NASCAR Cup Series: Chase Elliot named most popular driver for fifth straight season

Chase Elliott has been named the NASCAR Cup Series’ Most Popular Driver for the fifth year in a row. During NASCAR Champion’s Week festivities in Nashville, Tenn., Elliott was named the 2022 National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver award recipient. Since 1984, every year except two, an Elliott or an Earnhardt has won the fan-voted award. Bill Elliott, Elliott’s father, won the award a record 16 times. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award a record 15 times in a row. Elliott has been the only winner of the award since Earnhart’s retirement at the end of the 2017 season.

“For me, obviously, I came into a very fortunate situation,” Elliott said. “Dad had a great connection with the fans, and beyond him, I look at the connection as really an extension of his career and my uncles and my grandfather and just kind of the path and the work ethic that they had to be able to get to where they did and to achieve the goals they did.”

“And I think a lot of people really connected with them because of their approach and how they went about things and they were a little different than the rest, and I think that was very easily recognizable to the fans. And for me, look, I get it, right? I completely understand that a lot of the folks that supported them and my family over the years have migrated to support me. I’m grateful for it, grateful for the other side of the fence as well, and grateful for the new fans that I feel like I’ve made along the way, too,” he added.

Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, and Martin Truex Jr. were also among the top ten vote-getters for the award. Noah Gragson was voted the most popular driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Gragson’s first win of the award, but the 11th consecutive for a JR Motorsports driver. For the second year in a row, Hailie Deegan was named NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver.