at least or try to most of the time. The fans have been a huge part of my career and super proud to have that support and enjoy trying to make them proud in the process.”
Elliott won two races and went to the Championship 4 for the second straight season a season after winning his first Cup Series championship, but came up short of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
For the 14th year in a row, the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award went to a Hendrick Motorsports driver, with Elliott’s four wins following Earnhardt’s ten with the same team.
Elliott stressed that he takes pride in keeping true to himself as a person and competitor, and he appreciates the support he has received in the process.
“I think for me, I’m certainly not the loudest person in the room, certainly if I don’t know you very well, either,” Elliott said. “Traveling around, I feel like I always try to do my thing and being in the position that you’re in as a race-car driver, No. 1 to me has always been about performance and trying go fast and do my job and I’ve tried to keep it simple as that. Might be boring in some cases, but it’s how I like to go about my business and how I like to go about my job and it’s how I feel like I can perform the best on Sundays.”
Justin Allgaier of the NASCAR Xfinity Series received the award for the third year in a row after a season in which he won two races in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Allgaier’s win extends a 10-year winning streak for JR Motorsports drivers. During that time, other former JRM drivers who received an award include Elliott Sadler (2016-18), Elliott (2014-15), Regan Smith (2013), and Danica Patrick (2012).
Hailie Deegan, a rookie in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, won the honor. In her rookie season in the NASCAR national series, Deegan drove the No. 1 David Gilliland Racing Ford to a career-best seventh place result at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in August. She is the second rookie to win the award in a row, following Zane Smith in 2020.
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