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November 23, 2024
By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Chase Elliott continued to build his legacy as an undeniable NASCAR Cup Series fan favorite, winning the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award for the seventh-straight season.
Honored Friday night during the NASCAR Awards celebration at the Charlotte Convention Center, Elliott amassed 266,363 votes in competition for the only major NASCAR award determined solely by race fans.
A driver representing Hendrick Motorsports has won the award for 17 straight years, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. earning the distinction from 2008-2017 and Elliott taking home the trophy ever since.
In fact, in the previous 40 years, only one driver not named Elliott or Earnhardt has earned the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award. That was Darrell Waltrip in 1989 and 1990.
Bill Elliott, Chase’s father, claimed the award a record 16 times; Earnhardt Jr. 15 times, all consecutive; Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001, posthumously; and Chase Elliott, now seven times.
For Chase, the obligation inherent in winning the award extends to his family and its legacy.
“They laid the foundation for me to be here and to have some of the opportunities I’ve had throughout my career,” he acknowledged. “I look at it from that perspective more than anything.
“I’m certainly grateful for the fans across the board. They’ve been great to me throughout my career. I’ve had the fortunate experience of seeing all that and living that first-hand. It means a lot to me. I’ll never take that for granted. I certainly want to try to make those people proud as we move into next year and beyond.”
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and Elliott’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, was runner-up in the voting, as he expected.
“He’s definitely got a large fan base, for sure, in NASCAR,” Larson said of his teammate before the announcement. “It’s cool to see. I feel like my fan base has grown a lot this year, with getting to do everything that I’ve done (including a first-time appearance in the Indianapolis 500).
“We’ll see, but he usually wins by quite a bit. You never know. I think it’s cool to be part of Hendrick Motorsports having probably the two most popular guys in the sport currently.”
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, was third in the Cup Series voting.
Newly crowned champion Justin Allgaier won the Most Popular Driver Award in the Xfinity Series for the fifth time, giving JR Motorsports its 13th straight such recognition among six drivers—Allgaier, Danica Patrick, Regan Smith, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler and Noah Gragson.
Rajah Caruth won his first Most Popular Driver Award in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Driving for Spire Motorsports, Caruth became the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race when he triumphed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
