Chase Elliott will not win the NASCAR Most Popular Driver award for the ninth consecutive season.
As he stated months ago, Elliott has removed himself from the ballot this season in hopes of paving the way for Kyle Busch to win the award posthumously. Busch died suddenly on May 21 at the age of 41 due to complications from sepsis caused by presumed bacterial pneumonia.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who has never won the award, is on the ballot from the National Motorsports Press Association. Voting for fans opened Monday.
"I just think it's one of those things that I think Kyle is a guy that really deserves something of an award like that," Elliott told reporters in May, just days after Busch’s death. "I think he's a guy that has had a lot
of fans over the course of his career."
Back in 2001, Elliott’s father — Hall of Famer Bill Elliott — removed himself from the Most Popular Driver ballot and threw his support behind Dale Earnhardt Sr. winning the award for the first time in the wake of his shocking death on the final lap of the Daytona 500. Bill Elliott had won the award 1991-2000 and again in 2002.
A hard-charging driver with a get-out-my-way attitude, incredible talent and superb racecraft, Busch was polarizing, fearless, exceptional and unapologetic on the racetrack. Across NASCAR’s top three national touring circuits, he amassed 234 career victories, the most all-time. He had 63 wins in the top-level Cup Series, 102 victories in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts circuit, and captured 69 checkered flags in the Truck Series — where he also owned a team, Kyle Busch Motorsports. He is the winningest driver in the O’Reilly and Truck Series, and ranks 10th in Cup Series victories.
Busch is also the only driver to win at least one Cup Series race in 19 consecutive seasons, doing so from 2005 through 2023. Additionally, Busch is the only driver to win each of the three races — the trucks, the O’Reilly Series and the Cup Series — in the same weekend. He did it twice, in 2010 and 2017, both at Bristol.
While many fans loved to root against Busch, who willingly embraced his role as NASCAR’s villain, he also had a legion of his own fans whom he called “Rowdy Nation.” They adored his dominance behind the wheel and unabashed style of racing.
Still, despite being one of NASCAR’s signature personalities and most talented wheelmen throughout his career, he never won the sport’s Most Popular Driver award. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won it 15 years in a row from 2003 to 2017, and Elliott has won it in each of the past eight seasons.
Back in 2019, Busch told Barstool Sports that he was “pretty sure I’m never going to win” the Most Popular Driver award. This year, NASCAR fans have the chance to change that.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kyle Busch never thought he’d win NASCAR’s fan award. Chase Elliott wants to change that
