Chase Elliott defended one of his NASCAR championships Thursday night, when fans voted him the most popular driver for the fourth year in a row.
This season, Elliott was the defending Cup champion and most popular driver, but he was beaten to the Cup title by new Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. The National Press Association named Elliott the winner of the fan-voted most popular award during the season-ending awards presentation at the Music City Center.
“I just can’t thank the fans across the country enough,” said Elliot. “I was really mind-blown on a few occasions this year of that support, and to see it firsthand, you know, I see the T-shirts and all that stuff is noticed. Looking forward to ’22 to make all those folks proud.”
In 2018, the first year after Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired, Elliott began his reign as NASCAR’s most popular driver. Since 2003, when Bill Elliott requested that his name be taken off the ballot, Earnhardt had won the most popular award every year.
Elliott was popular, and voters voted for “Awesome Bill From Dawsonville, Georgia” a record 16 times. Earnhardt won the race 15 times, and when he retired, Chase Elliott took over.
Elliott’s fourth triumph was backed by a slew of Elliott fans in their hometown of Georgia, and it held off a challenge from teammate Larson. Elliott’s popularity has stayed high — his followers vilify any competitor who tries to compete with him — but Larson has developed a strong fan base in his first year as a Hendrick driver.
Larson won 11 Cup Series races, breaking Jeff Gordon’s 20-year record for most laps led in a season and extending Rick Hendrick’s record of 14 championships. Larson won his first Cup by dethroning Elliott.
Larson was unable to dethrone Elliott as most popular, as Elliott’s ardent fans turned up despite the new voting format. The NMPA only opened voting on Nov. 9 — after Larson had already won the championship — and the voting period was only a few weeks long, ending on Dec. 1. Fans may vote once each day on the website or using a mobile app, but votes shared on Facebook and/or Twitter were counted twice.
Curtis Turner received the most popular driver title for the first time in 1949, at the end of NASCAR’s inaugural season. Since 1983, the NMPA has managed and presented the award yearly, and it is the only major NASCAR honor that is decided exclusively by fan vote.
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