Chase Elliott has been voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for the past eight years in a row, but the streak has come to an end. Elliott has formally removed his name from consideration for the 2026 award in the hopes that his fans will vote for the late Kyle Busch.
“I would be in extreme favor of Kyle winning the vote. I think that he’s a guy that certainly poured a lot of his life into this sport. Although he might’ve been getting boos a lot of weeks, he also had a lot of fans, and a lot of really passionate fans,” Elliott said in May, shortly after Busch’s untimely death.
Voting is now open and all of the other full-time Cup Series drivers, along with Busch, are still on the ballot. It continues through Nov. 9, the day after the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Elliott’s father Bill holds the record with 16 most popular driver awards. He also withdrew his name from contention in 2001 following the death of Dale Earnhardt, who won the award that year. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., then won it 15 consecutive times from 2003-2017.
